smog woes continue....options now inc. tune, sell, race

[mouseroar]

Hi all,
More time has passed and I'm still not any closer to working out my smog problems. I bought my 75 1.8 two months ago and I can't transfer ownership because it won't pass smog. I figured that since it had a rebuilt motor with less than 1k miles, and had passed smog back in November by the prev. owner, I didn't have anything to worry about. Initially, my co was too high. After full tune-up and new airflow valve, it passed all but the hydrocarbons at idle (which was too low). Unfortunately, the dork who ran the test, went ahead and sent all the info to the State (CA) and I now have a gross polluter.

After posting on this site, I took the great advice and adjusted the FI where it was running better. Took it for another test and evrything passed except the HC. Much better than the last test, but it wanders quite a bit. Max allowed at idle is 220 and mine stays around 210 - 215, and then intermittently shoots up to 230 and then back down. The smog guy says that won't fly at the state test.

Okay, so this is my first 14 and I love the car, but I hardly have the time to really drive the car, let alone get this stuff taken care of. So, I'm considering all my options. I paid $5500 for it and though the seller is legally responsible for the smog, getting the money back will be a major ordeal (court and all). I'm thinking of putting it in the side yard for a autocross car project...but not what I wanted the car for to begin with.

So, I guess this posting is a final cry of despair. I'm entertaining all suggestions, advice, or even offers. If you can think of what I can do to get the car prepped to pass smog, I'm all ears. If you want to buy it from me, I'd even consider that (and yes, I'd be willing to deal...big-time). Though I've done alot of wrenching on vw motors in my youth, I'm not comfortable with figuring out the complexities of the FI system. So, while I think (hope) that this could be rectified with a little fine-tuning, I'm not sure where to start.

Any advice, suggestions or otherwise would be greatly appreciated at this point.

Thanks,
Steve

[John Rogers]

I can't remember, does your car have the air injection pump and a cat? If so make sure the air pump is really pumping as I have seen those that ran but nothing went into the exhaust. Also if the car is suppossed to have a cat, is it any good? Since it would be really old by now, a new one would help? Finally a little more far fetched idea, but unless BAR has changed the rules, you could do an engine conversion and as long as the newer engine met the smog rules for that year , you would be okay. Of course that is not the cheapest solution, but it will get you on the road and I htink you would have to register as a special vehical? Good luck.

[Joe Bob]

Only the 2.0 has the smog pump.....still sounds like a vacuum leak....

[mike mueller]

I'd check with the BAR, I had a car a few years ago that wouldn't pass and after spending xxx.xx amount of dollars on it, I was given a "pass" to have it inspected by the BAR and was given a green light to go ahead with the registration. I thought that as long as your car passes smog next year then the "gross polluter" label on your car will be waived. If they gave you a GP you still can't register it ?
Make sure that the cat. converter is in place and that it was not hollowed out by the PO. Change the oil before getting it smogged again (clean or new oil helps during inspection).


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

[1.2gees]

My mechanic put a Jacobs ignition in a 914 to make it pass...

According to him this increases power, and throttle response somewhat, but the reason for putting it in was smog, and it passes...

Hope this helps you,
Ahmet

[Germain]

Sometimes the MSD ignitions (Multiple spark) can help the car burn cleaner. the theroy would be that the inital spark that causes the explosion burns 95% of the fuel. with 5% left, the addional sparks can burn that fuel. The result is completely burnt fuel and oxegen.

[bowlsby]

I don't favor bandaids but...

How about trying that gas additive stuff in a bottle that guarantees to pass smog...$5 or so...

Or maybe run it lean for the test...doesn't that reduce HC levels? Hotter plugs maybe?

I even heard one time that tweaking the valves in some way affected the smog test...

[roadtrp204]

Hydrocarbons (HC) are unburned fuel. If the CO is not too high (running too rich), make sure the engine is up to operating temperature (fuel can condensate on cool cylinder walls), and that all injectors are properly atomizing the fuel, including the cold start injector if it applies. When fuel drizzles into the cylinder from a malfunctioning injector, only part of it will burn causing a lean condition with the remaining hydrocarbons pushed into the exhaust. Check the compression and valve settings, both of these also have an effect on how complete the fuel burns before entering the exhaust. Good Luck!
Chris

[Dave Bell]

I was out of state for the year when they set up the gross polluter thing, new nothing about it... came back, bought a 75 914... thought I was going in just to check the status of the smog on the car and came out labled as a gross polluter... @@$%%&!!... Well there was no cat on the car at all. I gave it to a local mechanic and he said he would work on it until he got it to pass under his measurements and then take it to a friend who was licensed to handle the gross polluter testing and that they would tweak it until it passed. About $500 for new cat, tweeking and tuning, some new hoses and many tries on passing the test and I made it. But it would have probably been half that much if I would not have been labled a gross polluter first.

They backed out the mixture screw on the Air Flow meter all the way..., allowing the maximum amount of unmetered air to pass through to tune for the leanest idle possible. Then the idle screw on the throttle was adjusted so that when the car was warmed up, it could keep idling in the lean burning mode. Given these and other adjustments???.... and the new cat it passed, but not by much, and the car would not idle right on warm up... or much of any other time for that matter.... in short it was tuned and tweeked just to pass. My car would probably not pass now since I have re-adjusted things to run better.

Things to try:
- Adjustments described above
- New Cat
- New Hoses
- Check for leaky cold start valve or just disconnect and plug up for testing purposes.
- Can a screwed up charcol canister goof up things??? don't know.
- re-pipe for two cats... some places might complain that this was a mod to the pollution control system, but I would try two cats if I deparately needed it to pass. I have seen some kit cars that have used this method and they were able to easily pass the CA smog test. I am guessing that my local no-name muffler shop would do it for about $75 - $150 plus the price of two new cats and a different muffler you would need to make it all fit.
- Special "guaranteed" juice into the gas that someone else mentioned.
- Find a mechanic that will work with you to tune the machine to pass not to run on the street.... you can adjust things after you pass
- I put the MSD type ignition in after the fact.. many others have said it helps pass smog... I'm skeptical, but maybe they are right.

Good Luck,

- Dave

[JP Noonan]

CRC makes the "emissions system cleaner" that guantees you pass, but the gurantee requires that the car is in "good tune".

I've had luck in Ohio and Florida with "dry gas" or 99.9% isopropal alcohol, 4-5 cans to a 1/4 tank or less of gas. The tests in Oh and Fla are tail pipe "on the rollers" up to highway speed then back to idle. Ca tests may detect the high amounts of alcohol in the gas I don't know if they can or not.

[Robert Helt]

Dave: What is the procedure to file an exemption? I have heard that if you have to spend so many dollars to fix the car, then, your exempt... Whats the deal here, do you know?

[Joe Bob]

http://smogcheck.ca.gov/smogweb/default.asp

Go here....California State Bureau of Automotive Repair.

[Robert Helt]

Mucho Gracias, Mikez....

[Joe Bob]

No problemo, jefe....that's what I do for a living....

Mike Z,
AIR COP....

[mouseroar]

Thanks everybody...I'm going to spend this weekend, tweaking the FI system as the car generally doesn't idle altogether smoothly...could be a vacuum leak, could be who knows. Have heard enough good advice to think that a bandaid probably isn't going to help me much (and an exemption doesn't look like it will fly given the gross polluter status). The car runs well enough and without smoke, that I think that I'm looking at tuning issues, rather than a problematic engine. Thanks everyone for taking the time to respond.

Steve

Hey Mike M...I got your emails, but my wife wouldn't let me come out and play this weekend ;-(