Ok so here in the great state of Maryland we have to do emissions like every 2 years or whatever. I have a 92 Civic LX with a D15B swapped into it. It failed the Hydrocarbon portion of the emissions test. My car read 296 and the state standard is 200. Any ideas what i could do to make this car pass? I was going to check timing and Air/fuel ratio to make sure they are were they need to be. Should i maybe replace spark plugs and possibly the CAT? Any ideas will help

 

This might not be the answer you're looking for but many people (myself included) have gotten out of emissions testing by having the car too low to the ground... They can't get it into the bay to hook it up and they just give you a waiver for 2 years... Now I live in a county in MD that doesn't do emissions which is awesome...


Other than that did you make sure not to let your car idle too long before the test? A cat might be a good place to start after that....

 

They no longer pull the car onto a dyno type thing. Therefore the car being to low is no longer a scapegoat now. They have a new system they use to measure what they have to measure. I did shut my car off while i was waiting in line. Guess i will just tune it up a bit and try again. hate emissions!

 

go up the interstate and beat on it a good bit to get the cat nice and hot so that its properly burning off gases. also ive been told by a few people that a small container of rubbing alcohol in the gas tank makes for a "cleaner burn" for emissions.

 

Do an ignition system tune up (plugs, wires, cap, and rotor) and then set the ignition timing to spec.

 

good idea, however if possible get your rotor FROM HONDA i got one from the local Advance Auto Parts and kept having to exchange it because of ignition problems, once i switched it out with a real honda one from the parts department at the dealership it worked fine and still does... just tryin to save you a little time and money

 

...or just buy an ngk rotor, since all of the oem stuff is made by ngk...

 

touche, didnt know that

 

I was going to tune up the ignition system first..Car runs great which kinda pisses me off i have to buy stuff for it that is not a problem per say. Should i go for factory plugs as well? I used to work at a Acura dealership and the guy who sold me the car works in parts and is a good friend of mine so i can get some pretty good prices for factory stuff

What should i buy factory and what would be good aftermarket?

 

Any advance auto/auto zone will have NGk products...

-blue ngk spark plug wires
-ngk rotor
-ngk cap
-i believe honda uses the iridium plugs but i could be wrong

 

So i am going with everything factory except for the wires. They are $60 bucks discounted!!