needmorespeed

If it were me this is what I would do, if you think the guy is shady then tell him you want to have the car checked out. Bring it to a place to test the emissions, pass - done deal now worries, fail - bring the car back and walk. You would only be out what the test cost. It would sorta be like insurance for you. Or in Colorado - since we have emissions as well, when I sold my old car I had a contract the buyer and seller sign - I found on it on the internet. I specifically state that I, as the seller, will be responsible for any and all repairs needed if the the car passes emissions. Then I usually put in something like, all work must be done by a factory certified dealer, basically I don't want the buyer taking it to Billy-Bob down the street and saying it needs a new motor when it really only needs an O2 sensor. Then I put a cap on it, saying the test must be performed within x amount of days from the day of sale or I'm not paying for and the buyer is responsible. When I sold my car it was stock and had just passed less than a year before the sale. I felt pretty safe making that guarantee. Since seller's have to take care of emissions, I cut him a check for test cost and said peace.

So you don't necessary have to pass on the car but there are ways to get the seller to pay for any needed emissions repairs if they come up. If the seller thinks it will pass but won't agree to reasonable terms then walk. You can always find another one.

dabsevo

Thanks all. So he luckily did not reply back. He was talking about how if i wanted to see the car not, when I was going to come but the minute i wrote back and said what about now, didn't hear from him. Worse than flaky buyers are flaky sellers. It's like get your **** straight before you post it or something.

Anyway, out of that situation was born my opportunity to get a better mustang. I picked up a 2000 Mustang GT. It's in "mysterious" condition because the owner kind of neglected it and sold it because he wanted a different car. At least that's what he told me. This guy had a CEL and he said it was due to a fuel line leak and was repaired and all I had to do was get a tech to clear the code. Well, i bought a OBD reader and cleared it and it hasn't come back since driving it back home around 40 miles. I dont know how many drive cycles that is but I guess it was fixed.

POTENTIAL risk: the car wasn't smogged. I took a chance on the car. The car in the Original post had no cats and a header so it was for sure not going to pass. Visual and tail pipe emissions readings. But this one has stock exhausts and I looked under the car and saw the cats, no exhaust. I cleared the CEL with my reader. And it passed a few months ago. Unless something major happened, it should pass. I pray nothing bad like a bad converter or engine work though.

Car also has a broken fuel gauge, broken windshield, bald *** tires, missing door lock **** things, no radio, no high beams, small bust in the tail light, cracked bumper but they can all be addressed with TLC. Engine oil was dark and the dude didn't change it but he only had the car for a few months. I'm gonna do a full flush.

For those of you in CA, when the OBD II reader's emission shows green, does that mean it'll pass smog without anything else? I dont know the smog procedure for the 2000+ models but the guy at autozone (very knowledge) said if the OBD II reader shows it's green emissions, then it will pass at the smog station as that's what they use since it's all electronic after 95 or 96.

Subbz

I heard the same thing about any cars after 96. All they do is an OBD II check for smog tests and they rarely do a visual inspection unless they need to for cats. Don't quote me on that though because I've only heard about this on the internet lol.

dabsevo

So I found out a few things since. I dont need to smog. Carfax showed the car was smogged within 90 days so I lucked out there. Registration was past due a week so I got those up to date. Did an oil change today and it was pretty dark stuff. No metal flakes or anything though just used. Went Castrol GTX synthetic.
Next thing i really need to do is fix the fuel gauge. I dont know how to do this.

rbowmar

Congratulations! It sounds like you found a car that works for you-you should be the happy the first seller flaked out on you, he did you the favor of avoiding an emissions nightmare!

Some general smog thoughts:
I am surprised CA doesn't require emissions testing as they do in Colorado, CA being considered to be tougher on emissions. My own car is proof that passing the OBDII tests does not guarantee a clean tail pipe test, at least in Colorado. I could have stuck some unsuspecting buyer with a car that needed cats and engine work.

Considering the aggravation and expense of fixing my own emissions issue, I have become very wary of cars that haven't already passed their smog test.

Enjoy your new car!