Aux. tank won't pass CA smog

[SoCalCruiser]

Bad news fron the higher-ups here in California.

I was told today that the aux. gas tank on my new '89 GW needs to go, or, provide proof that the tank was manufactured and designed to fit into my GW, and have the second tank vented to the canister (it's not now). It needs to be put back to original.


So, are there any West LA listers out there who can point me to a qualified GW mechanic that can put it back to original?

I'm new to the GW world and I'm all ready tired of being ripped off by the local dealer.

Thanks,

Craig

[Stuka]

How did they find out you have a second tank? I live in Cali and they never looked under my truck to see if I had a second tank (i dont). They didnt even really check annything. Just stuck the sniffer in, screwed my timing, and leaned my truck WAY out. Mind you I live in a rural area, only time things get smogged here is if you buy/sell a vehicle.

[SoCalCruiser]

Hey Stuka-

I just bought my GW a few weeks ago and the people I bought it from didn't do the smog test (as the seller is supposed to).

Here in Santa Monica, the smog guy spent 15 minutes UNDER my truck looking at the tank. They told me that the car must pass the visual as well as the tailpipe test to pass.

Craig

[reddog]

Hey Craig,

Sorry to hear of your problem. Hows about you tell them its a WATER TANK! :D I live in WLA and just got through with my visits to the smog police. NO FUN!

It doesn't take long to get tired of dealer - maybe 1 visit or less. :rolleyes: BTW which dealer?? I swore off going to Buerge some time ago.

I cannot recommend a decent mech but may be able to give you hand. If you would like to get together I could take a look at your GW and possibly remove the tank with your help - I would even take the tank off your hands :D :D I suspect that it would not be too hard to remove the aux tank and terminate any hoses so that you can make the smog police happy. Email me and let me know or if you ever need a hand with your GW.

Kerry

[Yaz]

well it was dealer option i think, and there is a company now that still makes them for us, see if you can say it was theres...(i forgot there site but if i find it ill send it)

see if you lived in long island NY i would be able to get you passed smile.gif

[SoCalCruiser]

The sticker by the switch under the dash to change tanks says 'Travel Tanks' on it. I can't find a web site for them.

Maybe I should move to Long Island?

Craig

[Yaz]

FOUND IT!! it was on the site but ofcourse the search tool does not work! so i had to go page by page..

http://www.aerotanks.com/

maybe you can print out a certain part of the webpage and bring it to the mech..

[SoCalCruiser]

Thanks for the Aero Tanks web site.

If I want to keep an aux. tank, then I need to have another charcoal canister installed.

So I would need to buy a tank to replace mine and another charcoal canister to accomodate the tank.

I'd rather put the $$ into something else, like new leaf springs because I just found out that one of mine is broken.

Craig

[Yaz]

i dont mean buy one i mean just print out the app page and say "here mister mean mech, my aux tank if from them and it says right here that its for MY jeep, so pass the thing already!"

(watch they say ok and fail you on somthing else..)

[SoCalCruiser]

The guy today told me that I needed a bunch of numbers to verify the tank.He said it was a major hastle, so I'd rather just remove it.

Craig

[89GWagonLTD]

well that makes two of us.. well at least the not passing the smog test part and I didn't know the seller had to do it (i'm a nebraska transplant only been in CA a couple of years now)the mechanic I got now is going to get it in shape for hopefully a minimal cost (hopefully).

[Stuka]

Uhm, if i remeber right "Travel Tanks" was a factory option.

BTW: you cant just pay guys off in california. The computer takes the readings, sends it to a computer in sacramento, then sends back the pass/fail results. Its impossible to cheat really, unless you had another vehicle theere that ya managed to get them to use.

[Yaz]

oh yea try calling a jeep dealer to see if they will have info on if it was an option

[angry joe]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>


BTW: you cant just pay guys off in california. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

everything has a price. my rig doesn't have any smog equipment. it won't pass a visual, computer or anything else for that matter. how bad you want it smoged determens the price you pay. but you didn't here anything from me. if any officals are reading this i was just kidding. :D

angry joe

[JOECOOL]

That sucks. GO SOMEPLACE ELSE.
Would it at least pass without the tank? :mad:

[GaWd]

Of course you can pay someone, EVEN in CA!

Money buys everything but love, ESPECIALLY here. Smog is easy to buy in my part of the state.

