I had to smog my car for registration this year. They required the enhanced Smog Check inspection at a STAR station, which is a "smog test and repair station", the dreaded kind for modified cars. The reason they sent me to a STAR station was because the FD is a "High Emitter Profile" car apparently.

LOL no surprise at all. I wonder when they decided to call it that. When did they go "hey, those FDs, man--they are smogging up the land!" Not an unreasonable assumption.

Anyhow, my car, with about 18,000 miles on it and a bone-stock engine/drivetrain:

Measurements below given for 15mph/25mph. "Maximum allowed" is for all cars of that model year/engine size/vehicle weight. "Average" is the average value for all FDs of that model year. "Measured" is of course, what my car tested at today.

HC (PPM)

• Max allowed: 61/37
• Average: 27/18
• Measured: 8/5

CO (%)

• Max allowed: 0.36/0.35
• Average: 0.09/0.09
• Measured: 0.00/0.00

NO (PPM)

• Max allowed: 493/516
• Average: 157/161
• Measured: 71/38

Seems like these cars can blow pretty clean if you let them! Even the average values aren't that bad. Well, or so I'd think--I have no idea what more modern cars are getting for measurements these days.

 

nice numbers. a new car will be about the same. if you look at the machine during the test when they go from 15 to 25, the numbers jump way up on the FD, and a new car they don't.

 

Those kind of emissions tests are "easy" in a few ways. They don't require you to do an actual drive pattern on the dyno, like the IM240 test. There was a guy on here who was failing one of those tests because the technician at the inspection station was driving too aggressively and getting into boost. The boost made the engine go rich and that increased CO emission. That's not an issue when it's recording state like in your situation.

The second thing is, it is a test that isn't designed to capture the cold start of the engine. The catalytic converter has some time to warm up before operating. So you don't need a particularly "good" from an emissions perspective cat, you don't need the car to warm up quickly (compared to the original certification tests). When Mazda went to certify the FD, they had to do a procedure that involved a cold start. That's why the engine has the Accelerated Warm Up System. You could disable that and not have an impact on you passing the smog check, unless the car had been sitting for hours and wasn't given any opportunity to warm up.

So if your emissions equipment mostly works and the engine is healthy you shouldn't have a problem passing.

 

Here's the IM240 test. You can see it involves actual accelerations. That's where it can fail. Compare that to steady 25mph.

 

this is true, but don't forget we also have a visual, so they verify the presence of the OE smog equipment. they are allowed to check the function too, usually things like the EGR valve.
so for an FD we need a catalyst with the proper EO number, and such like.

when you put the two things together it can be a huge PITA

 

Cool info, guys, thanks. I wonder how all these modern turbocharged cars are faring in a test like that IM240.

Oh, I forgot to mention that at first I didn't noticed the registration form said that I had to take it to a STAR station, so I took it to one of the highly-rated smog checks in town. The guy puzzled over the car for a while, then called me over to say that the car's turbocharger wasn't called out on some sticker under the hood that lists O.E. equipment or what not. I pointed to the other sticker that clearly showed the factory turbo on the hose diagram and all that and he just stood there scratching his head and asking me if I knew where the charcoal canister is.

Two other shops after that guy refused to touch cars older than 2000. Had to call around and find someone that was qualified!

 

They usually have a model of catalyst temperature in the ECU and don't go rich until it heats up. Also, direct injection resists knock an doesn't need spark retard and rich mixture as much for non WOT acceleration.

 

Wow great numbers.. I just passed CA smog myself original FD with 46k miles.. my NO numbers were way higher but still passed. And they didn't know what to look for either but luckily the guy saw what he needed too i guess. He scratched his head a few times as well... lol.

 

its kind of a good news/bad news thing that the smog guy has never seen an FD, you can get away with a lot, or they call you out on some random thing.

i've smogged a few FD's with downpipes, and its like 50/50 if it passes visual, and that is ok, it is supposed to have the pre-cat, and i'm being lazy

the frustrating one was my friends car, with a 99+ 280PS spec engine/trans/ecu, completely stock, just the 280ps spec stuff. the first guy ran the whole test, which the car passed and then he told me he couldn't pass it because of the shiny down pipe.
shop 2 wanted to test the EGR valve, which a US car is supposed to have, but a, its kind of buried, and b, there is an ecu code for that. we stopped there after they looked for the EGR valve for an hour. they wanted me to pay full price too.
i think shop 3 had an Rx7 and he just passed it, it blew numbers like the O.P.'s car.