We get requests almost weekly from customers asking to purchase the tools required to adjust the new carburetors that are on small engines. Unfortunately, we are not allowed BY LAW to sell these. These tools are only allowed to be used by manufacture trained technicians. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the California Air Resources Board (CARB) mandate that engines with adjustable parameters (i.e., carburetors) utilized in lawn and garden equipment be "tamper resistant." The carburetors present on some products require the use of a special adjustment tool for a product being serviced or repaired, due to the tamper resistant mechanisms present on the product. These tools is to be made available and used exclusively by manufacture trained technicians; it may not be sold to the public, as this could be a violation of EPA regulations.
Specifically the United Code of Federal Regulations, at 40 CFR 1068.101(b)(2) states:
(2) DEFEAT DEVICES. YOU MAY NOT KNOWINGLY MANUFACTURE, SELL, OFFER TO SELL, OR INSTALL, ANY PART THAT BYPASSES, IMPAIRS, DEFEATS, OR DISABLES THE CONTROL OF EMISSIONS OF ANY REGULATED POLLUTANT, EXCEPT AS EXPLICITLY ALLOWED BY THE STANDARD-SETTING PART. WE [EPA] MAY ASSES A CIVIL PENALTY UP TO $3,750 FOR EACH PART IN VIOLATION.
Accordingly, we are unable in any way to make available to the consumer these special tools.
