NOR-CAL General Chat.

[2mAn]

that used to be a members car IIRC

[Toodaloo]

that used to be a members car IIRC

Yup! He made a post about this car a while back

[Bimmerman325i]

are those CCWs???

[Toodaloo]

are those CCWs???

Replicas actually haha

[CarsonE30]

blah blah blah meet blah blah blah

https://www.facebook.com/events/260052681002466/

[decay]

that depends, does he have feet for hands?

the car has a lot of miles and needs the front timing stuff done, but is in lovely shape otherwise. I've been pining after it, but have no space to keep it or need for it.

Talked to him again at the post-work happy hour; he's too much of a noob for that but we could find a shop for him.

Any idea what price range the owner is looking for?

[mtech325]

Hey everyone,

This might be a bit of a stretch, but some of you have obd2 cars so maybe you have some suggestions. My car keeps failing the HC portion of the smog test (running rich):

I have a 96’ 328 with an s52 swap. The motor has roughly 160k on it. Everything is stock on it aside from a Dinan muffler. Two years ago with ~135,000 on the motor, I passed smog just barely. So this year I bought a lower mileage used cat section. Within the last 10,000 miles, I have:

Installed new coil packs
Installed new stock injectors
New Cam Sensor (not sure if it makes a difference)
The Vanos has been replaced within the last 20,000 miles as well

The first test was with the used cat section as a baseline:
HC MAX HC MEAS
15mph 54 88
25mph 37 67

The second test I poured denatured alcohol in the tank
HC MAX HC MEAS
15mph 54 78
25mph 37 66

The third test I had BRAND NEW CA legal cats welded on (almost passed…)
HC MAX HC MEAS
15mph 54 48
25mph 37 42



The 4th test I installed brand new NTK o2 sensors and my car did worse
HC MAX HC MEAS
15mph 54 65
25mph 37 58


This is getting old really quick. I’m going to try a new smog shop as the one doing the testing isn’t terribly helpful. They told me to learn to do maintenance and work on my car . In years past, my car would be smogged in 2nd gear as to keep the revs up which would pass it with ease, but this time around they said that’s not allowed, so the testing is being done at 1700-1900 RPM for both the 15 mph & 25 mph testing. This bogs the car down considerably as it’s never driven at those RPMs.

I’ve checked for vacuum leaks, exhaust leaks, valve cover is on tight etc. I always make sure to drive the car hard as to warm up the cats and leave it idling at the station. The last things I can think to do are to clean the MAF sensor and maybe change the oil a bit sooner than I anticipated. The plugs look to be in good shape, but they have 30k or so on them.

I’m just curious if anyone else has had a similar experience or could point me in the right direction. It just sucks that I put all this time, money, and effort to keep this car running well and yet the Nazi state of California says otherwise. What’s extra stupid is how cars that are 2000 or newer don’t do the sniffer test anymore but simply an OBD2 readiness check. OBD1 cars still have the sniffer test but the standards are a little less strict.

Thanks for reading,

Joey

[E30 Ian]

Are the cats you had installed made for s52 or your stock 328 engine? The amount of monolith or converter material is different.

[mtech325]

Hmmm that might be the case then. They're new 328 cats. Stock, the 328 and M3 share the same cats/midsections, but aftermarket they might be different. Magnaflow shows the 328 and M3 as sharing the same cats, but I believe the shop put on Walker cats, which shows 2 different part numbers online between an M3 and a 328.

[Bimmerman325i]

New spark plugs?

Fuel filter?

Changed oil recently?

How hot were the cats when tested?

I just got my 98 m3 smogged and it blew close-ish to the limit despite thrashing it up and down the highway for half an hour before pulling immediately into the test stand.

If you're not doing that, that might be why. What are your NOx levels? CO? Those species tell a more complete story than just HC ppm.

[wilholl]

Stock ECU, stock tune?

[mtech325]

Thanks for the responses everyone.

The oil could be stand to be changed. I'm about 1000 miles out, but at this point I may as well. The fuel filter has about 70k on it since I last changed it, so I'll do that and new set of plugs while I'm at it. At lunch time I gave the engine a once over and noticed my intake bellow has a slight tear where it mates up to the MAF...so I'll order a new one as well.

I usually drive the car for 20 minutes on the freeway and around town, but maybe I'll just stick to freeways for a little longer.

The ECU is stock. The only thing that may be an issue is that it originally came from an automatic car, so when I sent it up to a fellow in Sacramento to delete the EWS, he supposedly converted it to be programmed for a manual.

I only have my most recent smog paperwork in front of me, so here it is for you guys to examine.

[Bimmerman325i]

Thanks for the responses everyone.

The oil could be stand to be changed. I'm about 1000 miles out, but at this point I may as well. The fuel filter has about 70k on it since I last changed it, so I'll do that and new set of plugs while I'm at it. At lunch time I gave the engine a once over and noticed my intake bellow has a slight tear where it mates up to the MAF...so I'll order a new one as well.

I usually drive the car for 20 minutes on the freeway and around town, but maybe I'll just stick to freeways for a little longer.

The ECU is stock. The only thing that may be an issue is that it originally came from an automatic car, so when I sent it up to a fellow in Sacramento to delete the EWS, he supposedly converted it to be programmed for a manual.

I only have my most recent smog paperwork in front of me, so here it is for you guys to examine.

Torn MAF boot could definitely do it, as the car is not getting the same mass of air that it metered. It should be smart enough to trim based on the O2s though.

If it were purely a temp issue, the NOx would also be high. Since your averages are well within the limits, the cats are working, so I'd wager it's accelerating up to whatever rpm/speed that is causing the spike in numbers, which is likely fuelling/spark related.

What injectors do you have/is the car tuned for?

[CarsonE30]

3 people are "interested" in the M3 and are "coming" to the Burgers and Bimmers meet this Sunday. Taking bets as to how many will no show, get in now!
Also, if the thing is finally fucking gone, the E30 will not be as slow anymore! S52 or Kam's Budget Brawler kit?

[mtech325]

My injectors are stock 21.5 lb "pink" tops that were rebuilt 10k/1 year ago by Mr. Injector. These are the stock injectors for both the m52 and s52, or so my 2.8 had them as well as this 3.2.