Failed CA emissions REALLY badly, numbers included
So I failed smog pretty badly today. And also they've lowered all the limits for FDs (wtf). The limits are lower than for the FC across the board.
I have a few ideas of how to fix it, but I'm not sure. Here's my relevant mods: PFS SMIC M2 intake HKS twin power NGK Plat 9s all around <- I'm gonna go back to 7s and 9s for my retest Some random catco cat <- (I bet this is a big problem, gonna find a stock cat hopefully) Power FC tuned by Steve <-maybe running rich? So here's my numbers HC 15 mph MAX 61 MEAS 805 <-lol! HC 25 mph MAX 37 MEAS 116 CO% 15mph MAX .36 MEAS 2.05 CO% 25mph MAX .35 MEAS .01 NO 15mph MAX 493 MEAS 594 NO 25mph MAX 516 MEAS 670 Alright so I'm thinking, I'll do the following: 1) Change to stock cat 2) Change to stock 7 and 9 spark plugs 3) Oil change 4) I've heard of people running more air into the cat by bypassing some sort of air pump relay. Does this actually help since these tests take place under 3000 RPM anyway? Anyways, any advice would be great. I am WAAAAAAAAAAY off here so my best guess is that the stupid Catco cat isn't really doing much. Thanks a lot. |
Also you can run 1 gallon of Reg Fuel to 1 gallon denatured Alcohol.
This has passed alot of cars because it leans the mix out, DO NOT BOOST THE CAR |
The stock cat with air pump will definitely help the HC & CO readings, but will do nothing, I think, for the NO reading. You need the EGR or a RICHER mixture to do that, IIRC. NO is generated by high combustion temps, which probably means you are already running fairly lean.
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Alcohol burns cooler then gasoline but takes 2X the amount
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So I assume alcohol would help NO since it would lower combustion temps? Do I do:
1) drive around on highway on normal gas for a while. Stop. Turn off engine. Dump in 1 gallon of alcohol and tell him to test it? OR 2) dump in 1 gallon of alcohol. Drive around on highway for a while under 0psi. Stop. Turn off engine. Tell him to test it? |
Sorry to hear that man, I am getting ready to smog mine soon too. Hope you get it figured out. Any problems with visual?
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No actually, my guy was like, eh looks fine. But yea not even close to passing the sniffer.
Another question for you guys. If I do change my cat to a Bonez cat, do I need a retune? Or should it be fine? |
You don't need a retune for a Bonez. Here is what I have seen: Set to 0.1 or 0.2 bar for boost, run the "guaranteed to pass" several bottles if necessary (do not run isopropyl alcohol), set the fan to turn on at 100F instead of 95F with the PFC Datalogit, make sure the car is hot right before you get on the dyno, clean out the plastic vapor canister right under the throttle body where the Greddy elbow goes in; new oil change and plugs (7 are hotter) if you need a stock cat, PM me, I have two plus a Bonez.
Originally Posted by red_dragon
(Post 10126109)
No actually, my guy was like, eh looks fine. But yea not even close to passing the sniffer.
Another question for you guys. If I do change my cat to a Bonez cat, do I need a retune? Or should it be fine? |
Do you still have an airpump/smogpump hooked up? If not, that's most likely the problem...at least it was for me....Mine was intact but dead.
Where in the Bay are you located? :gwink: |
My airpump works...at least I think so. How do I tell lol. But yea this catco is the biggest issue i think. It's really not doing anything.
