Car wont pass smog..... need some help!!

[efficient]

Ethanol raises nox and lowers everything else unless you have a very high proportion of alcohol.

The solution to your problem is to borrow a good OEM cat from someone. I'll bet that you've got a shitty magnaflow or similar from when the cat was replaced. I had a 220x (not a type or exaggeration) drop in NOx when I sucked it up and put an OE cat behind my old S50 instead of the shitty magnaflow.

You could try doing a citric acid clean on your existing cat as well. It's very effective at degunking cats without damaging them. (I can't say affirmatively that it improves performance, but it certainly gets an impressive amount of crap out.)

How do you clean it with citric acid?

[nrubenstein]

Has anyone tried topping off the fuel with some E85 to help lower NOx? I heard of multiple people trying it with their cars and passing smog here in CA.

Ethanol raises nox and lowers everything else unless you have a very high proportion of alcohol.

The solution to your problem is to borrow a good OEM cat from someone. I'll bet that you've got a shitty magnaflow or similar from when the cat was replaced. I had a 220x (not a type or exaggeration) drop in NOx when I sucked it up and put an OE cat behind my old S50 instead of the shitty magnaflow.

You could try doing a citric acid clean on your existing cat as well. It's very effective at degunking cats without damaging them. (I can't say affirmatively that it improves performance, but it certainly gets an impressive amount of crap out.)

[Wasefi]

have you been fighting this issue for the past year or are you asking because it's time for you to get smogged again?

Yeah been having this issue since august of last year. Starting to miss my car a lot and want to complete it.

[smooth]

Has anyone tried topping off the fuel with some E85 to help lower NOx? I heard of multiple people trying it with their cars and passing smog here in CA.

have you been fighting this issue for the past year or are you asking because it's time for you to get smogged again?

[wilholl]

Get a new cat a magnaflow costs 180installed. I had the same problem last year until I just bought a new cat and it passed

Seafoam treatment will help with high NOx if you haven't done that already.
But seriously, a new cat will fix almost all of it.

[Wasefi]

Has anyone tried topping off the fuel with some E85 to help lower NOx? I heard of multiple people trying it with their cars and passing smog here in CA.

[///digitalme]

Get a new cat a magnaflow costs 180installed. I had the same problem last year until I just bought a new cat and it passed

[Cabriolet]

Bummer, i was hoping we got it patched enough. you will need a smoke test for sure. to find the rest of the leaks

[rhE-30]

Get you self some carb cleaner spray and spray in areas that may leak air. Listen for idle changes, the area you are spraying would be where the leak is. One not so obvious spot, and where my leak was, was the fuel injector O-rings.

[Wasefi]

Ok R3Vers, I tried smogging my car a 3rd time and still I failed at 15mph due to high levels of NOx. A fellow r3v member helped me out with air leaks on my intake boot and the car ran much smoother and got better gas mileage but still no passing smog. Anybody else that can help me out??

[ol89]

im having same problem.. but was reading on other forum that it might be bad intake boot or hoses

[Cabriolet]

that's an air leak.
PMing you my #
i can help u fix that sunday

[Wasefi]

Sorry for taking so long but here's the two different measurements charts from the smog station.

1st attempt.



2nd attempt with some minor improvements.

[Wasefi]

not trying to bust your balls here... but did you get the nice and hot before the tests? did it get on the roller right away, or did it have time to cool? based on my personal experience, and what you are telling me, I'll cast my vote for o2 sensor. Maybe see if you can borrow one locally just for the test.

Yeah I beat the shit out of the car all the way from san jose to hayward that same morning and had an appointment at the smog shop

[Wasefi]

high NOx comes from the car running lean. you either have air leaks and or need an O2 sensor.

Yeah I am thinking I might need to get an 02 sensor, just trying to avoiding spending anymore money on this engine when I have another one in the garage.