smog pump for 90 Mercury Grand Marquis 5.0 (cardone 32-291)

[Sasqtch]

Well,

I bypassed the smog pump 2 years ago, and should have driven by the auto-emissions places on the highway in the months leading up to renewal.
But today I went to the state emissions place, and I was told in the last couple weeks Denver updated their policy to more strict than California?
so, I need a smog-pump.. but there are NONE available through the local parts stores.. I am waiting to hear back from Cardone if I can pull mine and send it in for refurbish.

I don't even need it to work. The car passed all the emissions tests.. but they do a visual inspection and fail your car if it isn't there and attatched to a fan belt under the hood.
So, I've been calling all the junk yards in town and so far all I can find is the 92 or newer.

Does anyone have an old smog pump? or: know of a different fit from another car I can smash on there just long enough to go through emissions attached to my serpentine belt?
If not maybe someone will want to buy my daily driver.. the AC still works.. its a great running car. I just can't pass emissions in the Denver Colorado area.

[WagonMan]

Do you need the brackets bolts and pulley? WagonMan

[Sasqtch]

the stock one is still on there, so I would think I don't need them. Thanks for the reply Wagonman!

[WagonMan]

So all you need is a pump that still spins. Yours is frozen up? WagonMan

[Sasqtch]

Yes, the belt started to whine and the belt was removed within 20 minutes. The pump would not turn by hand. I bypassed the smog pump and put a shorter belt over the upper pully. Left the rest alone.
If you have the pump with no pulley, I'm sure I can swap over the rest of the parts and bolt it all back together. I'll try to remove the existing smog pump tomorrow just to be sure the pully didn't get damaged. (I'm sure it's fine.)

[Tiggie]

I just want to say I am very impressed an inspector would notice it missing if you have the belt running the A/C.

Mine is supposed to be there in the 88 but it passed visuals from 2007 until last year when I stopped driving it.

[Sasqtch]

It's frustrating to read on the report all the passes on the form. HC GPM: pass, CO GPM: pass, Co2 GPM: pass, NoX GPM: pass, air injection system presense Fail, Oxygen sensor presence: fail.
$260 + core charge to get a rebuilt smog pump on a car that doesn't need one, and passes all the quality tests. It makes you think they don't want those of us with small wallets to be allowed to drive.

[Rodentkiller]

Sasqtch I have had to tell people when I was doing Cali smog inspections that their car had failed due to my failing the car and that was due to disconected parts or timeing is off.

[Sasqtch]

That stinks Rodentkiller, did you ever feel bad knowing the car was fine mechanically?

I'm okay with it. Still looking, but it seems there is a part in Colorado Springs.. will call them in the morning, then 75 mile drive to fetch it. But its a part that works for $20. :cheer:

[Mainemantom]

I hated Ca smog requirements. It got worse every year. Then there were the dishonest smog shops. Many old people or women were swindled out of their vehicles. Tech would tell the customer the vehicle failed. Cost to fix would be $____ . The customer had a choice to fix it, leave it at the shop and they would junk it for them for free. or the customer might be able to work a deal with the owner to sell it to the shop. Finally the shop said the customer had to spend $400 before they could apply for a waiver. That was a one time waiver and only good for two years.( The last was a true statement). I saw that happen in Los Angeles and in San Diego.
The majority of these shops were owned by foreigners from countries that hate us. They love our way of live though.

[Sasqtch]

I know a guy that took advantage of LOTS of people when the 'cash for clunkers' program came around.
There were a ton of perfectly good / functional older cars that went away because people were bribed into selling them.

The end result was that tons of people ended up making payments on new er cars and having larger insurance costs.
I bet there were loads of cars gone from our favorite Panther platform when you could trade in your classy old boat for a couple grand payday.

But at least a couple new cars get better gas mileage?

[Lutrova]

I somehow managed to pass Washington state emissions without 3 of 4 catalytic converters, working EGR, or a functional PCV valve. But that was tailpipe only, no visual inspection. Doubt I'd fare as well in California - or apparently Colorado.

As for the newer cars doing better in fuel economy, that only seems to hold true if you trade your Panther for a Prius. Most family cars I see on post are either SUVs or four door pickups. One medic I spoke with told me his pickup got about 12 mpg on the highway. For that kind of mileage you could instead be driving a big block land yacht.

And on insurance, we pay exactly double to insure my wife's '16 Honda Fit over my '87 Lincoln. I can only imagine what a newer, non-economy car's premium looks like.

[Sasqtch]

One thing that chaps my tail about this car is that some drunk teenager managed to steal the hood emblem off the car parked in my own driveway one night a few months back. So the Mercury symbol I was so proud of is gone. The hood looks quite flat without that tiny bit of chrome flying in the center.

Why can't neighborhood thugs leave stuff alone? The door were unlocked. They could have taken the stereo.. but nooo gotta rip the hood ornament off my ride.
Lutrova: on my list of things to do this week is get new insurance. It came out that Geiko overcharged everyone during the pandemic and got away with it. Of course I had Geiko insurance. My insurance went from $40 a month to $64 a month while the car was parked in the driveway 98% of the time and I haven't had any trouble legally in 35 years.

[mcb82gt]

I would try taking the pump apart and gutting it inside first. See if that will stop the lockup.

[Sasqtch]

Thanks mcb82gt: I'll take a look at doing that. But also, if there is one for $20 I can go fetch, it might be nice to have the option of having it handy once I take the old one off rather than be unable to make forward progress.