Oil change a must prior to emmisions insp?

[97tbird]

Hi all,

I'm taking my car (97 T-bird 4.6L) to emmisons inspection on Thu at a Ford dealership here NC. The car has 100k miles, and runs good with no notable problems.

My qusetion is: The oil I have now (mobil-1 syn.5/40) has only about 3,500 miles on it, and that's not much by synthetic standards, I think. But do you guys think it's necessary to change the oil anyway to help the car pass emissions better/easier?
or does oil have any effect on emissions at all?
[If it doesn't, I'd like to change oil later, and not just now]

What do you guys think?

Also: I got aftermarket (cheap, sort of) w/wipers about 6 months ago, and i hate them: noisy/chatter/streaky etc, etc. What is a good brand of wiper blades? I've heard that Motorcraft wiper blades are good or probably the only ones that work well with Fords...is that true? any experience with those?

Thanks in advance.

 

[oldman]

97tbird-I normally change the oil before I take my vehicle to md emmissions. My son-in-law took our work trucks, F-150 1994, and E-350 1997, in the other day and the F-150 110k went through the fast pass, best, and the E-350 52k took a little longer but did not have any problems. Who knows?

 

[JohnnyO]

See if it passes first. Guy in CA on my Ranger site got his to pass by using M1. If it doesn't burn any oil, I don't see that it would matter.
I haven't found a long wiper that works on my wife's new Taurus yet. Tried ANCO 24", chatter, moved down to a 22", chatter.... I think it's because they're so long. I use Rain-X too. I'll try Bosch wipers next.

 

[oldman]

I use Bosch on all of my cars and trucks. They are the best and seem to last longer than others. They don't sell the insert blades anymore, you have to buy the complete wiper assembly. The ones I just put on my Tundra were about 9$ each at Advance Auto Parts.

 

[seotaji]

i agree with the others, see if it passes first. i doubt you have anything to worry about since if it doesn't pass you have 30 days to correct, and in that time you can do all sorts of legal things to succeed.

the ANCO wipers are expensive junk.

the frame should never be made of plastic and they seem to use super low quality rubber.

bosch are great, but the price is outrageous.

i'd rather use OEM, but it's most likely b/c mine are made in japan

and are cheaper.

also it's reccomended to change every 6 mos. though i know most people sometimes go years with the same pair (such as my dad who damaged the windshield).

also, for the chattering, make sure there isn't anything coating the glass. use ammonia if you have to. i usually give my windows a quick wipe down with castrol brand waterrepellant (beside the rain-x in wal-mart), it's easier to apply and cheaper. you can also wax the glass.

run your fingernail across the surface, if it catches it most likely needs a buffing/polish by a pro.

[ October 04, 2004, 08:43 PM: Message edited by: seotaji ]

 

[2004 F150 4x4]

97tbird, I would skip the oil change and see if it passes. IF it does'nt add a bottle of RXP gas treatment and retest. That normally does the trick.
Dave

 

[SteveD2]

On my old Jeep, I passed right after it had been sitting for 3 years, with BLACK oil in the crankcase, and alot of that oil entering the intake through the CCV hoses, 3 year old gas in the tank, a bad thermostat so it wasn't up to temperature, and a cat that started ratling!

The guy was actually surprised how clean it was running!

 

[97tbird]

quote:

---

Originally posted by 2004 F150 4x4:
IF it does'nt add a bottle of RXP gas treatment and retest. That normally does the trick.
Dave

---

Thanks to ALL who replied. I'll try the em.test without oil change, and see how it goes.

Dave,
What's RXP? never heard of it.
Any more info on that?

 

[Gary Allan]

oldman ...errr don't you have the OBDII test in your neck of MD?? A message list aquaintance of mine installed a MOPAR STAGE III cam in his jeep and we wanted to know how it effected his emissions. He said he didn't know because all the mechanic did was plug in a scanner ..get "no codes" and gave him is cert/receipt allowing him to get his tags. He too lives in Maryland ..and at least two of the three vehicles you mentioned should by all means be OBDII.

Just curious if your in some county that is different.

 

[2004 F150 4x4]

RXP is a gas treatment, it's a little expensive. About 8 bucks for 4 ozs. i have had the same luck using a bottle of STP Gas treatment if you can't find the RXP in your area.

 

[Alan]

In some states like MD an OBD-II car has a scanning tool thrown on it.Nothing is put on the tailpipe.Very quick.

 

[slalom44]

Any alcohol in the fuel will help you pass this emissions test. Many of these gas treatments have alcohol in them. Some gas stations use alcohol to boost the octane. RXP Gas treatment likely has some form of alcohol in it.

Alcohol added to the fuel makes it an "oxygenated fuel". This increases the amount of oxygen in the gas/fuel mixture, therefore giving you less hydrocarbons (unburnt fuel) out your tailpipe. And because alcohol burns at a lower temperature, it will slightly reduce your exhaust temps, therefore reducing the production of NOX emissions. It's not a huge difference, but sometimes you're just borderline and a little alcohol makes the difference.

 

[Jack from Charlotte]

Have read several places driving the car at fairly high speed in order to heat up the cats, prior to going for inspection is a big help on lowering your tailpipe numbers.

I also use a Bosch wiper. It's a fairly high end but I can't recall it's name. Put one one my wife's former car.... A Jag with only one large wiper. Worked great for years. Also, Rain-x helps greatly, too.

 

[seotaji]

bosch micro edge

micro edge excel

 

[FowVay]

It was mentioned above in a earlier post but the emissions test for a OBD-2 compliant vehicle should be nothing more that a scan of the cars computer to determine if there are any stored DTC's. You can scan your codes beforehand if you are concerned.

 

[brianl703]

quote:

---

Originally posted by FowVay:
It was mentioned above in a earlier post but the emissions test for a OBD-2 compliant vehicle should be nothing more that a scan of the cars computer to determine if there are any stored DTC's.

---

Depends on the state.

Virginia currently does an ASM dyno test of all vehicles(except AWD vehicles), OBD-2 or not.

AWD vehicles get a 2-speed idle test.

 

[SteveD2]

Here all they do is hook up to the computer for OBDII. All the older ones are dyno'ed.

 

[MONKEYMAN]

A squirt of dish soap (Dawn, Ajax) in a bucket of water cleans windows well. I use the sponge side of the squeegee to loosen the dirt. Then I remove the soap and water with a professional squeegee. Sometimes I finish with some Rain-X (green windshield wiper fluid/summer variety) in a spray bottle. Spray and wipe the windshield with a cloth. This does not smear like the concentrate in the yellow bottle and is cheap. Also, I wipe the wiper blades to remove deposits. When the windshield and blades are dirty, I get chatter.

 

[97tbird]

Thanks to all!

The Bird passed emitions with no prob's at all; they just checked for OBD-II codes. Bird also turned 100k miles (trouble-free) on the same day..

again, thanks to all for advice.

 

[kenw]

glad it passed, and sorry for being late to post.

I had a very seasoned inspector get a car of mine to pass (2nd and last chance of the day) by keeping the RPM just under the max on the test computer. This was for the Texas sniffer test.