# Calif emissions test: Would E85 help reduce HC emissions? **URL:** \ **Category:** Maintenance/Repairs\ **Created:** [February 14, 2013, 6:32am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/calif-emissions-test-would-e85-help-reduce-hc-emissions/77349 "2013-02-14T06:32:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![pyrolord314](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/6a8cbe/32.png) [@pyrolord314](https://community.cartalk.com/u/pyrolord314)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2020, 2:12pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/calif-emissions-test-would-e85-help-reduce-hc-emissions/77349/43 "2020-08-27T14:12:04Z")
> [@wentwest](#): > > This is a thread from April 2013. Whatever was the problem, the OP has either solved it by now or dumped the car. The only valuable info missing here is the solution he found. @George_San_Jose1 has definitely not dumped his Corolla yet, and when it dies, I fully expect him to scour the country to replace it with a 94 or similar vintage Corolla šŸ˜‰ ---
**Author:** ![MikeInNH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a587f6/32.png) [@MikeInNH](https://community.cartalk.com/u/MikeInNH)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2020, 2:12pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/calif-emissions-test-would-e85-help-reduce-hc-emissions/77349/44 "2020-08-27T14:12:43Z")
> [@Revmachine](#): > > Most of the air pollution in our atmosphere when looked at per volume, gasoline-driven automobile exhaust makes up less than 1% of the pollutants. Yesā€¦thank you Nixon with the Clean-Air-Act. Back in the 60ā€™s we moved to a small town north of Syracuse NY. My dad still worked in Syracuse. Driving into Syracuse back then on a nice sunny clear day you could see the cloud of automotive smog from miles away. Some days you couldnā€™t even see the tall building because of all the smog. With 5 years of the clean-air-act, that all changed. Automotive produced smog was reduced by 70%. Today itā€™s easily down 90%. ---
**Author:** ![Triedaq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/65b543/32.png) [@Triedaq](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Triedaq)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2020, 2:47pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/calif-emissions-test-would-e85-help-reduce-hc-emissions/77349/45 "2020-08-27T14:47:15Z")
@MikeInNH. Back in the 1960s, there was a comic strip called ā€œOur Boarding Houseā€. Major Hoople and his wife Martha ran this boarding house. One of the boarders, Buster, had an old jalopy that belched all kinds of pollution. Major Hoople cleaned up to the exhaust by attaching the range hood from Marthaā€™s kitchen to the exhaust on Busterā€™s car. We wouldnā€™t have needed the clean air act if the automotive manufacturers had just fitted range hoods to the exhaust systems of cars instead of catalytic converters and all these pollution controls with oxygen sensors that go bad. You see, there is an easy solution to every problem. ---
**Author:** ![ok4450](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e9bcb4/32.png) [@ok4450](https://community.cartalk.com/u/ok4450)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2020, 3:19pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/calif-emissions-test-would-e85-help-reduce-hc-emissions/77349/46 "2020-08-27T15:19:11Z")
I lived in the LA area back in the early 70s for a short time. Beautiful mountains in the background? Nope. They were just barely discernible through a brown haze. One could take a 40 mile motorcycle ride in the LA area back then and after a wipe with a clean tissue on bare skin the tissue would be brown splotched. And people were breathing this stuff day in and day out. ---
**Author:** ![NYBo](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/nybo/32/17281_2.png) [@NYBo](https://community.cartalk.com/u/NYBo)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2020, 4:19pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/calif-emissions-test-would-e85-help-reduce-hc-emissions/77349/47 "2020-08-27T16:19:57Z")
> [@ok4450](#): > > How come I did not get dissed? I feel kind of neglectedā€¦ šŸ˜‰ Youā€™re a big olā€™ poopie-head. Feel better now? šŸ™ƒ ---
**Author:** ![ok4450](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e9bcb4/32.png) [@ok4450](https://community.cartalk.com/u/ok4450)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2020, 5:23pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/calif-emissions-test-would-e85-help-reduce-hc-emissions/77349/48 "2020-08-27T17:23:49Z")
A little bit; although some profanity, middle finger salute, and an errant brick thrown my way would have made it a shade bit betterā€¦ šŸ˜‰ ---
