Whats your presmog ritual?

[otto_kretschmer]

I just bought a new to me 2003 GMC Yukon xl. With my older 93 Suburban I would do a few things before going thru a smog inspection.

Buy a bottle of Sea Foam. Pour half in the tank and half down the throttle body while the engine is idling. Shut the engine off after the Sea Foam and let sit overnight.

Next day drive for a day, change the oil, oil filter and air filter and then take it in for the smog test.

I may not do the Sea Foam with the 2003. This morning I got insurance on it and learned I need to smog it before I can register it.

Sometimes I would pull a plug or two and take a look.

do you do anything to your car or truck before going thru smog?

[Tobra]

I just change the oil usually.

[sammyg2]

Make sure i have regular unleaded in it.

BTW, 92% of all smog problems are ignition-related

no, no citations or references

[vash]

nothing.

the new smog checks our history right?

[speeder]

If the vehicle is running fine and not throwing any codes, just get it nice and hot and bring it in. Drive it on the freeway for 10 minutes first. That goes for any car, new or old. Cold engines and catalytic converters will fail NOX.

I'd make sure that it has a clean air filter, that's about it. Not sure what changing oil has to do w emissions testing.

[911boost]

I stressed about this in my 997.2 GT3, went in and they plugged it in, passed no problem.

Had to mess around with the air/fuel some in my Westfalia to get it to pass. Thank I don't have to do it for 4 more years.

[love911]

In California, 2000 and newer vehicles are exempt from tail pipe emissions test, as said previously,it's plug and play.
Just make sure there is no illegal aftermarket emission parts (eg. exhaust or intake manifold,Catalytic converter,..). If all the readiness monitors are complete and no MIL ON,then you should be OK.

[legion]

My ritual involves a pointed piece of rebar and a shop vac. Thank God I don't have to do emissions.

[Zeke]

45 lbs. in the drive axle tires. If a RWD, empty the trunk or PU bed. Sometimes cardboard in front of the radiator on a cold day. They have seen it and can't do a thing about it.

[A930Rocket]

Haven’t had a smog check in 19 years here in SC.

Back in NC, I used to loosen the oil filler cap before checks. Or pay the guy a $100.

[Por_sha911]

Get out of a state that does smog checks. Game over.

[Evans, Marv]

I don't have one. My 911 is 50 years old, my truck is an '03 diesel, and strangely enough my wife's 2012 car has never had to be smogged. I've never thought about that.

[widebody911]

Originally Posted by sammyg2

Make sure i have regular unleaded in it.

BTW, 92% of all smog problems are ignition-related

no, no citations or references

78.6% of statistics are made up right there on the spot

[sammyg2]

Originally Posted by widebody911

78.6% of statistics are made up right there on the spot

Strange, I would have thought that number would be higher

[widebody911]

I just went through this last week. My car got upgraded to the STAR program, so I don't have to dyno it - they just plug into the OBDII port for a couple of minutes and give the car a cursory look to make sure it isn't too heavily modded. The whole smog test took less than 10 minutes.

The actual pain was getting ready for it: the car had been throwing a code for a year and a half or so, casual googling wasn't helping. When it came down to the wire I had to get serious; it turned out to be the DMTL pump. Got one on Amazon for $50, cleared the code, but then getting the OBDII tests to complete was a PITA. To get the cat test to show ready, I had to drive for about 20 minutes under 3000RPM and under 60MPH.

[herr_oberst]

I've got a 6 mile loop that I drive if the car is cold that takes me to the DMV with all systems properly warmed up and ready for emissions testing.

Fun fact, the Porsche with the "test pipe" is consistently cleaner than the pickup with the cat.

[craigster59]

Thanks to Gov. Arnold the rolling 30 year exemption was frozen at 1975. I have to get my '83 SC smogged every other year, a real PITA.

It doesn't help that the emissions get tougher every year. I can either hold out until I retire and move or just sell the SC out of state. I'm leaning towards the latter.

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by craigster59

Thanks to Gov. Arnold the rolling 30 year exemption was frozen at 1975. I have to get my '83 SC smogged every other year, a real PITA.

It doesn't help that the emissions get tougher every year. I can either hold out until I retire and move or just sell the SC out of state. I'm leaning towards the latter.

A new cat will do wonders. AMHIK

[Tobra]

Just came back to say when I first read the title, I was thinking "Unimog"

[otto_kretschmer]

Originally Posted by Tobra

Just came back to say when I first read the title, I was thinking "Unimog"

a Unimog would be a fun vehicle to have but not very practical for anything outside of serious rock crawling