My 86 300e with 205k miles did not pass CA smog. The HC are 130ppm and the limit is 100ppm. Not too far off so I brought the car to my mech to adjust since this is outside my R&R capabilities.

He tried to adjust the fuel metering but he said it was all over the map and could not be adjusted satisfactorily and it looked like it was a fuel distributor or something to do with the linkage. Does this sound reasonable? I just don't want to throw parts at a $1,500 car trying to fix the problem. I would rather drive to Mexico and spend the money on tacos,tequlia, and a flight home

I should mention that other than burning a little oil the car runs like a champ and gets 19-20 mpg combined hwy/city.

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E55, 300E, 65 Hipo Mustang, 66 Shelby GT-350, 69 Mach I, 66 Fairlane GT Conv., etc

It's not at all clear to me if your mechanic understands how to set the "duty cycle", which is the method to get the basic mechanically derived mixture to near stoiciometric. The "E" part of the CIS-E system handles it from there.

The complete report of all test gases would help, but I've discussed it a zillion times before along with how to get marginal failures through the test.

Look at this thread, links, and search on "duty cycle".

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/showthread.php?p=833484#post833484

Duke