Hello, I have a chance to buy an 88 Ram pick-up from northern Ontario, and I would like to drive in southern Ontario But in the south they require an Emissions test every 2 years. And the previous owner removed emission related parts from the engine, don't know what all yet (?)
Can somone tell me what the factory settings are and what parts are required to go back on the engine and through emission testing (the catalitic converter is there)
How difficult is this to do? What would the costs be?
I was thinking about checking out the wrecker yards for parts etc..
This truck also has a new rad., waterpump, double roller steel timming chain, oil changed every 5000 kms, year old exhaust system, all for $400. good running truck? Any and all advice is great! Thanks Jim

 

Welcome to the forum. The 88 was a transition year so be careful what year you get your parts from. There were many different systems used but some of the systems are: EGR system, Air Injection system, PCV system, Heated Air Intake, CAT, Fuel evaporative emission control system, Idle enrichment system, and computer. Without knowing what systems were removed or how they were removed the price and difficulty would be hard to judge.

 

the easiest thing to probably do is take it to an emissions place and see whether it passes or not. if they pass it as is i would not worry about it but if it don't then you may have to find the parts.
i saw the emissions results on my dads ford and it passed by about half the maximum emissions requires. i think the main thing is bring the vehicle in hot. higher octane gas would probably not hurt but is not necessarily needed. also make sure your air filter is as clean as it can be. the better your engine breaths the cleaner the emissions. i have heard of cars failing and just removing the air filter has made enough of a difference to pass