My SE was taken in for a emissions test and failed with 2300 ppm of Hydrocarbons. The car did not have the air pump hooked up. But it does now would this be the reason for high hydrocarbons? or is my SE running rich? Please help...

 

Definately yes. My 12A's ACV just blows straight into the carb- first test resulted in a 450ppm re-routed to the air tube going into the cat and got a 30. Yours is pretty high you may want to put a new cat on as well Schucks/Checker/Kragen has a universal for around $80, youll have to remove the cap on the air bong and hook yours to it. The aftermarket cats are higher flow these days and you will notice an increase in top end and spool up time. Get it really warm before you go for the test too.

 

What he said. Without the fresh air from the air pump, your cat will not be able to combust the excess fuel that rotaries like to dump out the exhaust.

Unless you're deleting all your emissions equipment, taking the air pump off by itself doesn't offer any appreciable gains, so there's no performance oriented reason why you shouldn't have it hooked up.

Good luck.