I am having trouble smoging my F150, its a 76. My truck has the 360. I put some pre mix dirt bike gas in it at one point and i thought that might have been the problem. However at the smog place they said there some some potentially serious problem. I have run some premium gas through it hoping to clear the premix, however I have notice it is perhaps burning oil. There is a grayish smoke coming out. Any advice would be appreciated, perhaps someone know about a reoccurring problem with the 360's.
Thanks

 

Welcome to the forum.

What part of the test is it failing?

 

Gas/oil premix in an unleaded gas only engine????....no wonder your having troubles..youve probably fouled your spark plugs and are now failing the hydrocarbons part of the smog test. Not to mention that yes if youve put premix in there it is burning oil..the oil YOU put in there haha. I would drain whichever tank you put it in..fill it with new clean gas...and change your fuel filter as well and replace your spark plugs..that might clean it up.

An eninge like that isnt EVER meant to have premix in it..if you put it in there it will run and behave exactly as if you needed new valves. Out of curiosity why did you put it in there in the first place?
-Chris

 

Just pull the plugs and check for oil fouling.

also,your Topic is really "Emissions & Testing"

SMOG is what cities deal with in thew atmosphere


Black Smoke = Rich Fuel condition

Blue Smoke = Buring oil condition ( Bad rings or Valve guides & seals)

White Smoke = Water or coolant getting into combustion chamber.

During cold temps.....exhaust should appear white.

 

a couple of gallons of pre mix gas should not hurt. the FE motors are notoriois pollutors change youre fuel filter and plugs and over gap the plugs 3 to 4 thousanths and make sure the choke is not stuck. they are easy to adjust. you could try heavy duty fuel system cleaner(STP IN THE BLACK BOTTLE) might do the trick. i dont know what state you live in emmision laws vary from st. to st. here in pa. any vehicle over 15 years old that dont pass only needs to be tuned up as long as all smog eqipment is presant on the vehicle. on a 76 i believe egr valve , airpump, cat conv. are the requirements

 

He's from California according to his profile.


Pre-mix oil gasoline wont seriously hurt your engine, but it can foul out plugs, and plug up Catalytic converters if used in excess. Dont use it as a rule, but if you are 100 miles from nowhere and run out of gas and premix is all you got, that's all you got etc..

California alows a certain amount*of oil to be burned because new or rebuilt engines burn oil. As well as a good running engine can burn a small unpreciveable amount as well through the PCV system as vapor.

IT wont pass a california test with that pemix stuff in there. Infact it may gross polute which is a BIG no-no with this state. If it gross polutes enough times, they will blacklist the truck, then it's bye-bye truck to the wrecker... Why I always strongly urge a pretest first.

Make sure to change the engine oil before you test. A california smog sniffer will fail your truck if the oil in the crankcase is too dirty. Make sure you have clean engine oil.

Both can make it fail the HC portion of the test.


hope this helps.

 

Need the measure results to send you in the right direction. Sight-un-seen is tough.
Post the print-out results, IE: HC, CO, NO, C02, as well as what the allowable is. I'm not sure if the allowables differ from smog basin to smog basin here in CA. Is it a CA truck or Federal? Look at the engine sticker.
Here's the basics.... and a number of things can bring you grief:
High HC: Oil consumption, (bad valve seals is a common one-no big deal in-the-truck repair), misfire/faulty ignition components, dirty oil, excessively lean mixture (lean misfire, hard to hear), incorrect timing, etc.
High CO: Typically caused by too much fuel, IE: rich mixture.
High NO: Typically an EGR problem. The pintel and seat in the valve can become clogged with carbon boogers and result in a no-flow or the pasages and line get plugged with the same goodies...or the diaphram is dried out and cracked, or the vacuum lines are not operating it, etc.
Somewhat high C02 is good. Somewhere around 13.8 to 14.1%.
And rule number one....always take it to the smog shop toasty friggin hot and do not shut it of while waiting for service. Emmisions systems are designed to run hot, period. Run your T-Stat at 192 or 180. Running a 160 (or none at all) will only lead to grief. (failing emissions, glazed cylinder walls, sludge, etc) Personally, I wouldn't worry too much about the pre-mix. But......alot of it WILL clog the catylist.

As you can see, you need to investigate a number of possiblities. Post more information and start an elimination process. Don't just start replacing parts.

 

Without his input to answer questions we can't help him much.