In our day and age, the automobile is one of life’s necessities right up there with food and shelter. And the way the economy is currently, everyone wants to keep their cars a little longer.

Well when you find this happening and your car is older, it will be time to learn some things in regards to car maintenance.

One of those things is when you have to go and get a smog test for your car. Until your car is officially seven years old, a majority of people won’t think about it.

But beware, if you fail the smog test, what could of been a simple $50 smog test could suddenly become a $300-$400 repair.

When you need your vehicle to pass a smog test so you can renew your vehicle registration, here are some tips you can take so your inexpensive smog test, can pass with flying colors.

First, make sure your vehicle is running right. When you see that your vehicle is not running smoothly, go take it to a auto repair store and have them take a look to find out what is wrong. Then fix it, prior to a smog test.

Second, an easy but necessary tip, take a drive. Remember to pass the smog test, your vehicle needs to be efficient at burning fuel with as little smog emmissions as possible. When you don’t take the time to warm up the car, these causes the car not to have the correct combustion. If that occurs, you have a good chance to fail. Just take it for a drive for 15 minutes or so and you will get your car to run optimally when it is taken in.

Third, add fuel additives. This has to be done during the time you fill up your car with gas. You just put it into the gas tank. What’s going to happen is this gets the emmission levels lower because it cleans the intake of your car and exhaust paths. This gives the fuel and air the ability to flow freely.

Fourth, your tires need to be inflated to the proper pressure. This little tip will help your vehicle drive with greater stability and accuracy during the smog test. This improves the overall emmissions output by helping the engine maintain a steady load.

Finallly, change your oil. If the oil in your car does need to be changed and is contaminated, this can be a cause of failure when you take it for a smog test. Contaminated oils are high in hydrocarbons and that could cause the failed test.

Follow our guidlelines and tips and you are going to have a good chance of passing the smog check with flying colors.