My car failed CA smog test...

[E30_fiend]

with the NO number where it is I would say its the cat. The newest e30 is 18 years old so Im sure yours is close to if not needing to be replaced. But before you do the cat, do a tune up. yeah it will cost money but in the end it will be good to have it done. The spark plugs should bring that NO down a bit as well. But as high as that number is, it is PUKING out fuel which may mean a bad spark.



Taylor

[IRON-E]

with the NO number where it is I would say its the cat. The newest e30 is 18 years old so Im sure yours is close to if not needing to be replaced. But before you do the cat, do a tune up. yeah it will cost money but in the end it will be good to have it done. The spark plugs should bring that NO down a bit as well. But as high as that number is, it is PUKING out fuel which may mean a bad spark.



Taylor

John, listen to this ninjah, he knows his shit.

[Cha Ching]

John, listen to this ninjah, he knows his shit.

Yes,Obi-Wan, Fiend is in the know! He's pretty much spot on with what I did prior to running my test. I took it to Castros and had them replace the cat, which was a gutted POS. Took care of my problemo & passed smog.

Since I was selling the car, I didn't want to drop a lot of coin on remedies, but a new cat was a must.

[IRON-E]

Yes,Obi-Wan, Fiend is in the know! He's pretty much spot on with what I did prior to running my test. I took it to Castros and had them replace the cat, which was a gutted POS. Took care of my problemo & passed smog.

Since I was selling the car, I didn't want to drop a lot of coin on remedies, but a new cat was a must.

Good shit mang, I'm glad you're all taken care of by the FAT BOYS (Stroehs) ;)

[Surtr]

For the benefit of searchers, I also passed with a new cat. I was pretty sure it wasn't the cat, cause I had just spent a whopping $60 on one 2 years prior. When I told that to a smog tech he laughed in my face. Told me that if my car wasn't running in tip top condition the entire time that cat was on, it wasn't doing anything anymore. There was a time in between when an ignition cable came off and made it sound like I was making popcorn in my cat, so I figured I should replace it. Replaced it and took it in. I went from my previously posted numbers to:

15MPH, RPM=1879, %CO2=14.29, %O2=0.85, HC=29, CO%=.01, NO=0033

25MPH, RPM=1880, %CO2=14.30, %O2=0.84, HC=13, CO%=.00, NO=0017

Damn, that's way prettier than before.

Not sure why my oxygen numbers are so much higher than everybody else's.