I'm going to say maybe my cat and O2 sensors?

EXCEEDED Gross polluter - thats pretty good.

Take the $3500 and run.

holy crap, that's pretty bad.

Are you sure all your cylinders are firing?? Is your EGR working? Those NO numbers are insane.

Man and I thought I was going to fail with my carbed engine. But...change the above mentioned items, the egr, o2 sensor. How is the cat on your car?

You'd better see Don ASAP.

Check this site out. They will help pay, to get your car repaired, if it had to taken to a test only station.

http://www.bar.ca.gov/80_BARResource...sist_FAQs.html

I'm going to get my cat and O2 sensors changed next week. My EGR valve is only about 8 months old. I replaced it from getting a code 32. I do have bigger injectors and I was running them with the stock tuning for a while but I have a proper tune on it now. I think that killed the cat and sensors from running rich. If not then I really have no idea what the problem could be. Do you guys think I should change the spark plugs too? I have a set of the Accel U-groove spark plugs.

Don't know if this will help, but, years back, my car did not want to pass smog. The guy said that my intake manifold was full of carbon. Sure enough it was. I had it cleaned out and passed with flying colors. Before you begin to replace everything, check this item first.

After my post that did come up in the back of my head. I hope it isnt though. Taking the plenum, runners, and then that intake baseplate just seems like a nightmare.

I guess it's a lot easier to clean out on a carbed car since the egr is a bit more easier to get too. But all I needed was a long wire brush and a vacuum cleaner to removed the carbon as I was brushing away. Now that may not work for everyone. How about that Seafoam stuff everyone keeps talking about? Never used it myself.

You know I've always heard about it and have even seen it in the stores but never thought of using it. Can anyone here vouch for it?

found this in an old post

Re: Seafoam Issue
Yes, using the PCV hose which routes into the intake would be a good place to do it. Don't let it suck it up all at once, little by little, vacuum is strong.

Or you could pick up some Deep Creep which is just an aerosol version of Seafoam which will allow you to just remove the intake tubing and spray directly into the intake plenum.

I will be (as my car is not running yet) pouring Seafoam in my tank (1 bottle per tank) and spraying deep creep into my TBI. Good to go and ready for emissions testing.


hope this works for yea

If you go onto You Tube, there are several videos showing how to use Seafoam. You might want to check it out.

Just a word of warning, I used it myself on my carb'd car a few years ago, didn't help any but made a great show of smoke out the exhaust!

I have only heard one bad thing, it is said to eat away at some kinds of gaskets, not sure if it's true or not.

Hmm well I already used it. Hopefully it doesnt cause any trouble.

Tony, I wouldn't start throwing parts at the car just yet.

I reviewed your numbers and I think you're running lean on one or more cylinders. Your CO is pretty good, but your O2 is low, indicating left over oxygen at the end of the combustion cycle.
High NOx numbers are a direct result of too high of combustion temperatures. This can result from too much ignition timing, malfunctioning EGR system, or too lean a mixture (or a combination of these).
So let's look at this from what the ECM's point of view and see what the possibilities are for a lean mixture.

1.) The O2 sensor is on the driver side exhaust. Which means the ECM has no clue what the engine is doing on the passenger side. Let’s say you had a rich condition on a cylinder on the driver side. The ECM would detect the rich condition via the O2 sensor and lean out the mixture to compensate. What would happen then is that every other cylinder would run lean because the ECM was trimming the fuel around the rich cylinder. The passenger side cylinders would all be running lean- thereby producing high NOx emissions.

2.)Let’s say you had a lean condition on a cylinder(s) on the passenger side. The ECM wouldn’t detect it at all since there’s no O2 sensor on the passenger side exhaust. Therefore there’d be no fuel adjustments made to correct it. As in #1 above, you’d have a lean mixture, higher combustion temps, and higher NOx emissions.

If there was a misfire we didn’t know about and I tuned around it, then we haven’t accomplished anything. In fact, we may have tuned in the lean mixture as a result! We’d have to correct the misfire and then retune.