Sam

[SoCalCruiser]

I think that I'm all ready busted since I went to a state run facility. My name and licence plate are now in the computer.

I might give another smog place a chance today, though. See what happens.

My truck has a strong gas odor when it's running. It might be that the charcoal canister can't handle the dual tanks. I don't know, but it bothers me.

Craig

[Yaz]

well here in NY after 3 weeks you are forgotton about, that happened to me..(failed my dyno test by 1.91 on the cO and i went for a retry and had to reenter my jeep into the computer...)

[GaWd]

Oh no, make no mistake about it, the minute you step into a state smog-shop, or your dealer reports you, you are screwed.

Not to rain on your parade, but it's terribly difficult to deal with a car that has to go to the state or has been reported as a gross polluter by a dealer.


Sam

[SoCalCruiser]

My truck did pass the pre-test at the local gas station, but the visual is what triggered the red flag.

The guy at the state run facility said that if the truck was retested, the numbers would be similar. But because the aux. tank isn't vented properly, it fails the visual, which means it fails the entire test.

He also was really nice in that he told me that it will fail the visual test and do I want to run the tailpipe test knowing that it will fail anyway (wink, wink)? So I said 'no' and he said "So, you decline having the test performed" and I said 'yes' and he said 'good'

So I know my name is in his computer, but I don't think any info was sent to Sacramento.

Craig

[GaWd]

THat was very nice of him Craig.

My friend's mom had a VW Bug that the dealer(gag) couldn't smog, so they reported the car as a gross polluter before offering the 'wink, wink' to her, and it's been hell ever since.

Bad experiences.

Sam

[Puvong]

I don't think the guy send any of your info to Sacramento yet, but make sure to go back or call him about that. My FSJ also have an Aux.tank too and never had any problem here in the Bay area. I would try to go to another shops to see what they say?.

[fsj401]

of you could send your aux tank to san jose and ill install it on my jeep....I called aerotanks...and for 910 bucks they offer a pachage of the replacement stock tank of 40 gallons and the aux tank of 29 gallons and all hardware needed to install. I guess its one more thing to put on the list of upgrades.

Jeff

[SoCalCruiser]

I just got off the telephone with AeroTanks. The lady told me that 'Travel Tanks' which is what I have, is out of business.

So, for $500 they will fix my aux. tank, or for $700 they will install one of theirs. Or For next to nothing I can just yank out the old one and make it stock again.


Decisions, decisions
.

Craig

[Yaz]

socal call a dealer on info about dealer/factory gas tanks. some wags came with a second tank

[SoCalCruiser]

Mine is an after-market tank.

Craig

[Rande]

Why do you Californians put up with this? Don't you have the right to vote? Don't you have any guns?

[MistWolf]

Just vent the sucker! It's easy to run it to the existing vent lines and just tee it together

[SoCalCruiser]

The aux. tank doesn't have a place to hook up a vent line.

The 2 tanks are hooked up in tandem with 1 vent line going from the main tank to the charcoal canister, or something like that. The canister can't handle both tanks. My truck has a serious gas smell at idle. The state inspector thought it is due to the inability of the canister to handle the quantity of fumes from both tanks.

With gas prices what they are, I've only filled both tanks once since I bought the truck a month ago, and that was because I was going to Palm Springs and wanted to test the mileage. $80 to fill both tanks made my wallet hurt for a long time. :eek:

Craig

[Iron Horse]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by SoCalCruiser:
$80 to fill both tanks made my wallet hurt for a long time. :eek:

Craig<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

You've obviously never owned a Ch**y Su-BURP-an :D I gotta fill out the loan paper work eveytime I pull that thing into the gas station! :D

[joe]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by SoCalCruiser:
My truck has a serious gas smell at idle. The state inspector thought it is due to the inability of the canister to handle the quantity of fumes from both tanks.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I don't know how an 89 is set up but a lot of the charcoal canisters have changable filters and when they get saturated they reek of gas. Might want to check and see if yours has one.

[SoCalCruiser]

The charcaol canister is brand new . The local dealer (Buerge in Santa Monica) talked me into buying a bunch of new (expensive) emissions parts because they scared me into thinking that the car wouldn't pass the smog test.

I sold a Mercedes diesel (23mpg) to buy the GW (12mpg) at a time when gas was $2.10 per gallon and diesel topped out at $1.68.

Craig