minorthreat

i had a greddy turbo kit (yes, they claim it's legal, but when i went to get it tested with the turbo kit on, they told me to go to a smog ref, have them check out my setup and make sure verything is 100% legal, which it wouldn't have been because i had an intercooler and blow off valve and was using a rising rate fpr and a check valve instead of the FMU that came with it, and then if the ref said it was ok, he'd give me a barcods sticker. after getting this sticker, i could go back and have it tested. heh.) on my civic for about a year and a half. i took it off because i had to renew my registration which meant getting a smog check. i was one of the lucky 15% randomly selected in california to have to get theirs tested at a smog test only center (which means i can't bribe them, or go to any place that does it illegaly. however, if anyone knows of a test only center in southern california that does do this, please let me know.). i've failed twice so far and i don't know why. i replaced my o2 sensor, catalyctic converter, and i went back to stock spark plugs after the first time i failed. i did a lot better the second time but i still failed. has anyone ever experienced similar problems with a turbo car after the turbo was off? does anyone have any idea what might be the problem? the whole car is stock now except for the exhaust. my friend says that the rings might be weak from boosting for that long, but i don't think that's the problem. thanks a lot. any feedback at all on any of these points would be greatly appreciated.
oh, and it's a '94 civic ex with like 80k miles on it.

minorthreat

;/
no one's had any experience with this?

Spade

Hrm, when is the last time you had a tune-up?

GSRwBOOST

hahaa.. who said anything about pass? LOL

Etylorcen

Just take off the kit...takes a couple hours.

TheSwift1

reread what he said...it's all back to stock now...h tested in when it was stock...am i right?

minorthreat

yeah it's all stock now except for the exhaust. i even changed back to stock heat range plugs. and i never really got a tune up. i did all my maintenece myself.

jaybquick

If you mean you chaned to a header instead of a manifold when you said exhaust. Then you need to wrap the header tubes, they loose to much heat for the o2 sensor or cat to work properly. I have done it on two hondas with headers, and I am a smog tech. What are your emissions readings? I need all of them. Good Luck

tonydatyga

sounds good, or you can quick fix with those smog test passers in a bottle... anyone know what I'm talking about?

minorthreat

nah, my header is stock too. i just have an aftermarket cat-back exhaust on. I have an aftermarket cat too. it's a random technologies one. i heard those cleaned as good if not better than stock, so i figured i'd get one. as for the smog test passing bottles, do those actually work?
here are my smog numbers:
|%CO2| %O2| HC (PPM) | CO% | NO (PPM)
TEST | RPM | MEAS |MEAS|MAX| GP| MEAS|MAX| GP | MEAS| MAX| GP |MEAS|
15 mph | 1923 | 14.5 | 0.3 | 92| 281| 125 |0.55|2.05|0.53 |1022|1961|2400| 25 mph | 2138 | 14.6 | 0.2 | 57| 231| 100 |0.54|2.04|0.44 |882 |1761|1719|

i had too much HC and NO :/
another thing: I was looking through this bag of stuff i have and i found my Evaporative Emission (EVAP) Purge Control Valve. i threw a fit thinking how i could have possibly forgot that guy took it off when we put my fpr on. Well i put it back on and clipped that little electric thingy back into place. It's deffinately running different. It feels stronger. Could this have been my problem all along?

And another tidbit of info: i just did a compression test and i got 196, 192, 195, and 196.


[Modified by minorthreat, 12:45 AM 5/7/2002]

minorthreat

goddamnit, i knew that chart wouldn't come out right.

well my measured HC at 15mph (1923 rpm) was 125, and at 25mph (2138 rpm) it was 100. the max are 92 and 57 respectively.

for CO%, i got 0.53 at 15mph, and 0.44 at 25mph. the max are 0.55, and 0.54 respectively. (i barely passed here)

for NO(PPM) i measured 2400 at 15mph, and 1718 at 25mph. the maxes are 1022 and 882.

Thanks a lot for your help, guys. much appreciated



[Modified by minorthreat, 12:47 AM 5/7/2002]

Etylorcen

I have the same problem with passing smog right now. I took everything off but I think my o2 sensor and cat are dead. The strange thing is all the other levels are normal except for the NO levels. They are way above normal. Every time I do a pre-test the results seem to be a little different. Sometimes I'll pass the 15mph test but not the 25mph and vice versa. Sounds like a bad o2 sensor?

jaybquick

Yes that purge valve being disconnected could cause it to run lean, (which causes high HC and NOx) either because the engine is not getting the fuel vapors it expects or because of a vacuum leak off idle. What is intersting is that the co is up a little also, but you did not give me Oxygen readings. With all of them up and if you have a percent or two of oxygen, then it would appear that your cat is no working properly. Have you checked your fuel pressure youindicated you have a adjustable one, maybe it is set too low. As for the other guy that only fails for high NOx I would say there is inadequate EGR flow or a bad cat, unless his other readings are close to failing also, then there may be a lean condition.

minorthreat

oh the CO2% measured at 15mph was 14.5% and the O2 was 0.3%.
at 25mph, CO2 was at 14.6%, and O2 was at 0.2%.

my cat is only about a month old, so it should be working properly. I did have an adjustable fpr but i took that off when i took the turbo off. also, for what it's worth, my a/f gauge indicated i was running rich when i took the test.

any more guesses?

jaybquick

NOx is only created by high combustion temperatures, that is why you have an egr valve, to cool the combustion chamber at part throttle and dilute the mixture. High HC's are from a missfire or lean condition. Your Co2 and o2 look good, however if you installed two way cat, and your car requires a three way cat to kill some NOx also. Have you checked the egr vacuum signal at part throttle while driving(at least 5 in Hg), and have you checked egr flow(use a vacuum pump on the egr valve at idle, it should kill the engine or almost kill the engine). I could figure this out 10 times easier if it was in front of me. A seasoned tech can thoroughly check your egr system in a minute or 2. Sorry I can't help anymore, good luck. J

Etylorcen

Here are the results from two tests if it helps.

Test %CO2 %O2 HC CO NO
15mph 13.7 1.7 23 0 2465
25mph 150 0.0 12 0 832
The second test was pretty different.
15mph 10.4 6.2 94 .08 1853
25mph 13.6 2.1 26 .01 2250

Any idea of whats wrong? I am in the process of changing my primary o2 sensor and my cat.