Date: Sat, 18 Feb 2006 12:56:52 -0800
Reply-To: gary hradek <hradek@YAHOO.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: gary hradek <hradek@YAHOO.COM>
Subject: common sense items for passing smog
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
I am in california and my vanagon pops the "test only"
station meter for smog inspections. The exact class
is the "high emitter profile". Since they are not
talking about radio waves it is doubtful that aluminum
foil will be of any benifit.
Two years ago I just barely passed (high nox)and
this was after changing the oil, air filter,
sparkplugs cap and rotor. There is one major
advantage to being sent to a "test only" station early
in the year. "high emitter profile" vehicle owners
may apply for assistance for smog related repairs.
There is a 500 dollar limit and a 100 dollar or 20
dollar deductable depending on your income level.
The repairs must be made at a gold shield shop after
approval by the state of california and funds must be
available.
Today was an unusually cold day in the bay area of
SF. There is snow on the mountains and talk of flakes
in the city. By flakes I mean the white kind that
fall from the sky. A perfect day for smoggin the
vanagon. I had done all the usual work. The old
copper bosch plugs from BD were replaced with new ones
and did show wear(increased gap) from 2 years of use.
The 2 year old rotor was just as hard to get off as
the previous one so this time I added bulb grease so
that perhaps in two years I will not have to chip this
one off.
I picked a "test only" station next to a "gold seal"
station. There were many vehicles at the gold seal
station but no vanagons. I imagined my vanagon
sitting in the row of cars behind the gold seal
station, perhaps getting a new o2 sensor or cat.
Maybe even getting some money back from the state?
The test only station had three bays and was open on
two sides with two huge doors. The smog station I
used two years ago was much more enclosed.
I passed with much better numbers.
Three items I would add to help pass smog.
1)Pick a cold day to do the smog test.
2)Pick a shop that is well open and ventilated.
3)Pick a shop where the owner is the one doing the
testing.
good to go for another two years,
gary
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