Quote:
Originally Posted by esn
I am interested - have a couple of questions.
Will they pass smog ?
Does the A/C work ?
I live within 100 miles of you.
Thanks,
Eric
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Oh man, you are hitting us on our two weakest points.
They both passed their most recent smog tests but with little wiggle room. Hydrocarbons are close to the limit on both cars, which is very common for these CIS-E cars. The 88 has only been driven no more than 3,000 miles since it passed, the 89 has gone about 20,000 miles but it has also received a replacement ECU in that time that really seems to have helped it to run even better than it already was, much like what happened to member "JohnM" 's 300E when he replaced it's ECU. I'll tell you what though, if you give me my asking price, I'll include a new, current smog certificate with each car cause I'm confident they'll squeak by. Keep in mind that Cali smog tests are tougher to pass than most anywhere else. Those of you in the other states shouldn't have any problem.
Over the years they have become low on freon. Since these are R12 cars, I bought the stuff to "convert" them over to R134a but fellow board member "GSXR" talked me out of doing it. He said the compressors would only last about a year if I did the "conversion". He said there is a proper way to do it but a kit from a McParts store is not the proper way. Since I have other cars with working air conditioners I simply chose to only drive these two cars on days when air cond. is not needed. (I think most of us here fall into that same category in that we have more than one car.)
These cars really need to become someone's winter cars but all of the folks who should be grabbing them for that purpose keep complaining that I'm too far away. But the only way those folks are gonna get any rust free cars is to do a little traveling.
Regards, Eric