Should not passing emissions be a deal breaker?
 

Hey guys, your opionions on this would be appreciated. Im about to get an evo 8 and I feel that its a really good deal. Low miles, clean, great price etc. I already had it inspected in a shop and all was clear. The only thing is this car does not pass emissions. I live in washington and they got strict smog rules and im afraid I wont be able to get tabs. Is it easy enough to get around issues like this or should this be a deal breaker?

Why won't it pass? No cat? If that's it, pick up a used cat, throw it on there, and you should be set. If that's not the reason, supply some more details so we can help you out.

yea man, we need more details. local tuners can also due forced emission just depends on what its failing.

It does have a cat. The guy is taking it in Tuesday to have it tested again. The tabs are expired on it now so I told him I wanted him to take it in to see if it passes before I bought it. He said last time he had it in to have it tested though that it did not pass. So I guess I wont know what codes are causing it to fail until tuesday when he retests it. Most obvious reason why I would suspect it would fail would be the visual check. I heard washington state performs a visual check that needs to be passed as well when performing the emissions test. I know the car has aftermarket headers, exhaust, intake, and bov. My main concern is buying a car that I cant ever get tabbed.

if there is a check engine light at all in utah, they will fail it for either safety or emissions.

find out all that it fails for and google some prices for the fix and also check in the private sales for used sensors/parts for a cheaper fix.....avoid the "stealership" unless the sellers pays to get it fixed haha.

shame on him for selling a shifty evo though.

one thing i can recommend is doing a compression test ( if your shop didnt do it already)

a modded evo usually means it may been driven hard. make sure the compression is good and not bellow 120 and that all cylinders are within 10% of each-other. if they are way off and you still want it low ball him cause you will need a rebuild lol.


just my 0.02

Awesome I appreciate the advice. I guess I will know more tuesday when the emissions results come back and post it up on here.

What's the verdict?

Is the car on the stock turbo? Even if you can't figure out why you aren't passing smog its not too hard to find a smog hookup

Reading this, i am SOOOOOO glad i live in a state with no emission tests

Ok so finally got the test complete and it.......passed! I guess what ended up happening was he said he just cleared the codes and then took it in. I thought it sounded suspicious that he said originally that it wouldnt pass and now all of a sudden it does. But I looked over the paper carefully and it is a legit state certified smog pass. Either way, I'm going to pick up the car this weekend and will be an official evo owner.

Good to hear! You compression test it?

If you clear the codes, it takes about 60 miles or so for the checks to be completed. If they arent completed you'll fail smog.

I want against your advice and did not have it compression tested. Theres been enough people interested in this car that I opted to not keep dragging it out. I feel fairly confident that its a good car being that the mechanics at the shop said that car was near perfect and now its passed emissions as well. Even better im getting a pretty good deal on it. 2003 45k original miles. Clean title/carfax

bigger question to add a little thought to it is why does it only have 45k original miles on it when its a 2003? did the motor go POP and she sat in a garage for a year or more. not saying it did. just a thought for the next purchase. but if she's cherry all around then thumbs up bro.

and high fives with domzerozero1 for also not having emission testing. woot!