[quote=Hobie]Shouldn’t the car be warmed up enough and kept running before the smog test? With a head gasket failure it would probably fail the emissions but visual??

Barr’s head gasket sealer will work provided it is not a huge leak.

Obviously, you are on borrowed time but maybe a different tech could help.[/quote]

You know that’s what I thought. The tech didn’t do that, and it smoked. Plus the car hadn’t been driving in a month… I drove it for 1 hour just now and when I start up, it doesn’t smoke anymore.

So I’m wondering if there was a tiny oil leak in the head gasket that burned off once it’s driven daily.

The jerk smog check station in miramar charged me $40 and isn’t offering me a free retest. I think I’m going to take it to poway smog in march.

The way they do smog tests these days is they do an OBD scan and then they step on the gas pedal a few times to confirm if they see any smoke from the tailpipe. It’s pretty stupid and I should have known….

I do have a coolant leak, but that’a different issue. I have a tiny hole seaping out of the radiator when I it something, but it is literally a drop every two days or so.

Some have also told me to try to run a thicker oil. My current oil is 0w40 as it was recommended to me. I’ll switch to a 5w40. I’m due for an oil change anyway.