hex wrote:
> hi I just failed the good ole california smog test i have a 98
> civic EX manual
> 109K i failed with high HC tthe first time around cause i just drove
> it in without doing anything
> since its never failed before after failing once I did new plugs, dist
> cap and rotor added 2 cans of heet to 1/4 tank of gas and ran for 15
> miles on fwy prior to testing and it still failed the numbers dropped
> about 30 points on the HC with the tune up but still failed
> here are the #
>
> co2 O2 HC CO
>
>
> 15 mph 13.7 .7 64max, test 99 .55max, test .16
>
>
> 25 mph 13.8 .5 47max, test 89 .54max, test .10
>

The high HC means incomplete combustion. High CO means too much fuel,
and high NOX emissions almost always indicate a problem with the EGR
system. In this case your mixture looks okay as it is well within the
test limits.

Adding heet (and 2 cans at that) to 1/4 tank of gas is the wrong
approach to this problem. Heet is wood alcohol, and while what you did
would likely help a carbureted engine pass an emission test by leaning
the mixture, it will not have the same effect on a fuel injected
engine. The computer will automatically adjust the fuel delivery to
maintain a stochiometric mixture by introducing MORE fuel(since your
alcohol mixture has less energy than gasoline), and thus the only
effect you've made is to cut your gas mileage and take any water in the
tank (which will be absorbed by the heet) and stick it into the
combustion chamber(wood alcohol will bind to the water and drag it
through the system), where it will not burn.

My advice: Fill up the tank with fresh gasoline to dilute the heet that
you put in there and run it through again. I would also like to see the
other numbers from your first pass through the test. Keep in mind at
109k you are probably due for oxygen sensors and a mass airflow sensor
in the very near future.

And here's the clincher...if you drove the car with a misfire for any
period of time it is also possible you destroyed the catalytic
convertor, and if that is indeed your problem no amount of pouring
stuff into the tank will get you through the test. Any shop can test
the cat with a point -n- shoot thermometer. If after running for
several minutes at a high idle RPM the inlet side of the cat is the
same temperature as the outlet side then you can safely assume it is in
need of replacement.

Good luck with it.

Chris