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Old 03-10-2006, 03:32 PM
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dieseldiehard dieseldiehard is offline
Dieseldiehard
 
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: Bay Area No Calif.
Posts: 4,430
Quote:
Originally Posted by dunga
Fellows,

I have an 87 260E and I am having a nightmare getting to pass a smog test in California. The problem is that it spews smoke out of the tailpipe and though it passes at 25mph, it fails at 15mph and I am wondering if my engine is no good. I tuned it up, put synthetic oil in it, and changed the Catalytic converter and I still fail. The HC is off just a bit at 15mph.

If anyone can help me out with tips or advice, I would really appreciate it.
What part of the State are you in BTW?
Automatic transmission I presume?
Your experience is why I drive diesels, ha! Is the thermostat working? Changing to a hotter thermostat will reduce emissions, as will adjusting the timing.

A gasoline engine is a complex one that takes some skill to understand what affects emissions.
Please don't ask me as I am not an expert but I know from experience that normally, if there isn't a serious engine problem a shop should be able to make minor adjustments to get it to pass. Visible smoke out the tailpipe indicates something is wrong and you may need to do diagnostics at another level (compression measurements or a leakdown test, etc) to diagnose the source of the smoking.
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