CHANGE THE OIL! Make sure you have a new gas cap too. If they don't look for an air filter take it off. I had to replace my Cat to make my 380SE pass, but I bought an anfter market one that was a high flow design. You don't say how many miles on the car. I also did a complete tune up before, Dist. Cap, rotor, and brand new Beru Wires($$$OUCH!), new gas cap, I ad a new air filter and a new filter for the airpump(in the air cleaner box on the 380SE). Mine had 184,000 miles on the original CAT. so it was time.

The car hit 147K today, the tech did not remove the air filter cover and the oil and filter have 1k on them. They did remove the gas cap and put it on a tester ...it passed fine. My father was the previous owner and replaced the Cat a couple of years ago, don't really know if its OEM or aftermarket he just said it was expensive.

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1993 190E 2.6 135k
1989 Ford Thunderbird SC 5 Spd 79K