dblrr900

Took my max in for emissions in VA last week. I passed the 25MPH test with an almost perfect rating, then the idiot running the test couldn't keep the car steady on the 15 MPH and I failed it.

Fact is the ECU is running really Rich in that range. I used to have a Frankentake in and the car put amazing numbers on the dyno and everyone said I had a factory freak.... I guess the ECU is pushing too much fuel. I put the stock box in after blowing the MAF in 98 degree weather here. Here are my options:

1) Put Intake back in and hope that the A/F balanced out with the increased air.

2) Take it to the dealer and listen to their dumb-a$$es tell me some story about somethng that doesnt matter. Their is an ECU update for my model, but I have been very fearful to have it done, should I risk them breaking soemthing else?

3) Trust the station manager to try some tricks to get it to pass. By the way, he works on 1/4 mile race cars.

Honestly I dont see how a 2k2 with 40k miles should fail the inspection, but I guess this is the way it goes. These are the days when I hate this car....

irish44j

iTrader: (38)

which station did you take it to? The car has to be REALLY rich to fail our paltry emissions here....

perhaps a bad O2 sensor?

btw, where in Burke do you live?

MaximaPolak

iTrader: (9)

was the car warm enough to pass?
If not, you should have warmed the car alot to get the cat working.

dblrr900

I live off of Guinea. I took it to the Mobile station over by the midas on Burke Center Pkwy. The owner of the station is a racing guru and builds race cars. His son is Mark Brauning who I have been friends with for years. The guys there are totally cool, I just the one guy that seems to be a square peg in the round hole.

Like I said, I think something was wrong with the way he did the test.... I cannot imagine my car pushing that much guel to push the line here. I asked the manager about the exhaust and he said I could run a straight pipe and pass the test, he said is measures the fuel in the exhaust, so the catback doesnt matter. I am think I am going to head up there tomorrow and just see what happens. He said to bring it back when him and another guy can play around and see what they come up with.

Where are you in Burke?

dblrr900

I actually asked about that too, but the 25 mph was almost perfect, he said that it couldnt be O-2 or the cat because the 25 was done before the 15 and it was so low....

xtantmaxima

Out here in Las Vegas they just plug a cord into the OBDII sensor under the dash and take the reading from there. All cars 96+ have this and that is the tell all be all for these stations. I asked the guy if he had ever seen a new car fail inspection with this test and he said he had seen three and they all had the check engine light on. I'm not sure how well this actually measures particle emission but it takes the humar error out of holding a steady rpm.

irish44j

iTrader: (38)

I'm off Burke Road, about midway between the Burke Nursery (plant nursery, that is) and the Burke Rd. VRE station.....I must be about a mile from you....

I tried to look up your cardomain page to see if I've seen your ride, but cardomain seems to be down at the moment.

kobalt

iTrader: (3)

Same here in Jersey, they just connect equipment to your OBD2 port and don't truly check emissions any more. A check engine light will get you failed.

dblrr900

Not VA.... They made all the state certified gas stations spend tons of cash to have a dyno put in the ground of their garage. Knowing VA, they will change it to the computer of the car next year and all these stations will eat the costs.

imjd

Hah! As always... Massachusetts is in the forefront...

We already did exactly that. Inspection stations had to install dynamometers and exhaust gas sniffers about 8 years ago (I don't recall when, exactly)
The tests proved so inaccurate, with too many of both false positives and false negatives. (probably due in large part to incompetents working the equipment, but that is only my opinion) This year, all that investment was rendered moot because the state went to the OBD-II test. (Actually not completely moot because pre-OBD-II cars still get the tailpipe test.)

dblrr900

I think the OBDII test would be way better. Because if the car is running the way the Manufacturer built it then the car should pass. The best part of that is with the latest SAFCs and other tools, you can actually make the OBDII system work the way you want it so you have have power adders and still pass. Or am I completely off-base on that?

Igor911

iTrader: (10)

They dont even test out the cars here, they plug in the port and your out in 2 mins.

2kSC

iTrader: (1)

You need to warm up the car!
Let it run for like 10min before you go again, and it will pass no problem.

dblrr900

Woo Hoo. It passed.

The guy was using the wrong gear for the 2nd part of the test and it skewed the numbers. I told him to try 2nd and 1st too. He did 2nd and it was at the bottom of the allowed mark. Changed to first gear and it was just inside the green at the top. After the test was done it passed. Almost perfect too. The numbers were barely above zero.

So, if you have a 6 SPD and go in for emissions, make sure they are using the correct gear for the test or it will fail.

2nd Gear (FAIL)

CO% .67 (.44 limit)


1st Gear (Pass)

CO% .10

Big difference.