Failed Smog Test

[TJBONES]

Well I took my 77 spider down for a smog test today and it failed .......Crap........I was not expecting it to fail when i first bought the car i cleaned the tank out and the carb and took it down for a pretest just to see where i stand, I was surprized when the tech said it passed so i paid for the smog test........Cool. put the car on nonopp why i semi restored it, now i'm moving back east so i took the car down to get a fresh smog so it will be easy to sell and it FAILED.........Crap. I have no time to mess with it so i will sell it way cheaper then i had thought. If anyone is interested make me a offer. Its all complete i left off with the interior the radio console need replacing. I recovered the center console and the dash the center console still needs some attention. New top and fresh paint and no rust. The car has less then 35000 miles on it I believe this to be original milage but who knows for sure. Starts right up and drives nice. I will post it in the fore sale section.

[rlux4]

350,000 miles! That's amazing.
I'm guessing that's a typo and it should have been 35,000 miles?
Ron

[TJBONES]

Yes it was a typo if someone drove a spider for 350000 miles i don't think they would ever be able to stand up straight up again.......LOL

[spidernut]

Before giving up on the Spider, you might try taking it to a shop that knows Fiats. Living in Calif, I'm used to my car failing the smog test, then paying for someone to find a leaking vacuum line or tweak the fuel mixture and voila' it passes emissions with flying colors. Many times, it is something small that causes it to fail. Did they offer any suggestions or was it a test-only place?

[dmwhiteoak]

Just curious, how often must a smog test be performed ?

[spidernut]

every two years

[TJBONES]

It was a test only shop but I take all my cars there and they will tweak things if needed but the Fiat is virgin territory for them.
I just posted an update on the problem, I found gas in the oil last night this is for sure the problem. Today i'm looking into this.

[spidernut]

I had the same problem with the fuel pump...gas in the oil. When the mechanic told me, I wasn't a believer but changed the oil and found it smelled like gasoline within a week. I replaced the fuel pump and the problem was solved. it didn't affect the ability of the car to pass emissions in my case. It passed with flying colors after fixing a vacuum leak.