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[Rox86]

I live in California, which means smog testing. I'm taking my Fifth Ave in this weekend to a test only place to have it smoged so I can renew the tags.

Any suggestions to help pass? Besides paying the guy off of course (one city over does that kind of thing a lot)

I can't think off the top of my head reasons it would fail. She runs just fine, and I've kept up with maintenance.

[Dippy.org]

[Mike]

Other then doing a tune up and oil change and get it nice and warmed up before the test there's nothing much you can do. If you know of any problems like bad vacuum hose fix that first too.

[DobaMark]

If you have a 1985 or newer 318, use premium gas.  These cars run fine in regular, but since they are premium recommend Chrysler tested them running premium. I always switched to premium a tank before emissions testing my 89 Fifth Avenue and it was always way under limits.

[Rox86]

If you have a 1985 or newer 318, use premium gas.  These cars run fine in regular, but since they are premium recommend Chrysler tested them running premium. I always switched to premium a tank before emissions testing my 89 Fifth Avenue and it was always way under limits.

Interesting. Mines an 86 and I noticed a long time ago that it said premium only on the filler cap. I always thought it was so Chrysler could make fuel milage numbers, with the whole gas guzzler tax and all. I use medium grade (89 I think) because I have noticed it runs a bit smoother, but it's not as expensive as 91 premium.

[Rox86]

I guess I was worrying more than I needed to be. She passed and passed by a long way.

I appreciate the replies.

[grinner357]

awesome. when i had my exhaust redone and used regular i was close to being under the new car numbers. some e85 can help bring the numbers down if needed.

[Rox86]

awesome. when i had my exhaust redone and used regular i was close to being under the new car numbers. some e85 can help bring the numbers down if needed.

I'm thinking of redoing the exhaust. And now I probably will if money permits. They didn't lift the car at all to check the exhuast. It spent the whole time on the rolling road. I want to get rid of the pre-cats. (Magna-flow makes a smog legal main cat)

[fifthcrunch]

If you ditch the pre-cats, there is a strong chance it will fail the next test.  It seems to me that the only reason mopar put them on was they couldn't meet emissions standards any other way.
Anything you do replace in the emissions system has to be CA certified.

[DobaMark]

A newer tech main cat can do the same (or better) job than the old 3 cat setup and was EPA legal.  Not sure about California legal.

[grinner357]

A newer tech main cat can do the same (or better) job than the old 3 cat setup and was EPA legal.  Not sure about California legal.

just check with your smog shop to double check, but i didnt have a problem as long as the main cat with the air injection is replaced, the other 2 i was able to ditch and still get really good numbers. if i didnt have another unrelated engine issue mine would have passed within the new car threshold, was way better than the gross polluter numbers that anything pre OBD comes under. cost me about $500 at a local shop to do the entire system from the manifold back, with slightly fatter pipes and keeping it the same diameter all the way back (if you look after the y pipe it narrows a bit on a stock system)