stacdizzle

I am purchasing a 1009 honda civic ex 2 dr coupe 5 spd manual from friend. It has 154,952 & failed smog yesterday. First of all I'm new to this & I'm a woman so please excuse my ignorance. I'm slightly mechanically inclined.

My HC (PPM) readings were as follows:
test rpm max ave meas
15 mph 1879 92 50 102 (fail)
25 mph 2003 57 30 57

the tech told me it probably needs the plugs, wires & caps replaced. According to my friend that was just done but my friend is going to check with the mechanic he took it to. My first thought because its so close was to put some Berrymans Emission Pass. Oh I also only drove it for about 15 minutes then parked & waited 45 min for the test. Any help is much appreciated!!!

virgineg6

put 91 octane in the fuel tank before your next test, and leave the car running while you wait.

canadaek

if the motor is stock 91 will only make it worse (it burns slower) ethanol is acutally beter as it is an oxidizer . how where the other readings ?? if they only check for HC you could advance the timing some (this will increase Nox) i have never seen plugs and wires make much of a differance unless the engine had a dead miss its proably your 02 sensor or you cat is bad. i didn't know they made 1009 civics

flush_EJ1

Can you post up a picture of the inspection report? Or at least post up the all the gas readings. Then I can get a better idea of what might be going on. Just the HC reading doesn't tell me anything.

ElliotSiR

This is correct and I agree. If the NOx was way down there then the ignition timing is probably a bit retarded, and since your friend claims to have just had the distributor serviced, it's very possible the ignition system was set incorrectly or the distributor was moved accidently during the replacement or repair. Another indication of this would be a CO2 reading that starts fairly constant at the beginning of the test and then drops slightly during acceleration on the dyno, although this is more characteristic of a major retard in timing rather than a minor one.

stacdizzle

I'm sorry stupid smart phones, its a 1994. I was also thinking it wasn't serviced correctly. Also I did read somewhere I should've ran the car for like an hour. I drove it about 15 minutes. Plus I don't know how long the gas that's in it has been in the tank. It was full & with gas prices these days I'm not wasting it. I got this car to save $$$ because of my guzzler SUV.

The motor had the air intake & headers done I believe. My friend also made the comment that it just made it sound fast but its not! lol

flush_EJ1

Its the gas. You are running just a little bit lean and the fuel is not burning completely. You are right that you should have warmed it up more but the technician is supposed to do it himself as well. We are supposed to wait until the radiator fan kicks on twice.

Run the gas through the tank and go back with fresh 87 octane fuel. If you want to you can poor some fuel injector cleaner like Techron in it to clean it up a bit. Just make sure it is out of the tank before the re-test. Most important is the fresh fuel and making sure the car is warmed up.

Good luck!!

stacdizzle

@flush EJ1 Thank you! Definately will do that! Also talked to the mechanic & he said the previous owners didnt do the tune up. The previous owners thought they had. These people just pay people to do stuff for them & dont pay attention. The previous owners offered to do the tune up since that had already told me it had been done.