Emission test fail

[Ikera]

I live in Vancouver, BC (Canada) and we have this thing called "AirCare" that I have to do every year (They test the emission of the car). Needless to say my car has failed the same day new Catalytic Converter was installed. I drove around for about 30min before the test to make sure the Cat is heated up and works at it's best. But it didn't help, does a Cat have a breaking-in period where it's starts to work, aside from warming up?

And here are my results

Driving TestHydrocarbons (HC) 89 PPM (90 MAX)Carbon Monoxide (CO) 2.86 % (0.76 MAX)Oxides of Nitrogen (NOx) 32 PPM (1117 MAX)

Idle TestHydrocarbons (HC) 111 PPM (108 MAX)Carbon Monoxide (CO) 1.44 % (0.82 MAX)

Fuel Consumption is also pretty bad 11.5L/100km

As you can see my (NOx) Is really REALLY low, average car has reading of 325 ppm and my has reading of 32 (10 times lower then average)

And my (CO) reading is really high, average car has reading of 0.07% my car has reading of 2.86 %

I came up with a crazy solution aside from changing O2 sensor and Cleaning the throttle, is to ADVANCE the s*** out of TIMING. Make it the engine run on pre-detonations that would raise the NOx and lower the CO and HC.And after I pass the test change the timing back (retard it).

So... how dangerous is it to excessively advance the timing?

Or do you guys have any other ideas how to fix my emission and get better fuel consumption rating?

Anyone from Vancouver, BC aside from then guy with a screen name "vancouverbc"

[T-rev]

What type of engine setup are you running? When I had my old ka I never had a problem going through aircare.

You know your car isnt running right, I would suggest a full tune up, including a new 02 sensor. Or even take it to a shop with a sniffer and let them have a go at it.

As far as I know, cats dont require a break in, and 30 min should have it warmed up right. I understood when passing aircare retarding the timing was the ticket, not advancing it.

good luck

[Ikera]

Oh yea forgot to tell what engineit's KA24E in 240sx hatch

retarding the timing lowers the NOx... my NOx is SOOoooo low makes me think it's retarded (in both meaning of the word)

[Wc240]

mabe someone can school me, i dont know canada, just cali smog, but you WANT your nox to be low. your co is a lil high thats partially burned fuel

[Ikera]

It would be best if my car head low reading on everything HC, CO, and NOx... but all have is really low NOx and I am pretty sure if I advance the timing that would sacrifice NOx rating and lower the HC and CO. Then it would all be in the passing zone. Can anyone confirm that, or can anyone suggest how I can advance my timing to the max safely.

[Wc240]

please post the requirements on ca emissions, becouse im curious about these things. the reason you nox is liw is becouse you have so much fuel(hc/co, mainly co) your temps are running very low.nox is created by temp(2500 degrees mostly) your running rich, so your running cool. you need to fix your rich condition, your nox will go up as a result. but if your running proper, not enough to fail. dont advance,youll faill on different things, put timing at stock(20BTDC)

[94_240sx]

I don't know about others, but do know about Nox. my old DD failed emission many times due to high Nox. Yours is low because of the new catalytic converter. Two things affect Nox. They are EGR valve and catalytic converter. Nox was over 1000 on my old DD, but went down to 30 after new cat was installed.

[Ikera]

please post the requirements on ca emissions, becouse im curious about these things. the reason you nox is liw is becouse you have so much fuel(hc/co, mainly co) your temps are running very low.nox is created by temp(2500 degrees mostly) your running rich, so your running cool. you need to fix your rich condition, your nox will go up as a result. but if your running proper, not enough to fail. dont advance,youll faill on different things, put timing at stock(20BTDC)

Here the picture of the results. I also have a graph but I left it in the car.

I am thinking of taking it to a shop have them tune it up, so do you think my car is running rich because of the O2 sensor malfunction. Any idea how much it's going to cost in the shop.

[Ikera]

I've talked to a mechanic and showed him the results, with out even looking at the car he said I need Spark plugs, PCV Valve, Air filter, clean throttle body and adjust the timing. Does that sound right?

[Wc240]

those are kinda the standard precoutions. your air filter can couse khigh co, infact thats the first place to check for slighty elavated levels. check your pcv valve and check your plugs. if there bad then replace em. deffinatly adjust your timing to factory spec 15 before. cleaning the throttle body wouldnt hurt, more so cleaning your intake manifold.

[Wc240]

also, what octane you usin?

[Ikera]

Thank for posting, How do I clean the intake manifold, do I need to remove it from the engine? And I have already bought all the new parts yesterday. Bosch spark plugs, PCV Valve, O2 sensor, Air Filter, and Throttle body cleaner. And Mechanic is charging me $85 to install it all and adjust the ignition timing. I could do all of this myself if had the tools. And I have no idea where I would be able to get a timing thing tool...

I use regular fuel... the cheapest

P.S. Just in case anyone is wondering the K&N Air Filter cost $68 in Canadian Tire. (was not able to afford it)
Modified by Ikera at 3:30 PM 6/2/2009

[Ikera]

I've passed aircare, the problem was dead and disconnected O2 sensor. I've installed a new one found O2 wire (it was hiding from me in the engine bay). As soon as I started the car I've check if it would knock and it did, changed the timing myself (with out timing light) just until it would not knock from reving the engine. I was really happy to know that the O2 sensor was working and the ECU was working right too. Before connecting the O2 sensor my engine would not knock from advancing the timing to the max and reving the engine. So if next time someone has aircare results like my on KA24E, advance the timing, and if it doesn't knock (even at 6,000RPM) check the O2 sensor.and here is a picture of my results.

Look at the CO reading on the idle test 0.00%, 100.00% of the fuel is burned completely with no waste.

[Wc240]

nice job. glad to hear it. you actually could have past without half that stuff, but then again, you probably needed em any ways.