How to buy used vehicle; emissions

In buying older vehicles, other than obvious signs of smoking, is there any way to determine, without expensive equipment, whether the engine will pass emissions? On a marginal vehicle that fails, how effective generally is replacing the cat converter. Talking 70's vehicles V-8s, Ford 350 in particular.

Reply to
freddie
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You won't need expensive equipment for this test, but it will cost a little to find the answer. Tell the seller you want the car to pass the emissions test in your state before you trade dollars. Or take the car for a test drive and take it into the local service station for a quick emissions test. If it passes buy the car. If it fails, just return the car and let the owner deal with the DMV and a recorded emissions test failure.

Reply to
John S.

Those 1970s vehicles didn't HAVE any catalytic converters to replace, so that's no solution.

Part of the issue is also that the emissions standards changed considerably over the decade, so a 1971 car that spews out a cloud of toxic waste may be perfectly legal in your state while a 1979 vehicle that is better may not be.

What state are you in?

--scott

Reply to
Scott Dorsey

As John H. says, predicate the sale on the emissions test. No pass, no sale.

Reply to
<HLS

I thought VW and maybe Chrysler got by for a couple years after everyone else...?

nate

Shep wrote:

Reply to
Nate Nagel

Reply to
Shep

"Shep" wrote in news:1167950161 snipped-for-privacy@sp6iad.superfeed.net:

Only in the US. Canada didn't get a blanket cat requirement until the 1981 model year.

Oddly, my 1975 Toyota Corolla's Owner's Manual specifies repeatedly that catalytic converters were only installed on California-market cars.

Reply to
Tegger

If you're going to count cars with "thermal reactors" didn't Porsche use them for a few years too?

nate

Reply to
Nate Nagel

snipped-for-privacy@panix.com (Scott Dorsey) wrote in news:enjmgb$ji$ snipped-for-privacy@panix2.panix.com:

Should have been more clear. I also have a late 70's dodge 318 that just fails and I cannot get it to pass. Will new cat make much diff?

Reply to
Freddie

Yup. BMW also.

Reply to
aarcuda69062

There is an age cutoff in a lot of places for emissions, but the 70's and some early 80's vehicles weren't bad for emissions with a good tune up on them. The trouble is finding a mechanic that knows the old carb systems.

They didn't have Cats most places in the 70's, even my 86 Jeep CJ7 doesn't require a Cat....

If I am worried because of price, I just ask to have it tested. I will pay for the test even. Could be the best 30 bucks spent on it.

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail >
Reply to
Mike Romain

Reply to
Shep

Nate Nagel wrote in news:459d9001$0$4827$ snipped-for-privacy@free.teranews.com:

So did Mazda on their rotaries. Terrible things; they cracked all the time.

Reply to
Tegger

wrote in news:Uhfnh.14847$Gw4.1597 @newssvr23.news.prodigy.net:

At least some jurisdictions (like mine) won't allow ownership transfer without an emissions test.

Reply to
Tegger

This is incorrect. There were several cars that were able to meet emissions requirements without having a cat until the later 70's. NYS can not fail you for not having components that weren't required when the car was manufactured. I believe the last vehicle to not have one would have been a '80 Honda Civic.

Steve B.

Reply to
Steve B.

For cars like yours the emissions test should provide an list of the tests, actual readings and the thresholds. That information should be used to track down the reason your car is failing the emissions test.

Reply to
John S.

Okay, NOW we are getting somewhere. What kind of numbers are you getting on the test?

A new catalytic converter will make a huge difference if the catalytic converter is bad, otherwise it will make no difference at all. Seeing the numbers and the thresholds on the emissions test gives you at least a first peek into what might be wrong.

--scott

Reply to
Scott Dorsey

The Jeep 258 carb engine gets pretty good emissions without the Cat. It uses a Ford ignition module and coil setup. On my last one I got 16 ppm HC, 0.11 CO and 589 NO. This is on the treadmill ASM 2525 test.

I think Canada was a couple years behind the US on Cars and cats, not sure.

Meanwhile, I haven't had any issues really getting old engines tuned to pass emissions. Even my 88 Cherokee with 310K km passes.

Mike

Shep wrote:

Reply to
Mike Romain

As one example of how incredibly wrong you are, many years ago I owned a 1980 Subaru that came brand new from the factory without catalyst. Yes, it was U.S. spec, complete with a "Non-Catalyst" emissions sticker.

Reply to
Roger Blake

Not so odd at all, as there was no blanket requirement at that time. My

1975 Hornet (which I still drive) has no catalytic converter, and never had one. AMC only installed them for California cars and (I'd have to check the manual) possibly V8 cars with manual tranny. Also, as I mentioned in another response, years ago I had a new 1980 Subaru that was non-catalyst.

I'm not sure where this idea comes from that *all* cars sold in the U.S. from 1975-on came equipped with a catalyst. Of course, young people are natural idiots so such ignorance can and should be expected from them, but those of us who were actually there should know better.

Reply to
Roger Blake

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