NOx Smog Fail 944S California

[mhariush]

Took the car in to do smog today (Star station as required) and to my surprise it failed! I had to do smog last year too and passed.

I need to change my vacuum hoses, the car runs a little uneven (better when it gets hot, which i assume is because the vacuum hoses expand??)

Do I need a new cat? and if so, where to get? I would like to get a direct fit one that doesn't require welding (but that's just because I like the look of it being OEM-ish)

[mytrplseven]

Fwiw, I would never have taken a car to be smogged if it was running a bit off key to start with. You have to expect that it will likely fail. If you note on your report, the CAT passed so I'd not recommend spending money on that. I'd start with the more common (and cheaper) areas that could be an issue. Vacuum lines and connections, spark plugs (pull them and read them) and replace with NGK copper, Rotor and cap (here again, easy and cheap) and possibly the O2 sensor. When's the last time you changed the air filter?

It's the easy stuff usually that'll cause the inspection reports to flunk the test. You should be able to accomplish all this in a weekend at the outside. Good luck with this stuff.