Hey guys, I went to NJ inspection today and failed due to Visible Smoke. The smoke is a dark color. When I hit the gas is comes out in a cloud. Even at idle I have some smoke. Now I have 45 days. IS this goin to cost me over 500 dollars to fix, its an L03. 305. If its goin to be that much, I am just goin to put in an entire new Engine. Give me some Opinions PLease!! Thanks alot Chris Murphy

 

does the smoke smell stinky like gas or does it smell like burnt oil?

if it's burning oil there's not much you can do.. you could try putting some really thick oil additives in there to pass inspection (ie. Smoke-B-Gone or STP) but that's just a quick fix..

looks like your engine is either running really rich or is burning oil (which means a rebuild)

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Webmaster: www.IROC-Z.org

 

If the car is running really rich, then what do I do to fix that, Up the Fuel Pressure? And after i do this will it change performance? thanks

 

well, i would see if you can figure out what values the O2 sensor is seeing and go from there..

it might give you a normal reading, have you ever changed it? that's the first thing I would do..

you can also change your spark plugs (with AC Delcos) and 'read' them to see what kinda condition they are in..

 

what were your emision levels HC and CO.

 

Hey, They didnt even do an emmisions test, they saw the smoke and Failed me for Visible Smoke. So no reading were available.

 

you might get lucky and find out it's just your valve seals.this happened to mine. At first it would just smoke a little when I started it up in the morning.... but a few months later it would smoke all the time. I had a warrenty so it didn't cost me much. but if I had to pay it all it would of been around $600.

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88 Formula WS6 TBI (will be 350 soon.)
The other hobby
http://home.rochester.rr.com/hoscar/indexn.html

 

What a bunch of boneheads... you'd think they'd have run the normal test anyway. I'm with ColinOpseth; change the oxy sensor out. It's a $30 part and might make all the difference.

Here's what I did to my '86 2.8l to pass the NJ emissions test (with flying colors):

1. Replaced old K&N with new Kmart $6 filter
2. Removed ADS chip, put GM chip back in
3. Removed 160 'stat, put back in '195 (test was in January- too cold!)
4. Pulled distributor cap, scraped off carbon deposits on inside terminals with small file
5. Sprayed a 1/2 can of "throttle body & intake cleaner" into the intake
6. Covered 1/2 of radiator with cardboard (remember, test was in the cold of January)
7. Weekend before test: dumped a bottle of Pep Boys' $7 "Guaranteed to Pass" in a full tank of 93 octane, following the bottle's directions

I suppose I could've also pulled spark plugs, and cleaned & re-gapped the electrodes. I didn't want to replace wires/plugs/fuel filter/etc because I do a major tuneup every summer. My stuff was only 6 months old, and I wanted to put new stuff on in 6 months. That's why I just didn't replace the distributor cap. But overall I think Colin's right... if they gave you some test #'s you could go by that.

That silver can of "Restore" is also supposed to take care of oil smoke caused by worn piston rings...


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-Tom P (Hot rodded 1986 Firebird 2.8l) from http://www.f-body.net/mailbag/3rd/3rd_mailbag.html message boards
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