1979 dodge mobile traveler 360cl wont pass emissions

We need a public nick-name for double-digit IQ questions such as the 21 reasons a battery cannot be removed and tested at a parts store for free. Six pages of exotic permutations.

landyacht318 wrote:
Try and find the humor in your waste of time.

I like the recommendation that the owner of a 40 year old rv just buy something newer, because obviously they have lots of money laying around, and they came to a RV internet forum for help as all the high $$ mechanics in their area were dumbfounded.

Regarding Co vs CO2, how many threads on this forum have had questions or comments about about the parasitic draw of their CO2 detector, and specify it as co2 multiple times?

Nazifornia lists no allowable CO2% parameters, but Utah does?
Seems unlikely.

Not "humor" or even "sarcasm" with my suggestion.

I DO have sever antique autos, one that is 118 yrs young and one that is 46 yrs young.

NEITHER vehicles are practical for EVERY DAY USE, PERIOD..

BOTH vehicles consume HUGE AMOUNTS OF TIME AND MONEY just to keep them is "derivable" condition for OCCASIONAL USE.

I GREW UP working around engines (Hit and Miss oil well engines) and equipment OLDER THAN YOU (unless you are 100 yrs old).

Finding a mechanic that even has a clue what a carburetor is on a automobile and how to adjust it is like pushing a boulder up a mountain WITH YOUR NOSE is pretty much not happening.

Most of those good mechanics which worked on vehicles in the 1970s and before are retired OR DEAD.. The kids of those mechanics sold the business and or scrapped the equipment because they didn't have a clue, didn't understand, didn't care, could be bothered with old technology.

Heck 10 yrs ago, my Dad couldn't even find a mechanic that could work on a 1987 EFI engine with OBD1, most of the mechanics had tossed out the shop manuals AND EQUIPMENT.

Sorry, A 40 yr old MH is not worth much, tossing a lot of money and energy into a 1979 vehicle such as that is pretty much flushing good money right down the sewer system.. Whats the OP going to do in 2 yrs when it doesn't pass AGAIN?

A 1979 engine IS a wimp, it eats fuel like it is going out of style and barely had enough power to make it up steep hills. 1970s was not "kind" to automobile engines with the mandated pollution stuff.. Wasn't until you get into the late 1990s, early 2000 before you started to get engines much, much more powerful (AND FUEL EFFICIENT).

Yeah, I remember when my Dad bought his 1980 truck, 400 CID with 4.10 axle, 11% grade up hill EMPTY it topped out at 40 MPH! Empty mileage was barely 6 MPG with a stiff wind to your back, loaded with a TC was getting 4 MPG!

Don't give me that pity party thing about money, if you can afford the fuel you are feeding it, should not have much of a issue with finding a slightly newer than 40 yr old MH which will get better fuel economy (saving you money) and have considerably better power..

Parts for that old stuff (especially Dodge) is not easy to find nor cheap.. Heck for my 46 yr old antique car I have had to MAKE nearly every body part by hand.. Some mechanical parts I have to MATCH other parts from similar body/chassis of different vehicles..

And forget about finding parts for my 118 yr old antique, those parts are not sold in stores and I must MAKE EVERY THING BY HAND WHEN IT BREAKS..

While I suspect the OP might be able to get the CO2 near the requirements this time, the next time down the road the emissions requires CAN be "tightened up" to the point it will never pass! Seems to me, the OP is buying only a couple more yrs in their state..

You can thank a lot of the green folks for this, it is planned obsolescence via "emission testing/regulations"..

Perhaps take a step back and think of it like computers, 1979 vehicle would be like trying to operate a Commodore Vic 20, Atari 400, Timex Sinclair on the Internet today.. That technology was cutting edge back then, now, not so much..

The humor continues.

The OP likely does not have the finances to buy anything newer, thus why they signed up to this forum, just to ask a question on how to get their likely new to them antique RV, that they are intending to live full time within, to pass a smog test.

Seems highly unlikely he she/them are just fans of 1979 vintage RV's.

