1978 Lincoln Mark V Pucci Rescue, Update and Emissions

[MarkV]

So back on Easter Sunday I brought home this Mark V which had been off the road for about a decade. It barely ran due to a bad fuel pump and a grossly undersized battery. 
 

Anyway, we got it back to spec replacing all the hoses, fluids, belts, alternator, ignition module, distributor contact, vacuum advance, A/C compressor, tires, shocks, EGR, vacuum hoses, turned the rotors, etc! 
 

the last thing was to pass emissions it was sent to a referee some years ago due to smog irregularities. So I took it to a pre test place and they diagnosed two bad catalytic converters. So we replaced those and off I went to the state referee located at Rio Hondo college. 
 

In California we do emissions testing back to 1976. This car got tagged by the state probably due to someone sending it to a hot smog place 10 years ago. So it was required to take it to the referee which are located at most of the California community colleges.

 

the guy was great! He was training his young college student as part of the automotive program and it was comical to watch this 18 year old not knowing how to shift the car or the surprised look he gave when trying to close the heavy doors! 
 

anyway we passed in flying colors and now the Mark V is road legal once again! 

[TerryB]

That’s a good looking car!

[MarkV]

34 minutes ago, TerryB said:

That’s a good looking car!

Thank you! Once the crazy weather stops I’m going to have it detailed. It will eventually need a repaint but I’ll be happy if it looks good for a year or two! 

[TerryB]

I appreciate the insight to how the CA emissions works for older cars like this.  Here in PA the test is only necessary for cars like yours that are not registered as antique.  If it has antique plates, no emissions testing required.

[vintage1]

Great looking car.  Here in Georgia emission testing is only done for certain counties in the metro Atlanta area and after the car is 25 years old there is no more testing. 

[EmTee]

20 hours ago, MarkV said:

In California we do emissions testing back to 1976. This car got tagged by the state probably due to someone sending it to a hot smog place 10 years ago.

 

NY only requires emission testing on OBD-II cars ('96 and up).  What did you mean by "hot smog place"?  Glad you got it sorted and back on the road! 

[plymouthcranbrook]

In Illinois anything older than 1996 is exempt from testing in areas where tests are done.

[Frank DuVal]

5 hours ago, EmTee said:

 

NY only requires emission testing on OBD-II cars ('96 and up).

Now, but when did it change? i.e. a 1994 vehicle in the year 1999, did it have to get emissions tested? Here in VA it is a 25 year cut off. So 1998 Saturn I just renewed the plates upon did not need emissions testing like it did since it was new. ($28 x  12 = $336).

[MarkV]

To

15 hours ago, EmTee said:

 

NY only requires emission testing on OBD-II cars ('96 and up).  What did you mean by "hot smog place"?  Glad you got it sorted and back on the road! 

There are places that if you slip them money they put the emissions tailpipe tester into another car. I assume that’s why the readings were ‘too good’ and they tagged the car.

 

we used to have a 25 year rolling exemption until it was terminated by the terminator. 

[EmTee]

16 hours ago, Frank DuVal said:

Now, but when did it change?

I live in central NY, so no emission testing was done until it was included as part of the annual safety inspection process.  There's no 'tailpipe test'; the state sells a computer to authorized shops that they plug into the OBD-II port to verify the MIL is out (i.e., no active faults) and the monitors are 'ready' (so a recent reset won't get a pass).  I believe that before this was adopted statewide there were areas downstate (e.g., Long Island) where tailpipe testing was required.  Someone from that area will have to chime-in...

[Frank DuVal]

Here in Virginia the emissions inspection bay has cameras live 24 hours so the state knows what car is being inspected for emissions. 😱

 

Only vehicles registered in the EPA non-attainment area of the 80s/90s require emissions inspection. I add that because our county is no longer non-attainment, but DEQ is not un-requiring us (I asked). 

 

Of course all the OBD I vehicles that required the dyno have aged out of the 25 year cutoff now, luckily. But the dynos are still in the floor. I asked, and they can use the dynos for testing other cars for horsepower/ etc, as the garage owns the dyno. 
 

 

Terminated by the Terminator. Took me a minute. 😉 

 

[rocketraider]

I'm glad we never had all that here in Southside. It's bad enough having to use whatever gasoline formulation the Greensboro NC area has to use, since all our gas comes from the Greensboro tank farm. In the name of air quality of course.

[rocketraider]

On 8/21/2023 at 12:24 PM, MarkV said:

it was comical to watch this 18 year old not knowing how to shift the car or the surprised look he gave when trying to close the heavy doors! 

You ought not to mess with youngins like that.😐

 

 

Bwahahaha!🤭

 

Throw 'em an old HydraMatic if you really want to have some fun.😏

[MarkV]

9 hours ago, Frank DuVal said:

Here in Virginia the emissions inspection bay has cameras live 24 hours so the state knows what car is being inspected for emissions. 😱

 

Only vehicles registered in the EPA non-attainment area of the 80s/90s require emissions inspection. I add that because our county is no longer non-attainment, but DEQ is not un-requiring us (I asked). 

 

Of course all the OBD I vehicles that required the dyno have aged out of the 25 year cutoff now, luckily. But the dynos are still in the floor. I asked, and they can use the dynos for testing other cars for horsepower/ etc, as the garage owns the dyno. 
 

 

Terminated by the Terminator. Took me a minute. 😉 

 

Haha I wondered if anyone was going to pick that up!

[MarkV]

My project today: replace the hood ornament.