My accord failed NO (PPM) test.
15mph - MAX 559 - Mine 975
25mph - MAX 516 - Mine 851

I read many saying on forums that a new catalytic converter can pretty much guarantee a passing test. Is this true?

Found one for around $210 Magnaflow 36304 Universal Catalytic Converter.

Going to check the EGR and clean if possible.
Does changing oil before test help?

Any more things I should do before retest?

For the past year I don't drive this car much, maybe less than 20min per day 5 days a week for work. I read that this can cause buildup in the Catalytic Converter. Any truth to that?

 

Here the results of others:

(HC) 15mph - MAX 83 - Mine 52
(HC) 25mph - MAX 65 - Mine 43

(CO) 15mph - MAX 0.75 - Mine 0.35
(CO) 25mph - MAX 0.63 - Mine 0.24

 

The first thing you should do is to clean out the egr valve and the egr ports however this is going to be a little bit of work as you have to drill out the plugs and clean out the ports then replace them with new egr plugs that you get from the dealer..

If you do some "searches" you should be able to find how-tos.

 

As mentioned in previous post I said I was going to check and clean EGR.

I thought cleaning the EGR just meant to clean this part.


But now I come to understand this is also required to clean EGR as seen in this part of the video.

Basically everything in the video above is required to properly clean EGR.

 

Yes, and they are free, and could help you pass. A few people don't understand that a smog test is a measure of work. The test is a fixed test of work to see what comes out of your tailpipe for the fixed amount of work.

If you "free up" some horsepower before the best, your engine is producing less emissions straight across the board.

So here is how you cheat and create free horsepower.

1) over inflate your tires. This is a rolling resistance test, and the more inflated your tires are, the less resistance. I would go 45psi - do it right before the test, and deflate them after.

2) Remove your airfilter - take it out right before the test, and back in right after.

3) Remove your powersteering pump and ac drive belt. Your ac belt also drives your alt - so I got a cheap (9.99) short belt for cars that don't have ac.

I did the above a few years ago after failing the test - and passed by doing nothing more than the above just a day later. The above lowered my emissions by about 13%.

 

How much should I be charged by a shop to do a complete EGR cleanup like in the video above?

 

I would say it's about 2 to 3 hours of work for an experienced technician. That assumes that you don't remove the intake manifold when you do it since when you drill out the plugs there is the chance that the metal bits will get down into the intake manifold and you really would rather the intake manifold be off the car to do a proper cleaning and to be sure that those bits don't make it past the intake manifold. The thing about it is that the 91-93 have the metal plugs. I believe you actually have to drill through some sort of plastic plugs to get to the ports. I can't remember at the moment, 'though. Can you take a picture of your intake manifold ports and post it here? I believe yours is different than the 91-93 accords. If you remove the intake manifold then you'd have to probably replace the intake manifold gasket if the intake manifold doesn't completely separate from the gasket, which it normally doesn't. You normally have to get a new gasket and a gasket scraper(normally a razor blade works best actually) and take the studs off and then gently scrape the old gasket off the head and the intake manifold. The thing about it is that with the intake manifold off the car you can do a better job at cleaning all the black gunk that has built up all inside the intake manifold and is preventing air from properly flowing through it. So this is what I did and it made a great difference. This normally requires about an hour and a half more than the 2 to 3 hours required to do it without completely removing the intake manifold.
Here's another thread that will help you.

https://honda-tech.com/forums/honda-accord-1990-2002-2/egr-port-cleaning-without-using-carb-cleaner-2559172/

 

Is the car tuned and correctly timed?

 

Thanks for replies it has helped me better understand the problem.

I thought cleaning EGR just meant to clean the "valve part" but as I did more research it seems like cleaning the EGR passages/ports is the crucial part.

I don't have the tools or confidence to try a DIY to this degree. So I think I have no choice but to take to a mechanic.

Can anyone please tell me what would be the price range for a shop to do something like this? I don't want to get ripped off.

Not sure but I will have mechanic check this.

 

Not sure if this really works but on another forum a user posted this

Will this really work?

 

I was curious to see how dirty the EGR valve was so I took it off to clean it and notice it didnt have a gasket.

Would not having a gasket on EGR valve cause a fail NO test like in my case?

 

Luckily in Wisconsin we don't do emissions for 1995 and under! I would say new catalytic converter because the only thing they do is run the car at 60 mph and a tester to plug into the muffler.

If the EGR was a problem wouldn't there be a check engine light?