I failed emissions in my 93 touring. I live in illinois and they have a dyno run with your car. I told the girl to not make any boost and what does she do? She floors it!!! You'd think me coaching her for 5 minutes on how to read a boost gauge would help her out. Anyhow, I saw this stuff at a store called, "Guaranteed to pass" I guess it make your exhaust clean when you add it to a tank? Anybody had any luck with this stuff?

 

I tried that stuff. I thought you put it in and then go to the emissions check, but that is NOT how it is supposed to work. You are supposed to put it in the tank, run the tank down, and then fill up again before going to the test. The box has instructions to this effect on it. That makes me think it is just some fuel injector cleaner or something, rather than the magical emissions-reduction fuel that I thought it was.

I still failed after trying it, and the guarantee is just that you get your money back if you go through the paper work to send it in (not worth it, IMHO). It might help, but it is probably better to do the normal emissions-reduction stuff first:
- new air filter
- new plugs (and wires if they are old)
- fresh, thin (10W-30) oil for the test
- run the car hard before you test to get the cat really hot and working most effectively
- etc (I am sure a search would turn up more emissions-reduction ideas)

I believe that there is a magic fuel available to reduce emissions, but I have never tried it, and I am not really sure of the name (so I won't guess). Does anyone know the magic fuel tank ingredient for reducing emissions? Please post if you do. I think it is alcohol or something, and you should just run a gallon or two mixed with some gas in the tank and avoid boost until you can switch back to regular gas in there. I am not totally sure of the details, though, so I hope someone more knowledgable will share what they know. Don't take my advice here without further clarification and accounts from people with experience in this area.

-Max

 

Hmm. is it turpentine?

 

If I knew, I would have posted the name. But I don't know exactly, or where to get it.

-Max

 

Turpentine??? Why not some paint thinner? (j/k)

Ethanol, but it is just a band aid approach. Just don't leave a high concentration of it in your tank any longer than you need to. In high concentrations it will dessicate Buna-N rubber and seals with a vengeance and strips oil coatings on metal parts (like your rotor housings) with ease.

There's no magic amount to put in there, since every vehicle fails by different amounts. If you put in more than 20% by volume you probably are not going to be able to pass by putting in even more. It's big effect will be lowering CO emissions. I don't believe it will have an effect on other problems and may actually INCREASE NOx and VOC in high enough quantities.

Max gave the best advice. If that doesn't do the trick you may probably have other issues that actually NEED to be fixed to avoid potential long term damage to your engine - and OUR environment.