88 Ranger Will not pass smog

[tmwalsh]

An equivalent and easier to perform test is the use of liquids. Diesel and gasoline have been used, but I suspect water could work just as well.
Remove the cam followers so that the valves are closed, or test one set of valves at a time. Invert the head, and get it to stay horizontal. Fill the combustion chamber with the liquid of your choice. Wait. If the valves are not sealing well, you will see seepage of the liquid out the exhaust or intake ports.
Rotate the camshaft as appropriate, and repeat.
Why bother with gas, when liquid will do the same test just as effectively, and with a lot less effort, and a true indication of the leakiness of the valves. If a liquid can get through, with the limited pressure of gravity on such a short 'head', you know that a gas can get through even more readily.
Just my opinion.
tom

 

[tmwalsh]

I've been looking for the past four months for the final result...

Were the valves burned in #4? Did you ever get it to pass smog? Or are you really really retired and don't want to bother posting the answer? {you sold it and bought a Dodge...?}

tom

 

[augoldminer]

Got the money up to rebuild the head only to find out when the rebuild shop tested it #4 cyl had 5 cracks in it and one or two for each of the other cylinders.
Had to get a new head and just retested the engine and it now fails on just the idle part of the test with a reading of 308 ppm(max legal 120ppm)
2500 rpm test as 169 ppm (max legal 180ppm)

A few things have changed and now this truck will only have to pass Calif smog once as by the time it needs smogged again i will be living in a part of Texas where they don't smog.

There are just too many "expensive" rule and regulation on the books in Calif and i now have no reason to stay here any longer.(the relative i was taking care of passed away) So i am moving back to Texas where i can start a part time business that i can do with my disability.(gunsmithing)

 

[tmwalsh]

They sure don't make it easy, do they? Sorry to hear your relative passed, no matter how much we know it's coming, it still is painful.
My truck aged out of the Georgia system, so no more SMOG testing. I always wondered if it would pass each time, even thought I kept up with filters, etc. I just never knew as it failed its 1st test in CA with just a few thousand miles on the clock. Never did pass.
I've proffered every hint I could think of to get it to pass in other posts, so don't have a lot to add. HC's are from too much fuel, what else? I will make the assumption that you have driven it enough to get any 'extra' lube from the valves/stems/etc after the head was worked on, so are burning only the stuff coming from the injectors...
Same old worn suggestions come to mind...
Where is 'high desert' in CA? Wife and I went through Bakersfield and up into the hills on the way back to GA from CA after Christmas. Took the back roads and finally got onto the interstate for ~1800 miles coming down from Alameda, after spending a week or so in Temecula. Sure seemed like high desert to me, but I don't know what the locals would call it. Palm Spgs and surround seem like desert to me also. For that matter, Temecula, Hemet, etc aren't that far from desert. Plus, they all have bad water that no one should be drinking. Seems that no one needs to add salt to any food if they drink the water... Only good water in CA is EBMUD, from the HetchHetchy that the greens want to tear down. Sorry for the OT.
Good luck in getting it to pass. At least you should be able to. Hope the valve job didn't take up too much slack in the hydraulic adjusters so's the valves are not seating well. That would lead to another compression loss.
tom