how to pass emissions???

[89OctaneStang]

Well, as I figured, I did not pass emissions today.. I have an H-Pipe set up with shorty headers and no cats. It was no shock to me nor to any of you reading this that the set up I'm running didn't pass.

Here were the results:

Cruise Emissions @ 25 MPH:
HC (PPM)/152 (allowed) - PASS
CO (%)/0.51 (allowed) - PASS
CO+CO2 (%)/6 (allowed) - 16.11 N/A

Idle Emissions:
HC (PPM)/220 (allowed) - 1337 (result) FAIL
CO (%)/1.2 (allowed) - 1.96 (result) FAIL
CO+CO2(%)/6 (allowed) - 12.16 N/A


With all that being said, what can I do to fix the situation temporarily or permanently if need be. I already know I need to get a temp. set up with cats or borrow someones for emissions testing. But with the extremely high result from the HC, the lady there told me that it could be because I'm not burning enough of the fuel.... What are the tricks of the trade that I need to know to help me get this resolved soon????

Thanks all,
Brian

 

[WANNA_BE_GT]

If you get a catted pipe, you will pass. There are other cheats, but that is the easiest.

 

[loud 95]

Run premium in your tank and pull your spout connector prior to testing. This should allow you to pass with no cats. I'll be doing the same with my Bronco tomorrow, when it gets tested.

 

[352Ford2]

Since this is my profession I suppose I should weigh in…

There is something wrong with your car, you are running pig rich at idle as indicated by your off the chart hydrocarbon and carbon monoxide results (not many people relies that carbon monoxide is formed when the fuel mixture is rich and there is insufficient oxygen to completely burn all the fuel.)


While a set of cat’s will help mask the problem and possibly let you pass, it is not going to fix your problem and will eventually kill the cat and shorten the life of your engine. The cause of this could be something as simple as a clogged air filter, bad O2 sensor, dead plug, or something more involved like fuel injector issues.

You don’t need Cat’s to pass emissions here, spend your time and money fixing what ever is causing this problem, and you can add cats later if you want to.

Bottom line; Fix your car, you will pass without cats, and running that rich at idle is harming your engine (and killing your fuel economy).

 

[352Ford2]

pull your spout connector prior to testing.

Uhhhh, he doesn’t have to pass NOx emissions, why on earth would he want to do that?

 

[WANNA_BE_GT]

I agree with 352Ford2 on fixing the problem.

Pulling the spout connector will bump your timing, but it will also bump your idle. You could bump your timing and lean her out a bit. Throw her up on a dyno with the A/F and find out. Might be time for a tune up as well.

Good luck!

 

[352Ford2]

I agree with 352Ford2 on fixing the problem.

Pulling the spout connector will bump your timing,

Good luck!

You can correct me if I had have this backwards, but I am about 99.99% sure that pulling the spout out will retard the timing to the base level (like 10 deg BTDC) and it runs at a higher advance with the plug in at idle.

 

[WANNA_BE_GT]

Hmmm... I could be thinking about my truck. On my F150, when you pull the spout, it bumps my idle...

 

[Launchpad]

This has been discussed over and over. People will tell you to put good gas in your car and change your oil and all this other non sense and tell you you'll pass without cats. Maybe in some areas, but not most.

I did this in the spring, tried all the lame tricks and took it to the "Tune and lube" for a pre-test and it failed. Bought a cat-pipe on craigslist for $50 and took it back and it passed no sweat. Took the cat pipe back off and sold it again for $50.

Keep in mind that once you get tested, the money clock starts running. If it fails, you have to spend like $150 at a certified emmissions facility and then have it re-tested. This could cost you a fortune. You can't just tell them you fixed it yourself.

I would suggest a cat-pipe and then get it pre-tested. The pre-test cost me $20

Just my opinion. My car went through with a supercharger and 140,000 miles. Oh yeah, with cats-

 

[89OctaneStang]

Since this is my profession I suppose I should weigh in…

There is something wrong with your car, you are running pig rich at idle as indicated by your off the chart hydrocarbon and carbon monoxide results (not many people relies that carbon monoxide is formed when the fuel mixture is rich and there is insufficient oxygen to completely burn all the fuel.)


While a set of cat’s will help mask the problem and possibly let you pass, it is not going to fix your problem and will eventually kill the cat and shorten the life of your engine. The cause of this could be something as simple as a clogged air filter, bad O2 sensor, dead plug, or something more involved like fuel injector issues.

You don’t need Cat’s to pass emissions here, spend your time and money fixing what ever is causing this problem, and you can add cats later if you want to.

Bottom line; Fix your car, you will pass without cats, and running that rich at idle is harming your engine (and killing your fuel economy).

Maybe I need to find where you live... I am no mechanic nor do I know much other than what everyone here on Stangnet is teaching me so I would love to do all the work that you suggested to do, but I need an instructor.... Would you be willing to give me some guidance? I have the money to fix the problem myself but not enough to pay a shop to do it for me... And I am very eager to learn all the ins and outs on my Fox... So if you would be interested in teaching me, I am interested in learning....

Thanks,
Brian

 

[89OctaneStang]

To late for the pre-test... already did that (not knowing) and failed... I was not aware that there is a pre-test place you could go to.... But never the less... I still need to fix my issues..............

