Smog Advice

I know this is not motorcycle related but neither is Gray Davis ...

I have a `88 pickup truck which needs a smog check (at a Test Only
Station) by November. It passed smog 2 yr ago - but not by much. It
has 270K miles on the engine (well, it was rebuilt 80K ago) so it's not
worth putting much money into it. What servicing would you recommend
before the smog test. So far I plan to:

1 replace Sparkplugs
2 replace Airfilter
3 change Oil (put in 20W50)
4 adjust the idle (last smog test it was mediocre at low rpms, but
was fine at high rpms)

Any other suggestions?

 

Few tanks of high quality gas, perhaps?

 

You mean Chevron/Union as opposed to Arco ... Union has alcohol instead
of MTBE in it's gas -- would that be better for a smog test?

 

On Fri, 5 Sep 2003 22:35:07 +0000 (UTC),

Check your fuel filter. If there's a way to drain a bit of gas from
the very bottom of the tank, do it -- water and other crud tend to
collect there. Then, with all other maintenance tasks done, take it
out on the freeway -- preferably a fast stretch.

Al Moore

 

What make of pickup is it? Domestic, import?

I've got an '88 Nissan (120K) and it passed CA smog no sweat. Until
this year. After everyone put in their two cents worth I finally
figured out that I needed to make sure that FI's mixture was set
properly. The tech doing the smog had messed with it thinking it was
the idle adjuster. It was way off map when I set it back to where it
was supposed to be. After that, passed OK.

NorCalIC