alex_95_cab

I realize this is totally off-topic but hoping someone can help with my other car.
I just failed California emissions on my daily driver, a 96 Honda Accord.
A week previously I had my secondary O2 sensor replaced; and then 2 days before the test I had my main O2 sensor replaced. There were no other engine fault codes showing up until the test itself.

I failed the CO reading and was pretty high on the HC reading. 2 years previously I passed the smog test with flying colors. Called my mechanic and he was perplexed because :

a) Honda's are normally pretty good with emissions and my car wasn't showing any emission related problems up until this point.

b) Unless I misunderstood him he seemed to be saying it's odd that I got high readings on both CO and HC.

Also literally 5 minutes after leaving the smog station (they test and fix there as well) my check engine light came on again.

I'm definitely not accusing the station where I got the smog done, but it's pretty odd that my check engine light came off so soon after leaving the place. Is it possible to purposely do anything to cause a car to fail smog?

I bought a cheap scanner to read the codes my-self but it looks my car is OBD1 even though most 96 hondas are supposed to be OBD2 compliant. Does anyone know anywhere on line to get inexpensive OBD1 scanners w/o having to go to the full-blown $300 models.

Thanks very much in advance.

jonathank2000

Alex,
What city do you live in?

kkim

Alex-

I think all you have to do to get the code on a Honda is short the green 2 wire connector located above the passenger side kick panel. Turn the key to the aux position and the engine light should blink the error code.

Good luck

alex_95_cab

Thanks for the info. I'm a bit of a klutz when it comes to cars so how do I short that wire?

BTW I'm in Fremont, CA

Thanks

Father of 3

Did you not pass due to emissions or is it a OBDI problem? Sometimes when battery has been disconnected, causes OBD readiness issues. Resetting them takes time - lot of driving around under various driving conditions - or knowledge of the reset procedure. The reset procedure is manufacturer specific and can be very hard to replicate. There have been posts on this topic for the 993 (search OBDII readiness). If emissions related then can't help other than Kkim's suggestion of checking codes. There also must be OBDI readers at Kragen or pep boys, no?

alex_95_cab

Father of 3,

It definitely looks like an emissions issue since I got pegged as a gross polluter (high HC levels and gross-polluter CO levels).

There are simple $40 OBD2 readers at Kragens and pep-boys but the only OBD1 readers I can find at the same places are heavy-duty ones used by mechanics that cost $200 and up. I'm already taking the car to my mechanic on Friday but figured I'd check the codes myself if I could find a cheap code reader.

Thanks for the info.

kkim

Alex-

If you are not too familiar working on cars, maybe you should have someone else check the code for you. The general consenses from the Honda board I frequent is to take it to an Autozone and have them read it for you for free.

some codes just in case you do get some readings-

0 ECU
1 Oxygen Content
3 Map Sensor
4 Crank Angle Sensor
5 Map Sensor
6 Coolent Temperature
7 Throttle Angle
8 TDC Position
9 No 1 Cylinder Position
10 Intake Air Temperature
63 Intake Air Temperature
12 Exhaust Gas Recirculation System
13 Atmosphere Pressure
14 Electronic Air Control
15 Ignition Output Signal
16 Fuel Injector
17 Vehicle Speed Sensor
20 Electronic Load Detector
21 VTEC Solenoid Valve (1.8L GSR)
22 VTEC Oil Pressure Switch (1.8L GSR)
23 Knock Sensor
30 TCM Signal A
31 TCM Signal B
41 O-2 Sensor Heater
43 Fuel Supply System
45 System Too Rich or Too Lean
48 Primary Heated O-2 Sensor
54 Crankshaft Speed Fluctuation Sensor
61 Primary O-2 Sensor Circuit
63 Secondary O-2 Sensor Circuit
67 Catalyst System
70 Automatic Transaxle
71-74 Random Misfire
80 Exhaust Gas Recirculation
86 Engine Coolant Temperature Circuit
90 Evaporative Emission Control System Leak Detected
91 Fuel Tank Pressure Circuit
92 Evaporative Emission Control System Insufficient

alex_95_cab

KKim,

Thanks for the info. I set the jumper wire and I'm getting a 45 "System too rich or too lean". It's definitely too rich as the CO reading is way high on my smog test. I'm taking the car to my mechanic on Friday and hopefully it won't be too much for the fix.

THANKS everyone for the prompt help!

kkim

Alex-

Good Luck... hope it's something simple for them to fix.

chris walrod

Plugged cat would be my guess?

B-Line

I had a very hard time getting my car smogged in Cali. and it was running perfect. Ultimately I went to a REFEREE station that cleared the car. It cost all of $20..
Before you go spending hundreds to deal with those OBD codes and Flags, etc.. make an appointment, it's very quick, and go to a state referee station.
If it still doesn't pass, then spend the money to fix the problem.
But I would strongly recommend you referee the car before you spend money to fix something that might be ok. Again, it a problem for cars that are pre 1998 for some reason that I don't know.

alex_95_cab

Chris,

I faxed the readings to my mechanic and he felt that the readings were so high that the Cat wasn't the main culprit. That's not to say the cat isn't blown but he said even if the cat was working perfectly it wouldn't have been able to clear up such high levels of CO and HC.

B-line, thanks for the info. I will try that. This car did pass smog two years ago with flying colors. Since then they've gone to the rolling smog. The problem I have right now is that with the check-engine light is on they will fail it just for that. I wonder whether I got a bad batch of gas? Perhaps I should try to get rid of this batch of gas, clear the check-engine light and then go to the referee.