They likely have confused CO, with CO2, and have little to no ability to work on their own stuff, much less diagnose issues. Changing the Spark plugs and an oil change, could be the near limits of their abilities, and they came here hoping someone with lots of experience with that particular RV/ engine combo could point them in the least expensive direction so they could get that magic legal sticker/ paper, and worry instead, about all the other things that those with limited finances worry about.

But please elaborate more about your multiple antique vehicles and how great you are. I'm sure the OP, if they ever bother returning, is in complete awe.

I tried but obviously, he wasn't into learning. I spent a lot of time learning the LA3 engine quirks.

Californiastan is so far to the left it completed the circle but the occupants are convinced they made a 180-degree u-turn, and are going backward. Bassackwards is more like it. Proposition 13 the Gann Jarvis act slashed property taxes. When the Central Committee rediscovers twenty to ninety thousand dollars per year revenue waiting, half the state will be living in their rigs paying only a nominal ten to twenty thousand dollar tax living in their novelle micro homes. Imagine the revenue possibilities of ten-story parking structure filled with RV's in an abandoned mall site. San Francisco, parking structure. NO COMMUTING!

In defense,I loved my 21 ft '77 class C w/ a 360. Just out of warranty, put a Holley 4 barrel, hooker headers, and a distributor advance curve kit, and it was one of the best running RVs I ever had, and would pull 10 MPG anytime I kept my foot out of it. And pulling 6% donner Pass w/ my 19 ft I/O to Tahoe, would still get 8-9 MPG on the round trip. Wish I still had it,.........so there !!

According to Google, in Utah all vehicles from 1967 on need emissions testing.

I wonder if you can tag the vehicle in another state to get around the emissions stuff?

maillemaker wrote:
According to Google, in Utah all vehicles from 1967 on need emissions testing.

I wonder if you can tag the vehicle in another state to get around the emissions stuff?

Many states require that the vehicle "appears to be tested." (think tax revenue) However, you may be able strike a deal where it doesn't have to actually "pass" or get special exemptions for a period of time.

You can "get around the emissions stuff" for a while, but eventually questionable vehicles get ticketed for something where they are clearly being regularly operated ON a public roadway. That's where the problems begin. (the plates get run through a database) In this day and age you can run, but you can't hide forever.

Chum lee

if its just a idle tailpipe test raise the idle and take some ign. timing out of it if you have a shop with a exhaust analyzer it would help

Lucky it isn't from Kalifornistan.

Two classes of emission exam. The first one is bad enough. But years ago the Politburo and Central Committee designated cars of a certain ages to be GROSS POLLUTERS. Mandatory. $157.00 ANNUAL FEE.

Like the luxury tax back in the eighties, the state wasn't satisfied with a stiff tax so they quadrupled it. And tens of millions of dollars of luxury tax fell to $0.00

Proving the state legislators are pretty fartsmellers.

My old Dodge Spirit had been on the lowest 10% of polluters test results wise and I was paying eighty dollars a year. Now I pay ZERO meaning not a cent. Politicians tend to be revenue artists. Like failed lawyers and over billing.

You can sniff a little of what's in store RV wise by paying attention to the policies of the newest breed of US legislators.

The 4-horsewomen of the Apocalypse. Radical? Bezerkeley CA now has a law -- No new natural gas permits. It's all electric and the legislature just passed a bill that's going to tax people more than $500,000,000 for the damages of last year's fires.

Keep an eye out for pending legislation for your state with regards to anything that can affect the liberty of RV'ing. Like A.O. Cortez said. "Airplanes are horrible polluters and should be banned" Take the midnight train to Paris or Tokyo?

Usually the state capitol's newsprint online carries pending legislation. You know sane ideas like turning natural gas energy generation into "all electric"

Imagine the cost of RV'ing in your state becoming so expensive, that when asked only the financially comfortable could respond. If I ever decided to go that way I have people that would do it for me".

Like the luxury tax back in the eighties, the state wasn't satisfied with a stiff tax so they quadrupled it. And tens of millions of dollars of luxury tax fell to $0.00

The objective was not to raise money, the objective was just what they achieve - to make those vehicles go away.