previous owner thought she would do me a favor and tried to get the car inspected (don't ask) before i picked it up. well - it flunked emissions. when i did pick it up tonight i smelled the hydocarbon rich aroma of the exhaust but otherwise it was ok. i had road tested it and it had good power and was smooth. so i took a calculated risk and told her not to worry about it. the car had not been tuned up in a while and the owners were not particularly car savvy.

funny that my checklist thread had gotten around to spark plugs. i figured i was gonna change those right away and also check the air filter so it suddenly became first on my agenda. this had happened to me once when i didn't change the plugs and have never failed when i did change the plugs. was i being foolhardy? i'm gonna throw a bottle of chevron injector cleaner in there for good measure although i doubt that's it because it had plenty of power on the drive home. what else am i missing?