For those that don't know - every two years, when the registration is due for renewal on a car, California requires us to take it in to a smog center to ensure that it passes the CA pollution requirements.
My 300ZX failed it the last time (about two years ago), but it ended up being due to a malfunctioning fuel injector.
I recently took it into a smog center to see if it would pass this time. Unfortunately, it failed again. However, I do have numerous things I can do in an attempt to remedy it, including:
- Change the oil.
- Change the spark plugs.
- Change the PCV valves (extremely difficult to get to on this car).
- Change the oxygen sensors ($150 for the both of them).
- Check the EGR sensor, clean it if necessary.
- Run fuel injector cleaner through the engine.
- Run Guaranteed to Pass through the engine.
- Finally, take it to the smog place when they are dead slow, so they can check it immediately after driving it there. This will allow the catalytic converter to be nice and hot. This is a big one, because the hotter the cat gets, the more pollutants that it eliminates.
I'm a fan of clean air and having some guidelines for reducing exhaust gas pollution, but unfortunately it's a big pain in the rump too. At the very least though, it's a good incentive to eliminate unknown problems and get my car running in tip-top shape.
1 comment:
We had that in Kentucky until they realized it wasn't actually helping anything, so they got rid of it a few years ago. I don't know whether it's the same thing as California or not, but I appreciate not having to pay $20 every other year for it.
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