 

[352Ford2]

This has been discussed over and over. People will tell you to put good gas in your car and change your oil and all this other non sense and tell you you'll pass without cats. Maybe in some areas, but not most.

I did this in the spring, tried all the lame tricks and took it to the "Tune and lube" for a pre-test and it failed. Bought a cat-pipe on craigslist for $50 and took it back and it passed no sweat. Took the cat pipe back off and sold it again for $50.

Keep in mind that once you get tested, the money clock starts running. If it fails, you have to spend like $150 at a certified emmissions facility and then have it re-tested. This could cost you a fortune. You can't just tell them you fixed it yourself.

I would suggest a cat-pipe and then get it pre-tested. The pre-test cost me $20

Just my opinion. My car went through with a supercharger and 140,000 miles. Oh yeah, with cats-

I don’t care if he puts cats on or not, but he needs to fix what wrong with his car. He is 6X the legal limit for HC at idle, something is wrong. Running it this way he is shortening the life of his engine, and if he puts cats on it right now, it might pass, but it will significantly shortens the life of the cats as well.


FYI high octane fuel in this case will make him test WORSE!!!


As we are learning in this thread, many of the things people tell you to try don’t help or make things worse. You need to evaluate what you are failing at (which you have done), understand how that emission is formed, and what needs to be done to address it; don’t just throw “blanket” fixes without knowledge and expect things to improve. Many of the emissions that they test for are inversely proportional to each other, so there are no “fix all” for passing.

This is a basically stock 5.0, right? No high overlap cam or anything?

 

[89OctaneStang]

Stock 5.0 with a Ford E-303 cam, short tube headers, no cats bbk exhaust, MSD ignition, stock intake, on 93 Octane fuel.... The plugs need to be done along with wires... Thats no big deal... I continue to have problems with the TPS. Its supposed to be putting out .99 volts or less but every time I adjust it, somehow it manages to go back to 1.0 or greater.... Thats always been a problem for me... Timing is currently set at 9 degrees. I haven't reset it to 12-14 yet since I had it at 9 for NOX during the warm dry season... But now that its cold and wet out, I can put it back to 13'ish..

 

[352Ford2]

Stock 5.0 with a Ford E-303 cam, short tube headers, no cats bbk exhaust, MSD ignition, stock intake, on 93 Octane fuel.... The plugs need to be done along with wires... Thats no big deal... I continue to have problems with the TPS. Its supposed to be putting out .99 volts or less but every time I adjust it, somehow it manages to go back to 1.0 or greater.... Thats always been a problem for me... Timing is currently set at 9 degrees. I haven't reset it to 12-14 yet since I had it at 9 for NOX during the warm dry season... But now that its cold and wet out, I can put it back to 13'ish..

I think you might be confusing Nitrogen Oxides (NOX) with pre-ignition…

First off running 93 octane and 9 deg of initial timing is not helping you, if you want to keep your timing down (I would put it at 10 though, unless something very weird) running the 87 octane will help (but not going to account for how far you are off).

 

[89OctaneStang]

I was informed by a fellow stanger that when running Nitrous I need my plugs set at 1-2 degrees colder and timing at about 9 degrees... Thats why its at those limits....

 

[89OctaneStang]

But never the less, I still need to do all the above you mentioned(???). If I put new O2 sensors on the exhaust, do new plugs and wires, air filter and set the timing to 10 degrees running 87 Octane I should be where I need to be to pass?

 

[yello05]

WOW. In both Portland and Vancouver, I have taken cars through over and over- sometimes 10 minutes later after playing with fuel pressure and timing in their lot, and never have been told that I need to spend $XXX at a certified repair shop! Things up North must be bad!

 

[352Ford2]

I was informed by a fellow stanger that when running Nitrous I need my plugs set at 1-2 degrees colder and timing at about 9 degrees... Thats why its at those limits....

Obviously you need to run colder plugs, retarded timing, and higher octane fuel relative to your NA tune when using nitrous… But this is your nitrous tune, when you are driving around off the bottle (or trying to pass emissions) you should be running a tune better fitted to NA.

But never the less, I still need to do all the above you mentioned(???). If I put new O2 sensors on the exhaust, do new plugs and wires, air filter and set the timing to 10 degrees running 87 Octane I should be where I need to be to pass?

Running properly matched octane fuel, proper timing, and spark plugs with the appropriate heat range should help your emission levels. Is it enough? I don’t know, you have a lot of variables, no baseline, and you are way over the limit. I still suspect something else is out of spec, but like I said you have a lot of compounding variables right now. If you are due for a tune up, replace your tune up parts, but before you just start throwing money and parts at your car in hope for improvement baseline it and find out what is wrong.

 

[white 89 GT]

I have done this before, I paid my $15 and failed those two shots then simply paid $15 again for two more tries at it.
AND I PASSED W/O CATS

 

[dohcfox]

Go to the DMV and tell them that the car is inoperable, parked on the street and in need tabs in order to avoid being ticketed by the city. You will be obligated to sign a statement in which you agree to have the car emission tested within 15 days of being drivable. So just make sure that you do not get pulled over while driving your car! You'll get your tabs quick quick.

Of course, I am not telling you to break the law or anything.