I'm from South bay. |
red dragon,
Yours is the second post I have seen ("Ernesto13B" was the other) that states the 61/27 ppm limits for HC and the lower CO limits also. Something is weird about that; I live in Orange County, CA, and just had our '94 smogged a few days ago. The limits were 88/53 ppm, just like in 2008, and CO% limits were still 0.52/0.50%. Your car definitely has a problem... my guess would be a LIM gasket vacuum leak, but you probably don't want to hear that. At idle, do you hear any "putt...putts?" If so, a vacuum leak is causing the car to miss, and on every miss, the unburned fuel/air mix from that chamber is going out the exhaust into the cat, and either the cat can't handle it because it isn't getting properly distributed air from the pump, or it's just overloaded with unburned mixture. I had a minor ("fail") problem in 2002 with the OEM 1994 cat, replaced it with a new Bonez, and failed worse! Installing a stock cat ($1350 or so) fixed that problem. In 2008 our car barely passed (CO= 0.52%) but shortly after that test, I discovered the OEM fiberboard lower LIM gasket had blown out. Replaced it with an updated OEM stainless steel gasket, and our 2010 test shows much better performance: 2010 Emission Specs on a 1994 RX-7 in Orange County, CA - Test Only Station (reason was "High Emitter Profile") HC (ppm) Max @ 15 mph = 88 - Our '94 measured 35 HC (ppm) Max @ 25 mph = 53 - Our '94 measured 17 CO (%) Max @ 15 mph = 0.52 - Our '94 measured 0.15 CO (%) Max @ 25 mph = 0.50 - Our '94 measured 0.08 NO (ppm) Max @ 15 mph = 704 - Our '94 measured 66 NO (ppm) Max @ 25 mph = 738 - Our '94 measured 128 (Note: our EGR system is removed.) Maybe you should make a trip south for your smog test, if you can't pass in the Bay area! |
My car passed smog recently, the max limits were the same as in 2006 and 2008.
Advice already given is solid: make sure the air pump works, fresh oil and spark plugs, make sure the car isn't using an abnormally high amount of fuel (due to problems with air/coolant/MAP/O2 sensors and/or wiring, incorrect fuel pressure, injectors leaking). Stock cat should be warm, they don't function correctly when cold. Idling may cool the cat converter, not warm it up. I don't think the precat makes a difference, haven't tried both with & without to verify this however. The air pump doesn't pump that much air, I doubt it will offset an overly rich mixture. There is no such thing as running it a full blast, the clutch is either off or on... the main difference is whether the air is injected into the exhaust ports or into the center of the cat converter. I suspect lower limits on are due to failing a previous test so terribly the car is now flagged as a gross polluter. Not sure if this will cause the limits to be permanently low or not, however. Would be really nice if you guys could just fix your cars so they pass and the rest of us don't have to keep taking our cars to Test Only shops due to 'High Emitter Profile.' |
Originally Posted by Rx7_Nut13B
(Post 10125907)
Also you can run 1 gallon of Reg Fuel to 1 gallon denatured Alcohol.
This has passed alot of cars because it leans the mix out, DO NOT BOOST THE CAR Would this help in other cars? |
One thing to note is that if you don't pass your car the second time around, you will now be labeled in the system as a "Gross Polluter" and thereafter, the car will be required to be tested every year.
Don't run isopropyl alcohol or "denatured alcohol". During world war II, they injected methanol as anti-knock for B17 engines. Someone had the bright idea of substituting isopropyl and the engines ended up blowing up. Isopropyl doesn't burn properly compared to methanol or ethanol.
Originally Posted by scotty305
(Post 10129725)
My car passed smog recently, the max limits were the same as in 2006 and 2008.
Advice already given is solid: make sure the air pump works, fresh oil and spark plugs, make sure the car isn't using an abnormally high amount of fuel (due to problems with air/coolant/MAP/O2 sensors and/or wiring, incorrect fuel pressure, injectors leaking). Stock cat should be warm, they don't function correctly when cold. Idling may cool the cat converter, not warm it up. I don't think the precat makes a difference, haven't tried both with & without to verify this however. The air pump doesn't pump that much air, I doubt it will offset an overly rich mixture. There is no such thing as running it a full blast, the clutch is either off or on... the main difference is whether the air is injected into the exhaust ports or into the center of the cat converter. I suspect lower limits on are due to failing a previous test so terribly the car is now flagged as a gross polluter. Not sure if this will cause the limits to be permanently low or not, however. Would be really nice if you guys could just fix your cars so they pass and the rest of us don't have to keep taking our cars to Test Only shops due to 'High Emitter Profile.' |
Here is a paper on adding methanol to improve emission.
