Smog Help needed! (Yes I've searched)

Hi all.....I'd really appreciate some advice from the Smog Gurus out there. Took my XJ to get its smog here in Cali, and to my dismay, she failed. Here's the info:

Patient:

89 XJ 4.0 Limited, stock stock stock with 175k miles. Runs nice and strong.

Maintenance:

-That morning I changed plugs (Champion, stock heat range), wires, cap, rotor (Autozone brand, I can't remember which), engine oil and filter, air filter. Old plugs appeared ok, everything was just kinda worn out.
-2 years and 25k miles ago, the P.O. had the cat replaced by a muffler shop who put on a weld on type. Have not crawled under to see if I can hear anything rattling around in the cat.
-Records for the last 75k miles or so do not show any replacement/service of the injectors.
-Ran the Jeep for a good 20 minutes or so on the freeway to get everything up to temp, and kept the engine idling while waiting the 5-10 minutes for the test.

Numbers:

-At 15mph (1642 rpm), HC (PPM) was 71, max is 123, CO (%) was 0.68, max is 0.73, and NO (PPM) was 1325, max is 1015. FAILED NO.
-At 25mph (1602 rpm), HC (PPM) was 40, max is 103, CO (%) was 0.45, max is 0.93, and NO (PPM) was 860, max is 875. So it barely passed NO here.

FYI, the last smog check 2 years and 20k miles prior the car barely squeaked by with a 1013 for NO at 15 mph, but was 102 for NO at 25 mph.

I also failed on 2 other counts. The portion of the EGR the comes off the small, pipe at the bottom (part looks like about 2" diameter, black plastic, with additional 2 vacuum lines in/out) was broken off, although the 2 vacuum lines were still attached. The part where the metal pipe at the bottom would attach to was missing and the part was dangling there, melting away a bit. Smog tech was not happy with that. In addition, the Thermostatic Air Cleaner hose (little one at the back of the air filter box) had wiggled itself loose and was also dangling there. Stupid me for not catching that one, and the jerk tech marked them off as "TAMPERED WITH". Grrrrr....thanks to that remark which was already digitally sent to the DMV, I no longer qualify for the assistance program. But I digress....

I'm replacing the EGR this weekend ($120 from AutoZone), have already reconnected the Thermostatic Air Cleaner Hose, and was planning on running a bottle of fuel injector cleaner, in case the injectors are dirty and adding to the problem.

Here are the questions:

-Should I replace the cat as well? I found a shop that can do it for $140 installed. Assuming the EGR was messed up (maybe stuck open in its damaged state?), would the lean condition kill the cat in 25k miles?

-Recommendations for an effective injector cleaner? I don't have time/want to go through and send out or replace the injectors at this time.

-Anything else I should look into? I get a free re-test within 30 days, so I want to try to take care of it this weekend. I'd really rather not fail again, but at the same time want to only spend what I have to to get it passed.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.....thanks!

Alan

NO failure is due to the EGR. A can of BG44k will most likely help the injectors and make it run much better. You might want to disco the battery to reset the computer and let it relearn over a few starts. Otherwise it may take a while for the computer to catch up to the changes. You can do a vacuum reading to see if the cat is plugged. The most common thing that will help the emissions is a good O2 sensor.

I was about to say- you really answered your own question. I diddn't quite understand what you meant by the connections melted and such but for one the EGR isin't present and its looking like youve got a vaccum leak from this being broken.

Now, on to part 2, in California you should choose your smog tech wisely.
This sounds like the kind of place I would have told to go and F themselves. My dad was friends with a shop owner so that was a no brainer there but he got his license revoked for bieng too friendly with the customers so what to do? Try asking around. "Would you be able to 'help me out with this one' I don't know if it will pass on visual". Best to do this when there aren't customers around. Shops will usually just say yes or no, no harm done in asking. They like it if you pay for the pre-test inspection or sometimes will refer you to someone else "tell em Joe sent you" who isin't such a hard @$s. It amazes me how reluctant people are to ask these sorts of questions like theyre going to rat on you or something. Always ask this stuff to see what their attitude is.

I agree, some of the smog techs are a$$h#ls.
Some time back I had my older car smogged at a Smog Check only place. Here in California older cars get sent to these places. The bad thing is that they charge anywhere from $20 to $30 more...

Anyway at one of these places, my car passed the emissions just fine, but the tech said I failed because the vacuum hose was not connected to the EGR valve. That pissed me off. I had been installing new vacuum hoses and had forgotten to connect the other end to the EGR valve when I was checking something... Anyway, I reconnected it and ran it through again and the NO readings decreases even lower. Why couldn't he have told me to re-connect it before running it through the machine??

Since the HC are within limits, and the cat is newer, I'd bet that hooking up the EGR properly will solve your problem.

MAP

Thanks for the feedback guys.

I'll track down a can or two of the BG44K and try that out, as well as replace the EGR. Hopefully that will solve the problem.

I'll post results (hopefully good ones) when I go back there.

Thanks!

Alan

WOO HOO!

So, I replaced the EGR, ran some Redline Fuel injector cleaner (couldn't find the BG44K), and ran through a tank of gas. New numbers:

-At 15mph (1658 rpm), HC (PPM) was 115, max is 123, CO (%) was 0.60, max is 0.73, and NO (PPM) was 1012, max is 1015. Whew!
-At 25mph (1612 rpm), HC (PPM) was 60, max is 103, CO (%) was 0.38, max is 0.93, and NO (PPM) was 467, max is 875. Double Whew!

The car runs noticeably smoother at idle now, so the Redline stuff did seem to help a bit. I'm totally stoked that it passed, but I am a little concerned by the fact that some of the numbers were still pretty close to max. At 15 mph, HC's, CO, and NO were all still pretty high. Anything I should look into changing out next time?

Thanks again for all the help everyone!

Alan

you CA guys sure have it rough- here in IL, on '97 or newer OBD-II they just check the computer and do a VERY basic visual inspection. - pre '97 they run on the treadmill- I'm sooooo glad I don't live in California.

Recomendation for passing your next test- MOVE TO A NEW STATE

and congrats on passing the test. How long are you good for?

Yeah - I wish they'd do away with the damn visual - it really doesn't help anything, and what does it matter how we make the numbers, just so we make them?

I don't fully understand the "older car" logic - is it their way of making up for the low tags? Last time, the smog cost twice as much as the tags because I had to go to "Check Only." Nevermind that I seem to run cleaner than vehicles ten years newer...

Anyhow, I stayed off the dyno a few months ago. As I've said before, they're told that it's been converted to AWD, and can't go on the Dyno (like the Subarus and half of the Astro vans...) and that makes things so much simpler.

This damn Test Only crap is killing me - as far as I'm concerned, everywhere is "Test Only" simply because I don't allow anyone out here to work on my vehicles. I can't wait to leave - gotta finish school first...

Y'ask me, the entire programme should be revised - it could be so much simpler, and be more effective because of it...

Besides, I'm tired of explaining that RENIX is pre-OBD, and therefore doesn't have a MIL light. Why don't they know this? It's one of those quirks that should stand out, y'know?

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