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In-use, light-duty vehicles were recruited in Cary, North Carolina for emissions testing on a transportable dynamometer in 1999. Two hundred forty-eight vehicles were tested in as received condition using the IM240 driving cycle. The study was conducted in two phases, a summer and winter phase, with half of the vehicles recruited during each phase. Regulated emissions, PM10, carbonaceous PM, aldehydes and ketones were measured for every test. PM2.5, individual volatile hydrocarbons, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, sterane and hopane emissions were measured from a subset of the vehicles. Average light-duty gasoline PM10 emission rates increased from 6.5 mg/mi for 1993-97 vehicles to 53.8 mg/mi for the pre-1985 vehicles. The recruited fleet average, hot-stabilized IM240 PM10 emission rate for gasoline vehicles was 19.0 mg/mi.

Combustion of organic motor vehicle fuels produces carbon dioxide and water (H2O) vapor (and also products of incomplete combustion, e.g. hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide, at lower concentrations). The Constant Volume Sampling (CVS) system, commonly used to condition auto exhaust for sampling and analysis, provides for controlled ambient air dilution of the engine exhaust. Water condensation can be a problem during CVS system sample conditioning, depending upon vehicle fuel composition and fuel economy, and diluent air humidity and exhaust/diluent ratio. This paper describes a “spreadsheet” procedure for detailed, second by second, determination of diluted exhaust dew point and the necessary CVS system flow rates to avoid H2O vapor condensation.