10% to 15% seems to do it. http://www.ripublication.com/ijeerv1/ijeerv1n3_4.pdf Conclusion Experiments have been conducted on multi cylinder petrol engine with different percentage of methanol as additive to gasoline. It is concluded that, the percentage of additive increases the emission characteristics improved except NOx and CO2.It is observed that the emission values of The HC and CO are decreased when compared with petrol. But The NOx emissions are increased due to presence of oxygen content in the methanol and also the combustion temperature is high. The engine performance indicating parameters like brake power, indicated power, indicated thermal efficiency, brake thermal efficiency, mechanical efficiency, etc. have been observed for various additives at different loads. The brake thermal efficiency increases with increase in percentage of additive. Thus methanol may be used as a additive for gasoline in future. Here is from a Yahoo site: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/in...2184401AATPCu9 Best Answer - Chosen by Voters What you want to put in it is Methanol alcohol, NOT rubbing ( Isopropyl ), which can have 30% water. You need to look at some of the Dry Gas cleaners, some list Methanol. Other list "petroleum byproducts", those you do NOT want. You want the alcohol, as it adds oxygen to the gas, and helps reduce the emissions. used to be most used Meth, but then they got away from it, but it's made a comeback. Some places sell stuff that SAY they'll help reduce emissions, but I don't see Methanol listed on the ingredients, so I avoid those. I've seen it work, on my old cars, so yes, it can work. Another item, which is more critical in proportion, is Acetone, virgin ( ie, 100%, not diluted ), 4 ounces per 10 gallons of gas. That also adds oxygen. But 100% is hard to find,and you should avoid it until you read up on it more ( search the Internet for gas mileage and Acetone, you'd find the references ). Here is an article where a 95.5% isopropyl additive was shown not to improve emission in two lab tests. http://webcache.googleusercontent.co...ient=firefox-a After extensive testing, scientists concluded "the fuels containing the Biofriendly additive produced little or no differences in the emissions when compared to fuel without the additive." Oryxe also sent a sample of the Biofriendly product to the most respected university research facility in the nation at West Virginia University, where scientists ran a shorter, but federally approved test. "...The baseline fuel that we used with and without the additive was equivalent between each other," said Gregory Thompson, West Virginia University. "...There was no significant difference in the emissions." |
Originally Posted by pomanferrari
(Post 10137669)
One thing to note is that if you don't pass your car the second time around, you will now be labeled in the system as a "Gross Polluter" and thereafter, the car will be required to be tested every year.
Don't run isopropyl alcohol or "denatured alcohol". During world war II, they injected methanol as anti-knock for B17 engines. Someone had the bright idea of substituting isopropyl and the engines ended up blowing up. Isopropyl doesn't burn properly compared to methanol or ethanol. I don't know a great deal about smog checks, not having lived in CA for many years, but I will tell you how I used to deal with it: I tagged my vehicle in another state. Wyoming, at the time, was convenient for me. |
Originally Posted by scotty305
(Post 10129725)
My car passed smog recently, the max limits were the same as in 2006 and 2008.
....There is no such thing as running it a full blast, the clutch is either off or on... the main difference is whether the air is injected into the exhaust ports or into the center of the cat converter..... When I put a small pulley on the crank, my emissions (HC & CO) went up significantly. I was able to pass CA smog, but only by a narrow margin. If the standards are now tighter, I will have to increase air pump volume in order to pass next year. |
Originally Posted by scotty305
(Post 10129725)
My car passed smog recently, the max limits were the same as in 2006 and 2008.
