smog check!

[snoopyloopy]

ok so i noticed the other smog thread, but figured i shouldn't steal his thunder. firstly, anyone from ca know anything about recent changes in smog law (aka since 2007 when i bought my car)? my car failed the little sniffer (when i find the stupid paper i'll post the #s) so i need some pointers. i'm leaning toward possibly needing a new cat, spark plugs, and/or o2 sensors. but i heard that new ca law, all cats must be serialized so the shops are now charging obscene amounts for a $10 weld job (since more than likely can't get your own...)? but anyway, when i find the paper with the results, i'll return.

[Dr_Snooz]

What did you fail on?

[Civic Accord Honda]

yeah you can no longer buy aftermarket cats in cali have to have a shop install one or get a oem one from honda X_X

[snoopyloopy]

What did you fail on?

sniffer, two of the three were over i think, but i can't seem to find the paper...soon as a find it i'll update w/ fail specs lol

[Dr_Snooz]

The diagnosis changes depending on the results you got. Generally:

1. NOX = bad EGR
2. HC = bad cat
3. CO = bad O2 sensor

Generally. There's a million little things can go wrong to cause any one of those including bad injectors, bad plugs, vacuum leaks or even not having the car hot before testing. To wit, I pilfered this from Midas based on another thread elsewhere:



Definitely need the results before we start diagnosing.

[snoopyloopy]

ahh yes, found it. high hc and high nox. it appears to only be at lower engine speeds (1 is 15 mph, 2 is 25 mph). and yea, it was probably about 90 mins between time i showed up and when he finally got a chance to start the test. so i'm thinking it was a bit cool by then...
HC1: 174 (max 124)
HC2: 76 (max 98)

NO1: 1846 (max 815)
NO2: 724 (max 754)

[Dr_Snooz]

Okay, let's cover the obvious first. Is the car running right? Recently tuned up, good gas, no vacuum leaks, timed right, etc? If that's all okay then we can move on. It's not crazy high on the HCs, so you might be able to squeak past by getting the car good and hot with a freeway run right before the test. That might keep you from buying a cat for another couple years, but don't get your hopes up too much. As for the NOX, check the EGR system. Make sure the valve is working. Run through the troubleshooting procedures in the manual for the EGR system. Take off the valve and clean it out, check for trouble codes. If that doesn't get you there, clean out the ports in the intake manifold. Check also for vacuum leaks. How does the car idle? If it's rough, then you could very well have a vacuum leak or the EGR system could not be working properly.

Keep us posted on your progress and good luck!

[snoopyloopy]

yea, it's running reasonably well. i do know it has an intermittent cel, code #15 i believe i figured it out to be. gas was good, i always run premium. no vacuum leaks that i can tell and timing is adjusted. but it does misfire every so often when idling, so throwing a cylinder worth of improperly burned fuel probably doesn't help hcs. i can't remember exactly when i changed the spark plugs and wires, but it can't be more than 36k miles ago, bc that's how far i've driven the car in the two years i've owned it. but as for egr, i think i might check it. it might be missing the screw on the im side, those always fall off on me.

as for progress, got it passed...but i still want to fix it lol.

[BoogerBurns]

I found the problem, the number #17 vacuum line was cut. The place to put it on the air intake was snapped off. So they just cut it. So I'm going to try to get another one from the junk yard and see where that gets me. It was giving me a code #12. Nasty stuff! And I also changed the radiator to fix my idle problem because the system was not getting pressurized.

[ecogabriel]

yeah you can no longer buy aftermarket cats in cali have to have a shop install one or get a oem one from honda X_X

What kind of idiocy is that??? If the car passes emissions what is the problem with aftermarket cats? Are all aftermarket cats "bad"? Or they are "bad" for someone's business???

[MessyHonda]

What kind of idiocy is that??? If the car passes emissions what is the problem with aftermarket cats? Are all aftermarket cats "bad"? Or they are "bad" for someone's business???

cali laws are dumb...just like weed out here...you can buy it with a club card but if federal law catches you they can take it away