As far as EGR, I know you replaced your EGR valve and you said Don electrically checked your solenoid. What could be happening is that you’re not getting any vacuum (or enough vacuum) to the valve when the solenoid is commanded on by the ECM. This could be the solenoid itself or a vacuum leak somewhere between it and the valve. Or maybe the ECM is not commanding on the EGR solenoid at all for some reason- i.e, It’s not seeing the right inputs from various sensors to tell it to do so. In either case, lack of EGR means higher combustion temps, and higher NOx emissions.
First thing we should do is scan your car and look at the data to see what the ECM is seeing. We can look at the EGR duty cycle at the operating conditions.

Can you run Tunerpro datalogger on your car, driving at 15 mph keeping the engine in the right gear to achieve ~1700 rpm? Then run at 25 mph at ~1000 rpm? I can take a look at the data and see what’s happening. At each operating condition, see if you can drive steadily for a minute or so to let the engine settle in and give us good data.

Also, looking at your spark plugs today, it was very curious how the ceramic was worn away, exposing the electrodes. What did you gap your plugs to when you installed them? Excessive combustion temperatures could be wearing away the ceramic. I’d suggest at least replacing the plugs to start with. Clearly those plugs are an issue. Do you still have the previous set? Maybe start with those before buying a new set?


At this point, I’m not convinced a new catalytic converter will solve your problem.

Wouldn't hurt to also talk to your mechanic to get his opinion as well.

Well the spark plugs were gaped to .035 inch as it said under the hood and I did the same to the new ones. The plugs I installed today were the Accel's I got when I got the jegs tune up kit. I would need to borrow your usb cable to run Tunerpro since mine was stolen the last time my car was broken into.

Thanks for the quick reply. Sounds like we have a few options to work with.

welcome to cali.....

good luck resolving the issue

My car failed the last two times in a row.
How did I fix it this year?
I moved to Kern County instead of LA County.
Cost of living is much much cheaper, and my car passed smog.

Passing smog seems to be the amount of vehicles you compete with rather than the individual cars.

God forbid anyone living in LA County owning anything other than a bicycle or electric car in the next 50 years.

Side note....
Did anyone look at the Techs, name?
Bosnoyan, Nerses.

Why is it.... Every smog station you go to are owned by these people?
I have YET to go to a smog station that was signed by a person who speaks fluent English.

They must have failed the doctors degrees, and can't afford a liquor license.

Update: I got my new cat and o2 sensor installed today. When I peered inside the cat half of the material appeared to be missing and whatever was left was somewhat melted. Now for a good tune and try the test again.

Or part of the welfare to work program.

Actually its a very profitable business, a few years ago I over heard a owner talking to a buddy of his and saying he did XXXXX number of inspections I mentally worked it out to over $300K gross/year.

MY CAR PASSED!!!

All I did was change the spark plugs, seafoamed the car, replaced the o2 sensor and changed the cat. The numbers still aren't great but its a pass.

Its funny. I looked at my first smog test from when I got the car 3 years ago and my car is cleaner now. Go figure.

Way to go, Tony!

Hey congratulations. So how was the Seafoam experience for you?

Thanks guys! Well my seafoam experience was actually pretty fun. Just for the way you use the stuff and the white smoke as the result is just funny to me. A person walking ran up to me thinking my car was burning oil, and I had to tell him everything is ok.

I would like to say thank you for everyone's advice on this situation and for whoever is coming up on smog test good luck!

Just curious, how long did it take for the Seafoam to completely get out of your system?

Probably 15 minutes. Only 5 for the really thick stuff. When most of it was gone I drove around a little bit trying to get the last puffs out.

What an irony california allows seafoam smoke everywhere but fails our cars buy .01
I have failed twice now with a new cat,plugs,plug wires,02 sensor. I'm gunna go back to driving 74 or older cars tied of getting robbed by California state mofia. They steal us blind and still can't get the state in the black

"I'm gunna go back to driving 74 or older cars tied of getting robbed by California state mofia. They steal us blind and still can't get the state in the black"

Old thread but you are not the only one with those thoughts. I believe it is 1975 and older cars.