failed emissions test

[krazy86t]

car is up for 2 year emission test here in CO. failed on 2 counts: 1) gas cap does not seal sufficiently, 2) HC, and CO way too high.

#1 i believe is due to cracking o-ring on gas cap seal. are the o-rings easy to find for replacement?

#2 is slightly interesting in that i think i found the problem. as the car was in the test station the check engine light came on - another fail criteria - while i was not operating the vehicle. got the disappointing news from teh tech and drove home. drive home and car is bucking and driving very poorly. i'm thinking injectors, plugs, fuel filter/problem, etc. Make it home and check for error codes - code 34 for MAF comes up. i have LT1 MAF + translator so this would be surprising. pulled open MAF translator box and the multi-pin chip had popped out of one side of the PCB. snapped the chip back in and the car runs perfectly fine. hopefully it will pass now.

just my bad luck? gremlins keep me from passing. i'm interested to see if TT chip + 42.5 injectors and current tune pass test or produce failure due to high HC. i turned the boost down to 12 psi from 15.5 before going in to test station.

if we could get the emissions stations to do something performance oriented with the dynamometers, the whole experience would be tolerable - they could at least tell you max torque/rpm/HP as a part of the test.

 

[mikestertwo]

Post your numbers. Did it fail at idle, at rpm, or both. Don't forget a TT chip has an open loop idle unless you specified closed loop when you ordered the chip. Did you take the car for a drive and heat up the cat before taking it to be tested?

 

[Smokin-6]

I passed with 60"s and a TT emissions chip. But I do have a stock MAF. Good luck

 

[turbojd]

You must having a Good working catalytic conveter, get TT emissions chip, also check to make sure that your EGR valve is working properly.

 

[krazy86t]

Thanks for the suggestions.

Sniffer detected 25 gm/min HC's and 200 gm/min CO, but the MAF was definitely not working due to issue described above. Limits are 2 gm/min HC and 20 gm/min CO. it does not look like it fails the idle test.

catalytic converter is 2 years old - i hope it still works - previous owner gutted the stock cat but forgot to tell me, failed tests when first registering the car 2 years ago and took some time to figure it out.

going to re-test friday with working MAF and new spark plugs. that will help me decide if TT emissions chip is next step.

 

[krazy86t]

Update - working MAF and new plugs (NGK UR5 0.035") + new gas cap and the car passed. no need for emissions chip. HC and CO were 75-80% of the limit value.