new member + emissions + other fun and games

hey all, first post here.

Just picked up an '89 two door with some work done. It looks great and drives great but has a few problems.

The first problem I need to address is emissions.. it failed = I can't transfer my title yet:banghead:

The reason for failure was too much CO emissions (Allowed is 1.3 and I had 4.3 or something) Is this a problem with the catalytic converter? (It also doesn't have a muffler, but I don't see how that would affect emissions.)

Thanks for any help, guys!

If your trying to get a state inspection its impossible to fail with emmisions with an '89. They didn't start the law with emmissions till '96. So you can run your car without a catalytic converter and they can't fail you for it. So if they are telling you that you failed than you need to go someplace else to get your sticker.

automechmx6 said:

If your trying to get a state inspection its impossible to fail with emmisions with an '89. They didn't start the law with emmissions till '96. So you can run your car without a catalytic converter and they can't fail you for it. So if they are telling you that you failed than you need to go someplace else to get your sticker.

Click to expand...

I don't know where Niskayuna is, but in CA it is absolutely possible to fail state inspection with an '89. CA smogs all the way back to '76 and you can fail for emissions. It varies by state but if moximouse says the vehicle failed, I'd be pretty certain that they require passing smog.

Moxi, the muffler is not the cause of your problem. Might be the cat but I thought cats were mostly for NOx. I'm sure that somebody will chime in.

yeah. it failed.

I'd like to try and do it myself and not spend $150 for a mechanic to try or get a waiver... But since I'm about as mechanically inclined as a spoon, I need some ideas for where to start...

High CO might also mean a running-rich condition as well.

Does it get up to proper operating temperature? How's the gas mileage?

How many miles on it? Could be due for an oxygen sensor.

Rob

I agree with Rob. I would suspect the oxygen sensor first. If the oxygen sensor is sluggish, it cannot provide the correct input to the computer to maximize an efficient fuel/air ratio and that could lead to high CO levels.

Sure it could be other things but that would be a reasonable starting point. You can test oxygen sensors but it's kind of tricky so if you have 80- 100k on that sensor, I would just replace it with an OEM style one.

Good luck and post back what you find! :wave1:

my bad. Im from NY and here you don't have to have a CAT if its a '95 or older.