Hi, Does anyone know, if I buy an excavator overseas with non EPA engine, and I buy an EPA engine here for same model, is it complicated to swap it? Thanks
Are you just trying to gain EPA compliance? I would think the expense of this would be futile.
Yes, but we can get good smaller excavators (303 305 307)overseas at competitive prices. And if it's possible to find good equivalent EPA engines, the numbers may work.
Its more than just the engine though. It's all the other crap you have to have to run the engine and pass an EPA inspection. You are talking a ton of money IMHO
Thank you for the info!! When I import a machine, the customs only check if the engine has EPA or not, they didn't check anything else. Why would I need to pass an actual EPA inspection? Thanks
SO......you are trying to import NON-compliance equipment into a compliance mandated country by fooling the customs agents? Why not just throw an EPA sticker on the old engine then? OOPPS>.....I shouldn't have said that. It's not a smart thing to do either way.
This was done all the time in California 10-15 years ago. Repower old specialty machines that were not economic to replace. But it was probably a case by case basis with oversight from the government at each step. That ship has long since sailed and there is nobody doing that sort of work now for the most part, most machines that would have fit the bill are old and worn out now. Also these would have been large and expensive machines like masticators and feller bunchers. It sounds like you are talking small equipment which may never have been economical to do this to.
In my mind, to swap the engines, and make the machine compliant with EPA, is legal. The other way, just to put an EPA sticker, is illegal. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
Thats why I said that compliance is more than just the engine. Some engines won't even run without all the other compliance features.
The non-compliant engine won’t get through Customs. The engine would have to be removed prior to import. This whole thing doesn’t seem practical to me.
The plan is to ship the engine overseas, swap it there, and then bring the machine back. Is that possible?
I understand we might need to order some parts to make it work. Checking possibilities and numbers. We have good sources for non EPA machines
You are going to have to write this book as you go along. Nobody on here has done this. When you write your own book sometimes you make big money. Sometimes you lose. The choice is yours. Contact the EPA type people and run the numbers. If it looks like you will make enormous money then you might make some money. If you might make some money then you will really lose. If it looks break even then it will be a bankrupter.
hahaha good point, thanks! I don't need big money, but maybe steady business in a niche market will be good enough.
At this point can I also throw a small spanner in the works regarding how these machines would be supported (or not as the case may be) with parts & service information seeing as the resulting "ba$tard stepchild" after the engine change would be neither one thing nor the other. Trying to buy parts based on the machine Serial Number would not include the engine plus anything else that had been changed to satisfy the EPA and vice versa for engine, etc, parts. I hope you plan on coming clean to potential customers that these machines offered for sale are effectively what we would colloquially refer to as a "lash-up".
What would be the EPA's process of determining the machine is compliant? The machine serial number would be a giveaway that the machine was built for the LRC market would it not?
IMHO that would be the first thing the authorities would look at because regulated and LRC markets use different Serial Number prefixes for the same machine model.
Customs Border Patrol would be the entity that would make the determination whether or not the machine could be imported. The EPA doesn’t actually have anything to do with determining whether or not an engine can be imported, they just wrote the hundreds of pages of laws regarding diesel engines, their emissions, how they can be built and rebuilt, and record keeping requirements. The EPA wrote the laws, and the CBP does what they can to ensure imported engines abide by the laws. In my limited experience, the only thing that Customs Border Patrol looks at is the EPA sticker on the engine. If the engine is supposed to have a sticker and it’s missing, it won’t get through Customs. If the engine has a sticker that says something like “This engine was built for lesser regulated markets and does NOT meet US EPA standards for a certain year“, it won’t get through Customs. It is likely possible a non-compliant engine with a EPA sticker could get through Customs if it was something not noticeable, like an Acert engine having the IVAs backed all the way off. A newer diesel that was straight piped and obviously had the aftertreatment systems removed would likely not get through. Machine serial numbers and engine serial numbers are required for Customs paperwork. If those serial numbers are actually cross referenced with the OEM, I don’t know. A few years ago I imported an older piece of equipment that ended up having a reman engine in it. It was a bit of a nightmare to get it through Customs.
Sounds like it would be cheaper to import them to Canada and sell them there.
Canada requires EPA too, same thing.
When you import the older equipment with reman engine, did the engine has the EPA sticker on it? What was the issue then? Thank you!
The reman engine did not have an EPA sticker, and did not need a sticker because it was a pre-emissions engine and didn’t have one when it was originally built. The major issue was I was dealing with someone who didn’t know what he was talking about and gave me wrong information. It’s a long story that started all because I asked a simple question regarding some of the paperwork. The reman engine made the situation out of the norm, and no one knew what to do. I would have been better off not knowing the engine was a reman and filling out the paperwork as if it were an original engine. Lesson learned.