75 914 1.8...Gross Polluter

[mouseroar]

Hi all,
I was on this board a few months back as I considered buying a 914....I passed on that one and ended up just buying a pretty clean 75 1.8. The car is pretty solid with a rebuilt motor and up until I started preparing the car for a smog check, ran well. I had a pre-test done and the CO was high...I took it to a 914 repair guy (lucky me to find him) and he went through the fuel injection and track down the problem. A bad airflow valve was replaced, the FI leaned out and he said it was ready to go (he had run a pretest on his smog machine but he's not certified or even wants to do those).

I took it to a different smog station around the corner. The guy went through the whole thing and then said "oops, it's a gross polluter...and it just sent the info to Sacramento" So, not only do I have to still get it to pass smog, I have to go thru all the red tape of going through the state's smog station.

So, I took the car back to the mechanic and ask him what can be done. The hydrocarbons are high on idle...everything else passes. He says that he knows of an additive that when combined with high octane fuel will allow it to pass. So, that's my question...does this sound right? Should I try anything different? The car normally runs great, no smoke etc. Any ideas?

Thanks,
Steve

for reference
at 2500 rpm
HC 93
CO 0.01

at idle (667 rpm)
HC 546
CO 0.62


[This message has been edited by mouseroar (edited 05-23-2000).]

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

You might want to bump the idle up to the stock setting and see what happens. 667 RPM is too low--it should be idling around 900, and the state win't ***** too loud if it's 1000 or even 1100. Higher revs at idle should help.

Have someone do a pre-test after you've raised the idle. The screw in the side of the throttle body does this--unscrew it to let more air in and raise the idle.

--DD

[B Frye]

As Bill Clinton would say “I feel your pain”, I have 1975 and 1976 914’s and always dread the bi-annual smog check. I have never had any luck with fuel additives dropping emissions levels to acceptable levels.

[Joe Bob]

First off, a "good" Porsche mechanic should have an exhaust gas analyzer. Any that does not is not up to speed. He should have caught the high HC. The settings for smog passing on the 914 are the same for the correct running of the 914. The smog equipment on them is pretty minimal. The 1.8 does not have a smog pump and air injectors like the 2.0. Just an EGR and a cat pipe.

Second, the CA smog regs require a minumum idle speed of 950 with a max of 1100 during testing. The smog tech should have failed it on the idle speed alone...once the test starts, no adjustments are allowed, by anyone. If the smog tech screwed with the throttle to get this minimum than the results should have been invalidated. I would call the Bureau of Automotive repairs and get a new wrench.

[This message has been edited by mikez (edited 05-24-2000).]

[JP Noonan]

>>>He says that he knows of an additive that when combined with high octane fuel will allow it to pass. So, that's my question...does this sound right? Should I try anything different? The car normally runs great, no smoke etc. Any ideas?<<
Our old (thank the 914 gods, Dade and Broward county are repealing ALL passenger veicle inspections after June 30. Yeah, we'll still get hurricanes but you Cali guys got earthquakes AND veihcle inspections ) inspections were tailpipe only and a mirror to check for a CAT. The car was put on rollers WOT to highway speed than down to idle. I failed last year, barely, then put 3-4 cans of "dry gas" (99.9% isopropal alcohol) in the tank and past with no problem. I used to wonder why FLAPS sold "gasoline de-icer" in Florida. May not work with CA's more strict testing. Also CRC sells a emisions fomula that "guarentees you pass", but if you read the guarentee it states the car must also be in good running order with a recent tune-up. Well "duh" if I had the time to tune it up it would pass without the $20 snake oil.

BTW the official reason for repealing the law? It wans't improving air quality, i.e. it was a scam. I could have told them that years ago.

[mike mueller]

The "seller" of the car is responsible for the smog "before" the car is sold. Unless some kind of arrangement was made with the seller, I'd go back and work some deal out if you're dumping a bunch of time and money into the car.

------------------
Mike Mueller
Antioch, CA
1970 1.8
http://www.pelicanparts.com/MotorCity/mmueller/personal.html

[mouseroar]

Thanks for all the advice. The part about the idle being way too low makes alot of sense. I've since adjusted the mixture so it's not running so lean. That in turn, raised the idle to about 950 and it runs alot better. I still have to run another pre-test. I'm beginning to suspect that between the 1st and 2nd tests, I had the whole car tuned up, as well as the replacement of the airflow valve and those things alone could have been enough for it to pass. However, the mixture adj. could have thrown the whole thing off. I'll work on it a bit over the weekend and then test it again. Thanks again.

Steve