Ok. I've gotten great help from this board before, so here goes.

My 88 Formula has a 5.0 305 TBI in it. I can't get the thing to pass Utah's emissions test. Here's what I've done so far:

New O2 Sensor
Timing adjusted (Was too advanced)
New plugs
New wires
New Cap and Rotor
New EGR valve AND Solenoid
New Coolant Temp Sensor
New fuel pump relay
New air filter
Changed oil
Cleaned out system with Sea foam
Checked injectors, not leaking, good cone of spray
Tested vaccum with vaccum tester, and there's good vaccum

I've tried testing it hot, cold, warm, you name it. The people at the inspection station have been really good to try every trick in the book. My HC's are high suggesting a misfire. My CO2 is low around 8.5-9.9 and it doesn't EVER get better no matter what I do. Here's the wierd thing. When I take the car on the freeway, it isn't long before the EGR code 32 fires. I've replaced both the valve and the solenoid but the code still fires. I just want this thing to pass emissions. HELP!

 

have you ever cleaned or adjusted your IAC valve or the screw? Are you using premium fuel? Run carb cleaner through the EGR passage ways under the valve?

the EGR problem is the big issue here. Otherwise I would just say to keep retarding the timing until it barely runs. It'll pass if you're using 87 octane. But with the EGR issue, it's hard to say if that would do the trick. You want to run as hot as you can without overheating.

My only other suggestion is new cat. The cat burns unburnt fuel and that's what HC's are. The EGR puts in exhaust gas, which would also lower unburnt fuel. High heat helps reduce unburnt fuel.

I think i set my car from 6 degrees advanced to 2-4 degrees retarded from 0. I went from failing just about everything to passing everything by a margin of over 200% in everything.

 

Thanks for the quick reply. I haven't cleaned out the EGR passageways. They didn't look all that dirty when i put the new valve on, however, there could be something in there I can't see. I'll try that. I can also try retarding the timing a bit and see how that goes. Here's a copy of the latest emissions test results:

 

it looks like you're not burning any fuel at all in idle. I dont have my emissions paper, but do they really idle it, or are they at part throttle, because 1100rpm is really really high for idle.


I'm kinda leaning towards an iac issue, (since you dont seem to be burning the fuel at all when idle, which could mean not enough oxygen).

 

During that particular test the technician was holding the throttle at the high end of the allowed rpms to see if he could get it to pass at a higher idle. Here's a copy of the test at regular idle (I should have included it before):

 

Now that you mention IAC, I should let you know that there is a surging in the idle when the car is cold. The RPMS surge up and down between 500-700. It's a kind of pulsing idle. Once the car warms up though, it isn't so pronounced and even totally gone at times.

 

I would look into the iac. if that turns out to be fine after you clean it (and the passage ways in the throttle body) then maybe see if you can pursue this egr issue.

The only other thing that's apparent is that you could put a new CAT in. If yours is more than a few years old it's likely shot for one reason or another, and reducing HC's is it's job.