Help me pass emissions..

[r4esh]

I’m resurrecting this thread because once again I have to renew my emissions and the car is failing. User “pipes” solved his emissions by adding a 2nd cat. I had OBD2 cats, then went to 2 high flow magna flow cats (1 for each bank). Although I’m sure adding more cats will help the results, I can’t imagine the cats are the culprit as it failed on both setups, even with the stock OBD2 cats. SO I’m still hunting for a solution here.

Last time I passed emissions I ran it through with 1 injector unplugged. Kind of a ghetto trick, but it worked (barely)! I am considering trying this agian. The time before last, I took it to a local shop and they couldn’t come up with an issue with my car and blamed tuning (TRM). They said they passed me by running a 325i (m50) chipped DME. The theory here is that the tuning is detuned for the smaller motor. I snagged a m50 chipped DME and plugged it in today and it seems to smell “richer” at idle than it did before.

So does anyone agree with this theory or think that running my modded obd1 s52 chipped with an m50 chip will “detune” it and get it to pass emissions? Did the shop BS me before? Any ideas?

[berlow94]

I have a fully blueprinted S52 running OBD 1 with big injectors, cam's, High comp. pistons, fancy valve grind, ETC. I'm using a TRM chip and i must say the car runs noticeably rich overall. IMO the OBD 1 ecu just doesn't know what the F**K is going on when running an S52 with work done and always stays rich. I manually leaned her out using an Adjustable FPR and you can tell its the ECU slacking because when Vanos kicked in it leaned way out for a second then adjusted.
I would give TRM a call and see what they have to say. Or take all the fancy shit off and go stock chip.

Granted i live in NH and they have 0 F**k's to give about emissions ;)

[r4esh]

I called TRM and basically got "there shouldn't be any issues". Also there are a lot of members here that don't have issues running TRM tuning and emissions. I was wondering if they accidentally gave me a chip tuned for a LWF which would bump idle a bit (where I'm failing). When I called they said that shouldn't be the issue.

Anyone else thing running an m50 chip would work?

[DesertBMW]

if you passed with one cylinder not running and just pumping in air, means that your engine is running %16.6 richer than what it normally should. Cone filter mounted directly on the MAF will do this. I told you that 2 years ago. I also suspect TRM chip is made to be in open loop all the time. Use stock 506 chip and add a pipe between filter and MAF.

I don't know why you haven't gotten Hagerty collector car insurance for your M3, it is eligible and you will be emissions exempt in AZ. Quit smoking weed, it is killing you bro.

[r4esh]

if you passed with one cylinder not running and just pumping in air, means that your engine is running %16.6 richer than what it normally should. Cone filter mounted directly on the MAF will do this. I told you that 2 years ago. I also suspect TRM chip is made to be in open loop all the time. Use stock 506 chip and add a pipe between filter and MAF.

I don't know why you haven't gotten Hagerty collector car insurance for your M3, it is eligible and you will be emissions exempt in AZ. Quit smoking weed, it is killing you bro.

Lol I appreciate your input. Not sure how I overlooked MAF on Filter and how much of an impact it potentially could make... I'll look into this further and see about adding space. You're fairly confident this is the issue?

[DesertBMW]

yeah move it back and then add a spacer from filter to maf, just so that is not direct, this will stabilize the flow to maf. There is also possibility that the camshafts are not on spot, too much overlap= high HC(incomplete combustion)

[r4esh]

yeah move it back and then add a spacer from filter to maf, just so that is not direct, this will stabilize the flow to maf. There is also possibility that the camshafts are not on spot, too much overlap= high HC(incomplete combustion)

IS the only way to test the camshaft for that to inspect it and open up the head?

[r4esh]

yeah move it back and then add a spacer from filter to maf, just so that is not direct, this will stabilize the flow to maf. There is also possibility that the camshafts are not on spot, too much overlap= high HC(incomplete combustion)

How many inches of a spacer is needed between the filter and the MAF? 4'' enough? Is the large size of my filter make any difference (good or bad)? After cruising through the 24v engine bay pics thread I noticed a lot of people using filter directly on MAF & lots of different shapes / sizes of filter options.

[328ijunkie]

Filter directly on MAF works in most instances but in no form or fashion is 'ideal' The issue is you want a clean evenly distributed flow of air through the maf and the engine is going to suck air through the filter at the path of least resistance which may not be near the MAF element in addition to the turbulence.

[r4esh]

Okay, so I've now given a few inches of space between the MAF & the cone filter, instead of having the filter directly mounted to the MAF. I was surprised that after doing this the car cranked for a good 15-20 secs before starting - totally random or was this the ECU being very sensitive and adjusting to this subtle difference? I don't think I noticed any difference in driving condition, but we'll see after another day of around town. My car always smelt a bit rich at idle. I'll report back if that goes away. I'm going to swap tuning before running through emissions next (we'll see if sssquid tuning helps).

328ijunkie - Does this look better? Is this ENOUGH of a spacer?

[r4esh]

As an update I found a way to get my car registered without emissions, so I want be testing the car again for while... The car still smells a bit rich at idle even after adding some space between the filter & MAF, so I suspect something else is still going on.

[squidmaster]

I've tuned cars all day long with filters right on the maf and it makes almost no difference if it's extended or not, the same amount of air passes the sensor

[328ijunkie]

^false.

[squidmaster]

Please provide a viable argument with sources or data to back up your claim then.

[328ijunkie]

For starters:

https://www.google.com/search?q=MAF+clocking&oq=MAF+clocking&aqs=chrome..69i57j0.6055j0j7&sourceid=chrome&espv=210&es_sm=93&ie=UTF-8

2ndly The Air entering the filter is going to enter through the path of least resistance. If that is the bottom (say 6:00) position and the maf is at the top (12:00) position, most of the air will completely bypass the maf causing a lean condition or simulating a vac leak.

The MAF element needs a clean evenly distributed flow of air going through it to properly meter. I also run filters on the end of the MAF and KNOW this is not ideal. In most instances you can get away with it with little to no ill effects but none the less it shouldnt be passed off as ideal.