Etest Help Needed

[FieroBUZZ]

Adam took his pos Tercel in for it's etest.  Failed the 40 Km/h test with a NO reading of 1041 ppm (limit 0670).  Any ideas on a remedy to pass?  Cat and front exhaust looks newish.

The import guys seem to favour a 1/6 tank of gas and a shit load of gasline anti freeze.  Also to drive the piss out of it before the test.   

[Rob]

the gasline antifreee is the ticket!

[Gizmo]

Try a few ounces of good quality acetone...

[dguy]

Adam took his pos Tercel in for it's etest.  Failed the 40 Km/h test with a NO reading of 1041 ppm (limit 0670).  Any ideas on a remedy to pass?  Cat and front exhaust looks newish.

As far as I know, high NOx usually mean abnormally high combustion temps  i.e. running lean, over-advanced timing, (if equipped) bad EGR, etc.

The import guys seem to favour a 1/6 tank of gas and a shit load of gasline anti freeze.  Also to drive the piss out of it before the test.   

Well the cat needs to be up to operating temp before it will do its job;  i.e. hot is good.  But of course if he's driving the car in to the shop & then leaving it there for a few hours, being hard on the car to "warm it up" before he gets there won't help.

The e-test tech at MacPherson's told me that below certain ambient temperatures, they're actually required to run the car for x number of minutes before starting the test.  Not sure if that applies now, just during winter, or what.   

I had someone recommend running it near-dry, and filling with an ethanol blend prior to the test.  Never tried it though--YMMV.

If it has a distributor, retarding it a couple of degrees below spec certainly won't hurt..

[FieroBUZZ]

The cat has come from the parter which burns oil like it's going out of style and has no power at all.  I suspect that although it looks good outside, the cat's effectiveness may be a bit less than desirable.   

It was hot during the test.  I guess we'll spring for a generic cat.   meooow!

[aaron88]

On my e-test my NO reading was lower than 1041 ppm, and I don’t have cats at all.  NO can only be produced at higher combustion temperatures, that’s why it isn’t tested for at idle.  NO can’t be produced at idle combustion temperatures.

Like Don said, check your EGR, make sure your O2 sensor is working and check that the coolant isn’t too old or running to hot (bad water temp switch).

Alternately one could try a few bottles of gas line anti-freeze (alcohol).  But if it takes this to solve your problem then your motor needs a tune up.  The Honda guys like to use this trick because they are often running way too rich for their turbo or nitrous-oxide set up, and or don’t have a cat (catalytic converter).

It's also possible that your cat is just worn out.

Aaron

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