Recently smogged my car and failed. My vehicle is a gross poluter.
It has a MSD blaster that came with it when i bought it and i am not sure if that is whats throwing everything off? Check my o2 censor and it still looks brand new. Oh yeah i have an EF with a b18a1. It is running pretty rich on fuel.
heres my results

IDK WHAT TO DO ! EVERYTHING IS DUE IN 8 DAYS! NEED HELP ASAP

 

Can you pay the good man a extra 50 bucks? or have they cracked down over in the west coast as much as they have over here in the east coast? There was a time where you could slide some extra money over the counter and get a inspection sticker.

 

For Smog Check purposes HC,CO, NOx are the ones that result in a pass or fail condition. Gases, CO2 and O2 are generally interpreted for diagnostic purposes.
Hycrocarbons (HC)*
A list of common causes of HC related smog check failure:

1. Ignition Timing Advanced above specifications.Timing is measured in degrees. before or after Top dead center. If your vehicle is required to be at 10b degrees and instead is set at 16b degrees your HC emissions will increase. ( b = before top dead center ) .

2. Ignition system problems. Parts like the ignition coil, distributor cap, distributor rotor, ignition wires, spark plugs.

3. Vacuum leaks, Gasket leaks that cause vacuum leaks. Broken, disconnected or misrouted vacuum hoses.Vacuum component failure such as a power brake booster.This causes a very large vacuum leak.

4. Catalytic converter failure. (Avoid using a catalytic converter as a bandage. Fix the source problem and then move to the converter.)

5. Air injection system problems. ( Smog pump and related components )

6. Engine damage (burned valve, low or no compression in one or more cylinders).

7. Sensor problems and or computer problems can cause a Smog Check failure.


Note - when your CO level is high it will usually bring HC along with it.
Carbon Monoxide (CO)*
CO is created when gasoline is not completely burned. High CO ( running rich ).

A list of common causes of CO related smog check failure:

1. Timing is not a big factor in CO production but check it anyway. Everything helps.

2. On older Carbureted vehicles you can have problems like a partially stuck choke plate.This is the moving steel plate on the top of your carburetor.

3. A leaking power valve on your carburetor can cause high CO and Smog Check failure.

4. A faulty carburetor can cause high CO and Smog Check failure.

5. A dirty air filter can cause high CO.

6. A common cause for high CO is a faulty Oxygen Sensor. This sensor tells the computer how to fine tune the air fuel ratio.

7. Other sensors like the M.A.P.sensor , C.T.S. sensor or the Air flow meter can also effect the CO level.

8. A faulty air injection system can cause high CO. This is the Smog pump and related components.

9. A faulty Catalytic Converter can cause high CO and Smog Check failure.

10. If your car has been running rich ( high CO ) you should change your oil after you get it repaired. When you have rich condition all the fuel cannot be burned, you start to saturate the motor oil with CO and HC. This in itself can also cause a rich condition.
Nitrogen Oxides (NOx)*
NOx is formed inside the combustion chamber when excessive heat is present.

A list of common causes of NOx related smog check failure:

1. As usual check the timing first. Advanced timing can cause extra NOx.

2. The next thing to check is the EGR system.This system is designed to reduce Nox. It consists of a EGR valve, vacuum hoses, one or more vacuum switching valves or solenoids. Its job is to reroute a small amount of exhaust gas back into the engine to help reduce combustion chamber temperature. Not all vehicles have an EGR system.

3. Next thing to check is the air / fuel ratio. If the vehicle is running to lean, NOx emissions will increase.

4. Some possibilities are a restricted fuel filter, low fuel pressure, vacuum leaks, oxygen sensor, load sensor such as a map sensor, air flow meter.

5. Check the cooling system. An extra increase in water temperature will increase NOx production.

6. A defective catalytic converter can also increase NOx. The Cat. reduces NOx that has already been produced.

7. Check to see that the air coming into the engine is not over heated. Some vehicles have a vacuum controlled air valve which switches the incoming air to hot air from the outside of your exhaust manifold.This should only happen when the engine is cold. If this system malfunctions and sends hot air all the time.Your Nox could go up. This system is called T.A.C. ( Thermostatic air cleaner )

8. There is another system similar to the one above called E.F.E. ( Early fuel evaporation ). This system routes hot air under the intake manifold. This helps keep the fuel in the vapor state. If stuck in the hot mode Nox emissions could increase and cause a Smog Check failure.

*Data obtained from www.smogchecksrus.com

 

The average price for that is more than 50 I heard.

 

I'm sure there's a vacum leak somwhere and its always running between rich and lean when its slowing down. I need to know if I need to takeout the msd blaster and replace it with stock one.

 

You can go back to stock....might help you ease your diagnosis. We cant physically see the car and look around it so there's no telling if that alone will solve your problem.

 

Haha alrightt thanks mann,

 

If you do go back to the stock dizzy set up you should keep your MSD in case you did prefer that better. But the stock dizzy set up is really good though......except for the occasional people having their rotor button screw fall out or the ignitor going bad. I wish you good luck lan.....fortunately over here in the east we dont have toget smogged.....atleast yet....crossing fingers every year for that.

 

So you can see that all of the numbers are up for the HC, CO, and Nox. Correct.

The amount of O2 measured is very high. The cat uses the O2 to destory the other elements. So if there is O2 you either have exhaust leaks or a bad cat.

So the cat is your problem. Now why did the cat go out?? could be the O2 sensor. You can not tell by the looks of it. .....Judge a book by it's cover........

Usually what takes out the cat is running rich or a mis-fire. These will destroy a cat very quickly. I have to add that if you have an exhaust leak before the O2 sensor it will make things bad too.

You can make the decision from this as in what to do.

 

so your saying that it could be the cat? Could it be a chipped ECU as well? im not sure how the ecu is suppose to look like. How could i tell if the ECU is chipped? i got a two month extension til May 9th. I was wondering what cat should i go with? would the universal magnaflow be good?

 

Could it be a chipped ecu... Yes
Could it be the cat...Yes
O2...yes
Exhaust leak...Yes

Usually when chipped car come in they fail for HC's mostly. and if you run rich you don't create Nox. Remember all of your numbers are up!

If you want to check you A/F ratios go to www.smogsite.com and on the left side you will see calculators click on it and scroll down to Lambda and type in your numbers. If you fall into the lambda portion from.98 to 1.02 it means you are in fuel control.

Type of cat, here in CA we need to have the correct cat on the car with the CARB number stamped on it for it to be legal. I would have to look up your car to find the specific one. Year, Make,and Model. please

EDIT, I just need the year of the motor as the Cat has to be to the motor not the car

 

Since some of these sites can be monitered by the man I suggest you make other refrences to "guaranteed pass" smog. I know that in LA you can get a "snookie" done lets face it. We have all been there at one point or another. I always use high flow cats, optimum fuel curves and currently e85 so sheeit. I would put the pepsi challenge any day that my unsmoggable by visual inspection civic will emit cleaner tail pipe farts then a new civic..