3 Ways to Avoid Failing Your Next Vehicle Smog Test
Passenger vehicles can be a significant source of pollution. The emissions released from a car or truck can seriously compromise air quality. Smog testing is required in most jurisdictions to ensure that passenger vehicles are meeting strict requirements in terms of the pollutants they emit on a regular basis.
If your vehicle doesn't pass a smog test, you can't legally drive it on public roadways. Fortunately, there are some things that you can do to avoid failing a smog test in the future.
1. Use a Fuel Additive
One of the easiest things that you can do to help your car or truck pass a smog test is to use a fuel additive. Each time you fill up your vehicle's gas tank, you can add a dose of fuel additive to the tank as well.
Fuel additives are designed to help your engine run more efficiently. They prevent fuel from leaving behind any trace residue that might increase the amount of pollution released through your vehicle's emission. Using a fuel additive will reduce the possibility that contaminant buildup within your engine will cause your vehicle to fail a smog test in the future.
2. Check Your Tires
You might not see a connection between the condition of your tires and the outcome of a smog test, but under-inflated tires could produce a negative test result.
Most cars are placed on a machine known as a dynamometer during a smog test. The dynamometer simulates driving conditions and allows a technician to monitor the emissions produced while a vehicle is in use.
If your tires are not properly inflated, your car can't maintain maximum stability during the smog test. This instability could cause a false positive reading. Check tire pressure frequently, and have any bad tires replaced to avoid failing a smog test.
3. Complete Maintenance Early
Routine maintenance is required to keep your vehicle running smoothly. It's important that you schedule any maintenance your vehicle needs well in advance of a smog test. The battery is typically disconnected to facilitate safe repairs. This disconnection has the potential to temporarily erase all of the data stored on your vehicle's memory chip.
The information on the memory chip must be present for a technician to complete a smog test successfully. You will need to drive your vehicle for a period of time after any routine maintenance to store new data in the memory chip.
To learn more, go to websites like https://www.westcoastsmogtest.com/.