Advice already given is solid: make sure the air pump works, fresh oil and spark plugs, make sure the car isn't using an abnormally high amount of fuel (due to problems with air/coolant/MAP/O2 sensors and/or wiring, incorrect fuel pressure, injectors leaking). Stock cat should be warm, they don't function correctly when cold. Idling may cool the cat converter, not warm it up. I don't think the precat makes a difference, haven't tried both with & without to verify this however. The air pump doesn't pump that much air, I doubt it will offset an overly rich mixture. There is no such thing as running it a full blast, the clutch is either off or on... the main difference is whether the air is injected into the exhaust ports or into the center of the cat converter. I suspect lower limits on are due to failing a previous test so terribly the car is now flagged as a gross polluter. Not sure if this will cause the limits to be permanently low or not, however. Would be really nice if you guys could just fix your cars so they pass and the rest of us don't have to keep taking our cars to Test Only shops due to 'High Emitter Profile.' When I had the air pump directing air straight to the converter, my converter was glowing RED HOT. So anybody thinking about doing this. DON'T DO IT! I decided I might as well try it since I knew my converter was already shot. I'm no smog expert, but after all the smog hell I've been through, I've noticed that 90% of all smog problems with RX7's have to do with either a bad catalytic converter, or no air from the ACV getting to the converter, or both. 90% of the time doing a tune up, and changing the oil wont make a noticeable difference in lowering emissions. |
Originally Posted by Ernesto13B
(Post 10150199)
....When I had the air pump directing air straight to the converter, my converter was glowing RED HOT.....
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But you missed the part when I said that I ran the air pump straight to the converter bypassing the air control valve altogether lol When I did that, my 02 increased to an insane 5%. However now because you guided me to that service manual highlights, I was able to fix the real problem with the ACV and run the normal amount of air to the converter, and the cat performs normally the way it did before. What i'm trying to say is, do not run a heater hose from the air pump straight to the cat, because you will not pass smog. You will probably just damage your cat trying to pass smog
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Originally Posted by red_dragon
(Post 10125898)
So I failed smog pretty badly today. And also they've lowered all the limits for FDs (wtf). The limits are lower than for the FC across the board.
I have a few ideas of how to fix it, but I'm not sure. Here's my relevant mods: PFS SMIC M2 intake HKS twin power NGK Plat 9s all around <- I'm gonna go back to 7s and 9s for my retest Some random catco cat <- (I bet this is a big problem, gonna find a stock cat hopefully) Power FC tuned by Steve <-maybe running rich? So here's my numbers HC 15 mph MAX 61 MEAS 805 <-lol! HC 25 mph MAX 37 MEAS 116 CO% 15mph MAX .36 MEAS 2.05 CO% 25mph MAX .35 MEAS .01 NO 15mph MAX 493 MEAS 594 NO 25mph MAX 516 MEAS 670 Alright so I'm thinking, I'll do the following: 1) Change to stock cat 2) Change to stock 7 and 9 spark plugs 3) Oil change 4) I've heard of people running more air into the cat by bypassing some sort of air pump relay. Does this actually help since these tests take place under 3000 RPM anyway? Anyways, any advice would be great. I am WAAAAAAAAAAY off here so my best guess is that the stupid Catco cat isn't really doing much. Thanks a lot. HC 15 mph MAX 61 MEAS 805 HC 25 mph MAX 37 MEAS 116 The HC in the emissions test is high meaning you're running very rich. This could be caused by your spark plugs or tune. Did you warm the car up really well before the test? I would put the other plugs, and warm it up really well and maybe try a higher octane fuel to burn more efficiently. The NOx numbers seem high but not too high, the cat needs to warm up a good amount. |
Originally Posted by pomanferrari
(Post 10137669)
One thing to note is that if you don't pass your car the second time around, you will now be labeled in the system as a "Gross Polluter" and thereafter, the car will be required to be tested every year.
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Originally Posted by 97SupraTwinTurbo
(Post 10150760)
I would put the other plugs, and warm it up really well and maybe try a higher octane fuel to burn more efficiently.
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If your plug wires are old, replacing them can help as well.
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well i passed smog 3 days ago (finally after failing twice) and i also really high numbers. Cant remember what they were and i threw away the papers but i changed the oil, plugs, wires, did a steam clean and am running some aftermarket main cat......then i added the pre-cat and added a bottle (guaranteed to pass).
She passed easily. I dont know if you have the stock pre-cat or not but as far as i know, the pre-cat does most of the work and the main cat burns off any excess. And yes.....warm up the car really good right before getting tested! good luck |
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