**Author:** ![wentwest](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/wentwest/32/6073_2.png) [@wentwest](https://community.cartalk.com/u/wentwest)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2020, 3:27am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/calif-emissions-test-would-e85-help-reduce-hc-emissions/77349/49 "2020-08-28T03:27:47Z")
There is an easy solution to every problem ā€¦ and itā€™s always wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Triedaq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/65b543/32.png) [@Triedaq](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Triedaq)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2020, 3:34am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/calif-emissions-test-would-e85-help-reduce-hc-emissions/77349/50 "2020-08-28T03:34:17Z")
@wentwest. I agree. But I really liked Major Hoopleā€™s solution to the automobile exhaust emission problem as I said in my earlier post. The comic page used to be the page I would read first in the newspaper. Now, at my age, I read the obituary page first. If I am not listed in the obituaries, I proceed to the comics. ---
**Author:** ![wentwest](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/wentwest/32/6073_2.png) [@wentwest](https://community.cartalk.com/u/wentwest)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2020, 3:42am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/calif-emissions-test-would-e85-help-reduce-hc-emissions/77349/51 "2020-08-28T03:42:04Z")
We are old people, arenā€™t we? Still reading the comics and the newspapers. The paper is so small now itā€™s hard to use it to wrap compost. ---
**Author:** ![db4690](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/db4690/32/2583_2.png) [@db4690](https://community.cartalk.com/u/db4690)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2020, 3:46am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/calif-emissions-test-would-e85-help-reduce-hc-emissions/77349/52 "2020-08-28T03:46:30Z")
> [@pyrolord314](#): > > @George_San_Jose1 has definitely not dumped his Corolla yet, and when it dies, I fully expect him to scour the country to replace it with a 94 or similar vintage Corolla šŸ˜‰ George has a 1992 Corolla If he were to replace it with a 1994 Corolla, that would be one generation newer šŸ‘ ---
**Author:** ![Nevada\_545](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/nevada_545/32/41232_2.png) [@Nevada\_545](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Nevada_545)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2020, 4:17am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/calif-emissions-test-would-e85-help-reduce-hc-emissions/77349/53 "2020-08-28T04:17:08Z")
> [@db4690](#): > > If he were to replace it with a 1994 Corolla, that would be one generation newer ā€¦And with airbags, too complex. > [@wentwest](#): > > This is a thread from April 2013. Whatever was the problem, the OP has either solved it by now or dumped the car. George has problems during each renewal, failing and too short of a period to correct the problem. His latest thread states that he has chosen to not test the vehicle during this renewal period because of the Covid-19 risk. ---
**Author:** ![wentwest](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/wentwest/32/6073_2.png) [@wentwest](https://community.cartalk.com/u/wentwest)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2020, 5:04pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/calif-emissions-test-would-e85-help-reduce-hc-emissions/77349/54 "2020-08-28T17:04:14Z")
George and I have similar attitudes about car repairs. I am guilty of the same screwy decision making. However, when my 02 Miata check engine light would not go away (intermittent miss on #4) after every tip and fix failed, I finally dove in and checked the valve lash. The gaps between the shim and the cam were all much too tight on the exhaust side, and at #4 there was no gap at all. With the proper shims now in place the engine runs much better, I love the car again, and the State is happy too. ---
**Author:** ![pyrolord314](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/6a8cbe/32.png) [@pyrolord314](https://community.cartalk.com/u/pyrolord314)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2020, 12:32pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/calif-emissions-test-would-e85-help-reduce-hc-emissions/77349/55 "2020-08-29T12:32:00Z")
> [@db4690](#): > > If he were to replace it with a 1994 Corolla, that would be one generation newer šŸ‘ yeah that would probably be too new for his tastes šŸ˜‰ ---
**Author:** ![RandomTroll](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/randomtroll/32/12184_2.png) [@RandomTroll](https://community.cartalk.com/u/RandomTroll)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2020, 3:19pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/calif-emissions-test-would-e85-help-reduce-hc-emissions/77349/56 "2020-08-30T15:19:05Z")
Hey @George_San_Jose1 : What happened? [Previous page](https://community.cartalk.com/t/calif-emissions-test-would-e85-help-reduce-hc-emissions/77349.md?page=2)