Ok finally got my car back from the shop, and they left me a couple problems. Problem number 1 is i failed emissions. Everything passed except for my idle. The limit here in Washington is 1.2 CO (%) and my car came out with 3.35. then it dawned on me that I had bought the car with some cheap ebay intake cones on them, and the air pump and some other stuff werent hooked up. I need my car now, so i was wondering if anybody knew a ghetto style way of getting these extra tubes hooked up before I have to wait a couple weeks to buy a nice intake system.
Also I have pictures so hopefully somebody can confirm my flaws...



can anybody tell me if my hypothesis is right, and that is why I am failing emissions? Any ideas on what I should do?

Also the shop told me i have a slow leak in my coolant system.

when I drove my car home 40 miles away from the shop, and stopped the car, coolant was bubbling out of this little black hole, dripping on my driveway. Yet the shop told me that this was not where the leak was? I have no idea what is going on, but they had told me it wasnt a big deal. Also, not having the air pump hooked up, could that be the reason I still have Check Engine light illuminated? thanks

 

That is the worst intake install I have ever seen, I can't believe they would just leave open pipes like that.

Besides buying an intake, you can get some mini K&N filters and heater hose and hook them up, but regardless the airpump should still be sucking in air, and should still be working.

I can't really tell the picture your showing about your coolant leak, but what I like to do to find coolant leaks is squeeze the big hose going to the radiator in front/below of the intakes and listen to where the hissing noise comes from.

Also, search how to pull the codes from your ECU and check whats tripping that light, pray to god they didn't touch anything else on the car

 

You will fail emissions without the air pump hooked up.

The coolant leak is most definitely a problem! Hook up a pressure tester and find the leak (the shop should have done this!).

You need to find what code is being reported by the ecu. The shop should have done this!

EDIT: the previous owner was an idiot. You need to cover that hole in the intercooler ducting. Most people epoxy a plastic or metal shield over the opening. You also need to replace that AST immediately with a metal one. You can tell how fatigued the plastic is in that picture. The shop should have told you all these things! I would suggest a new shop!

 

Well is having these tubes open what is causing me to fail emissions? Also I got a list of all the ecu codes that they gave me.

12 tps (full range)
13 Map Sensor problem
14 atmospheric pressure sensor circuit
15 02 sensor output less than 0.55v
16 EGR switch
03 no distributor (G) pick up signal
05 knock sensor or circuit problem

this is a note the guy left for me. He said these weren't going to affect anything but I should look into it. But yeah, I really just need to get my emissions passed so I can register the car in washington, haha, help please! thanks!

 

Well, you have a shitload of problems. Either you'll have to get out the factory service manual and get your hands dirty or you'll have to take it to a GOOD shop who knows what they are doing. You can ask for a good local shop in your regional forum.

 

What shop did you take it to? If you're looking for a GOOD diagnosis and someone willing to solve your problems Andy at Mazdatech in Lynnwood/Mukilteo would be the closest and best choice. The hole coolant is bubbling out of looks like it's in the overflow tank if I'm not mistaken... Hard to tell but that's what I gathered. If you need Washington emissions help there are a couple of people who recently had some issues and found ways to pass. Check the NW section. Minus the airpump I had a reading of 8.55% CO so I do believe yours is working. But you should still get those pipes covered with some sort of filter.

 

I took it to A-1 Japanese in Auburn Washington, because that is the shop where I had bought the motor, and I decided to just let them put it in. After they put a bad motor in my car, and replaced it because of the warranty, and it had been there for several months, they really just wanted to get it off their back. So now it is my problem. I gotta figure out why I am failing on idle. I did notice that my idle was about 1200rpm during the test. The guy asked me if I was idling below 1000, and I told him no. So if I replace the intake with something nicer, will I pass? The guy at the shop also said I should consider putting half a bottle of rubbing alcohol in the gas tank. Is that safe? haha

 

The intake is not the problem. The incompetent garage is one problem, and the lack of airpump is another major problem.

There there is the leak and other codes. You should get them all taken care of.

Dave

 

rubbing alcohol......wtf??!!

Drew

 

So yeah... Haha, i get it, my car is a piece right now, but any ideas how to i can get my car legal? I will eventually get to fixing these problems, but I really need to know whats failing me...

 

fix the problems, clear ecu codes. it will pass, no problem.

 

Denatured alcohol is what he is referring to. For WA emissions help PM Chuck (a3cadman). He recently had some problems passing. Should be able to help you out. He had the opposite problem, failing at cruise, but did a good job fixing a couple issues to get his streetported FD to pass.

 

TAKE IT TO A GOOD SHOP AND GET THOSE PROBLEMS ADDRESSED. Any or all could be causing you to fail.

 

Money is often the issue for not being able to fix the problem...

Granted you can pass Emissions with flying colors with the following...
1-electric air pump $99
2-catalytic converter with an external air inlet tube. (can be a highflow cat)

Assuming you already have a cat with an inlet tube, just hook it up to the electric air pump, wire the pump to a switch in your car ($15 worth of wire/switch/relay) and when you pull up for the test, turn it on and you'll get emissions to pass. I had a straight pipe so I had to spend $300 or so getting the rx7 high flow cat from online, but any magnaflow high flow cat with an external air inlet, can be welded in and would work just as well...

I had a handful of problems with my RX7 when I got it, all minor, but I didn't have time to let the car sit in a shop for weeks getting fixed, as I had to get it to pass DEQ to register the car and all that junk...lots of online guides and instructions on the "electric air pump" mod...

~CYD

 

That is assuming the engine is actually running correctly. If it's not (which it certainly isn't, with that code list), it may still fail, no matter how you rig an air pump.

 

Not to mention that just having the check engine light on is an automatic fail.

Paul

 

he said he already passed idle test and only failed cruise @ 3.35CO, where it needed to be around 1.2 CO, so by adding the air pump it would likely put that CO down to .04 easily... as I've gone from 6.x down to .04 in CO.

And if you need some "denatured alcohol" I've got 4 gallons of "ethanol" (same thing) that you can use if you want to drive down to Oregon. I could probably help you wire up an air pump too.

 

thanks for the offer, but oregon is kinda far... far for me, anyways. So now I just am debating whether to go with electric air pump, or just wait on a shop to fix my error codes. the problem is this is my daily driver, and i cant afford the downtime!

 

Take it to Andy at Mazdatech if you can and have him fix the codes! THEN go test. With the low # of mods you have you should pass once the codes are cleared, so long as your airpump is functional. If not you may still be ok... Without the airpump or precat I passed at cruise with flying colors. Just failed idle...