I FAILED the TEST ONLY smog check!

[Emission]

Well, technically, the State failed my car. Whatever.

I drove 35 miles on the highway @ 70-80 mph to get everything nice and hot. Since my A/C is out, and it was 95 F outside, I was nice an hot too!

Get to Moe's Smog Test Only center in Thousand Oaks... and there are three people in front of me. I had an appointment, and I was on time... but the guy needed to eat lunch so he was running late. My car sat for 45 minutes waiting (cooling)...

On the dyno, he is nice enough to run the 15 mph test in 1st (thanks dude). The 25 mph test is done in 2nd. Both are below 2000 RPM.

Results:

15 MPH - 1959 RPM

CO2 - 13.88
O2 - .46
HC - 47
CO - .82
NO - 292

25 MPH - 1939 RPM

CO2 - 13.90
O2 - .41
HC - 36
CO - .81
NO - 259

I failed @ 25 mph on the CO test. Allowed is .62 and I had .81!

Awrg!

My car has new plugs, new valve adjustment, new cap and rotor, new oil, is basically 100% stock and 100% smog legal (except for the wastegate dump pipe the tech didn't notice)!

Tomorrow, the tech wants me to bring it back. But, before I arrive he wants me to run it on the freeway in 3rd at 4000 rpm for 10 minutes then bring it right in to be his first customer. We'll see what happens....

(Not me in the pic - Not Moe either.)

[911Velocity]

Put the alcohol in

[RickM]

.

[RickM]

Originally posted by Emission





(Not me in the pic - Not Moe either.)

Beautiful car though.

Good luck tomorrow.

[Emission]

Originally posted by 911Velocity
Put the alcohol in

At this point, I need it more than the Porsche.

[911Velocity]

Point well taken. Kudos to you.

[john walker's workshop]

why not run the 25mph test in first like you would drive on the street? the high gearing of that trans messes up the test results. smaller diameter tires would also raise the rpms at 25mph and probably result in a lower CO.

[Paulporsche]

What JW said. A recent poster said he did just that (run in as low a gear as possible for the required speed) and then passed.

I also read n article a couple of years ago, maybe in Excellence, about a guy who passed with small diameter tires. A little drastic, but it worked.

The hot engine and the higher revs will probably do it for you.

Good luck and let us know what happens.

[SC-targa]

What are the limits for each monitored pollutant? How close were you to the others? A turbo, with it's low static compression ratio, shouldn't have a NOx problem, so you can lean it out a bit and lower your CO and HC numbers.

Jerry Kroeger

[Emission]

Thanks JW. Good suggestion - Since I don't have smaller tires, I will see if they can run in 2nd.

The other parameters were all well within margin. The CO @ 15 mph was right on the border. I nearly failed that too!

[Slider79SC]

You mean run in first like john said, right?

[stlrj]

I failed @ 25 mph on the CO test. Allowed is .62 and I had .81!

So you're a bit rich. What's the big deal? Just lean it out, pass the retest and get on with your life.

Good luck.

[beepbeep]

been there done that.

Cooled down 930 will spew heaps of CO.

These are your options:

1. Warm up the car
2. Run it in 1:st at 25mph (CIS is quite unprecise at low revs)

if that doesn't work:

3. Adjust down the CO (allens key)
4. Pour in some E85 alcohole
do everything above

if that doesn't work

5. Block one injector, making that cylinder an air-pump (emission laws don't say your car must hit on all cylinders )

[Paulporsche]

Emission,

They actually make you CA guys achieve .62% CO on an 86 car? Man that's tough. Is this the current spec for all cars, or was this the spec back in 86 for yours?

[Emission]

Yes, I'll see if they can run it in 1st.

BeepBeep. Thanks, I'll follow your list if I fail again tomorrow...

I don't know what the specs are across the board, but anything (CO) over .82 @ 15 mph and .62 @ 25 mph is fail.

I just noticed the paperwork has a DMV REASON FOR TESTING CODE: "High Emitter Profile (HEP)" ... I was targeted!

[tobluforu]

http://www.smogtips.com/passing_inspection.cfm

[Harold_89_911]

Moe knows his business but I'm afraid warming up alone is not going to help you that much. If I remember correctly, they do the 15 mph test first and then the 25 mph. So by the time you start the second test, you should be warmed up quite a bit.

Good luck for tomorrow and keep us posted. At least after this you will be set for 2 years....

[Emission]

Originally posted by Harold_89_911
Moe knows his business but I'm afraid warming up alone is not going to help you that much. If I remember correctly, they do the 15 mph test first and then the 25 mph. So by the time you start the second test, you should be warmed up quite a bit.

Good luck for tomorrow and keep us posted. At least after this you will be set for 2 years....

The car had been sitting in my garage for nearly three weeks undriven (covered on a trickle charger). I wonder if that had anything to do with it. Most likely not.

Yes, another 2 years until the pain comes back...

[Harold_89_911]

Originally posted by Emission
Tomorrow, the tech wants me to bring it back. But, before I arrive he wants me to run it on the freeway in 3rd at 4000 rpm for 10 minutes then bring it right in to be his first customer. We'll see what happens....

He told me that too for my Saab and then he was about 1/2 hour late in the morning and then still had to calibrate his equipment before use so my car ended up idling for close to 1 hour in the parking lot. At 15 mph I got 117 for HC and 735 for NOX (limits are 118 and 799). For a water-cooled car idling is not too bad but the only way the Porsche keeps warm is to actually drive it on the freeway.

So if this happens to you also tomorrow, make sure he give you a 15 minute warning so you can take it on the 101 again and drive it straight into his shop for the test.

Good luck

[tobluforu]

A friend that ownes a shop that smogs cars told me that low octane compared to high will decrease the co reading by 5- 10 points depending on how hot the car is. Did you dump low octane gas in there? That's a start. He also swears by this stuff http://www.blueskycleanair.com/?CFID=716876&CFTOKEN=93435303
He has passed a boat load of cars using this stuff. How about timing? I would lower it a tad. Maybe 2 degrees. My turbo saab when hooked up to the reader did not pass until I decreased the timing. That's worth a shot as well. I know I'm not giving you much, but you would be surprised at how much these little things affect emissions, emission.
good luck