shepmess

Please have a look at my test results and provide input as to which component could be causing the car to fail. The car has 95k miles on the clock with no modifications that I know of, although the seller did say that it had a performance chip, which I have not confirmed. I just purchased the car and have performed the following:
New PLugs
New Air Filter
Oil Changed
Checked and re checked for vacuum leaks with none found.
Put a bottle of smog pass additive in the tank, I guess it didn't work too well.

The car was warmed up properly when I brought it in for the test.






I am planning on putting in a new catalytic converter tomorrow.

Thanks.

RJ80

Good call on the catalytic converter. High nox is usually a cat-related issue. Be sure to check your O2 sensor as well.

V2Rocket

oxygen sensor would be my primary suspect here
ideally the O2% should be 0.1-0.3 or so and CO2 15% for best smog results.

0.7% means you have extra oxygen but your high HC means there is extra fuel too - incomplete combustion (but not misfire because your CO number is ok)

the very high NOX number does lead the Cat's efficiency into question though but O2 sensor is cheaper to try first...

i don't know what part of LA you are in but if you are in the valley try Cruiser's Car wash/smog in Northridge on Tampa, the guy Razmik there is very nice and helped me a few times with my 944 smogging when I lived there.

shepmess

I'm probably going to replace both, cheap enough and easy to do.

Thanks for both of your replies.

shepmess

My car passed smog today after replacing both the catalytic converter and the O2 Sensor. Upon inspection after removal, both were pretty well shot. It was a simple and straightforward fix.





All numbers dropped considerably with the new parts

V2Rocket

did you keep the old cat?
...in case i have a use for it

those results are great but i think you might be running a little bit rich still based on the HC numbers and the 0.0% O2...0% means all the oxygen is being used up by the cat, it should be 0.1-0.3 or so "ideally".

RJ80

Congrats! Such a great feeling to make it through a CA smog test with flying colors.

shepmess

I gave the old cat to the shop that put the new one on. It was missing a good deal of the material inside. I think the previous owner may have monkeyed with it.

Thanks for the input on the HC numbers. What should I fix in order to keep from running rich?

V2Rocket

well the typical old "chips" would dump a lot of extra fuel under most conditions to make the mid-range feel stronger.