YACT: carfax report says failed emission inspection

[Cooljt1]

ran a carfax for a 97 nissan maxima i was looking at and it says it failed the emission inspections july 2002. the guy is asking $7500 for a maxima with 80k miles, abs, bose system, leather so i think its a gle. things that were bad on the carfax was it was a lease vehicle, he is the 2nd owner, and the failed emission inspection. should i even bother with this car? carfax says a car fialing emission inspections means the engine may be going or something.

 

[isekii]

I'm guessing the car's in california, don't you guys have like the most strict emmission regulation ?

 

[Nocturnal]

I'd suggest not touching it with a ten foot pole unless you can get it looked at by a mechanic.

 

[Cooljt1]

yeah, the car is in califrornia

 

[isekii]

I know my former car now my brothers car failed inspection cuz of a faulty gas cap.

would that count towards emmissions ?

 

[Cooljt1]

hmm....failed emission because of fault gas cap....so are emissions inspection failings pretty common in california?

 

[T2T III]

On a previous vehicle, our emissions test also failed. The O2 sensor was bad. We had a mechanic install an O2 sensor from the dealership and the emissions numbers were back in-line.

While it could be a red flag that the vehicle didn't pass an emissions test, I would not write every car off that has failed the test. It could be a very minor thing that caused the failure.

 

[Eli]

Originally posted by: Tiles2Tech
On a previous vehicle, our emissions test also failed. The O2 sensor was bad. We had a mechanic install an O2 sensor from the dealership and the emissions numbers were back in-line.

While it could be a red flag that the vehicle didn't pass an emissions test, I would not write every car off that has failed the test. It could be a very minor thing that caused the failure.

 

[isekii]

Originally posted by: Cooljt1
hmm....failed emission because of fault gas cap....so are emissions inspection failings pretty common in california?

I'm in NJ and they're pretty strict here too

 

[Cooljt1]

so should i just test drive it and have a mechanic check it out to see if it will pass emission inspections?

 

[T2T III]

Originally posted by: Cooljt1
so should i just test drive it and have a mechanic check it out to see if it will pass emission inspections?

Yes, that sounds like a good start. Enjoy!!

 

[Cooljt1]

anyone know how much it costs to have a mechanic check out a seller's car? how exactly would that work?

 

[T2T III]

Originally posted by: Cooljt1
anyone know how much it costs to have a mechanic check out a seller's car? how exactly would that work?

If you have a mechanic near you that you trust, you could inquire about their prices for such an inspection. My guess is that it would be no more than $100. The mechanic would put the car on the lift and check the condition of the vehicle as well as look for any seal leaks. A good mechanic might even go as far as checking the body of the vehicle for any body fillers -- which might indicate the vehicle had been in a previous accident.

 

[prvteye2003]

Originally posted by: Tiles2Tech
On a previous vehicle, our emissions test also failed. The O2 sensor was bad. We had a mechanic install an O2 sensor from the dealership and the emissions numbers were back in-line.

While it could be a red flag that the vehicle didn't pass an emissions test, I would not write every car off that has failed the test. It could be a very minor thing that caused the failure.

 

[d33pt]

my car also has a failed smog record on carfax because of a bad gas cap...

 

[Cooljt1]

how exactly do you have a bad gas cap? seal is broken or something?