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[Surfnut]

My fantastic capri, which has been one of the best running, most reliable cars I've ever owned and I happen to love dearly, will not pass an Emissions test which is mandatory to renew my plates.

Specifically, it will not pass the NO parts per million test.
The mechanic says it could be:
1.  Bad EGR
2.  Excessively lean air/fuel ratio
3.  Excessive spark advance
4.  Faulty Thermostatic Air Cleaner system
5.  "Carboned Up" engine.

I don't think we have EGR's?  Do we ?
I don't know how to check my air/fuel ratio
Other than pulling the head, how do I "uncarbon" the engine ?  I've heard people say "Go for a good highway run and blow out the carbon."  Which I don't believe especially since my car is driven on the higway on a regular basis.
I assume "Excessive spark advance" means timing which I would bet my left arm there's nothing wrong with.
If I can't get this car to pass an emissions test, I can't drive it and that would break my heart.  On top of the fact that I'd have to go buy a car to get back and forth to work in.

I am in dire straits with this problem.  Any advice anyone can give me would be hugely appreciated.

As extras, I have a brand new thermostat a cat with less than 10 miles on it and a brand new air filter and I filled the car with premium before the test.  

Please help.
Thanks
Dave

[1992xr2]

Do a tune-up, change your plugs, wires, cap and rotor, get an oem mazda pcv valve, check the timing and run a can of sea foam through it, that should help signifcantly if it hasn't had those things changeed in a while.  If that doesn't work just find a shady shop.

[Surfnut]

What year/model Mazda PCV do I get ?
What is "Seafoam"?

I failed to mention that the car passed all other aspects of the emissions test with flying colors.  Only on the "driven" part of the test where the car is drive between 29 and 31 miles per hour did the NO emissions fail.
The HC and CO tests were virtually nothing but the NO is through the roof.

I changed the plugs and wires about 3 months ago.  I would love to find a shady shop but the computers are all linked to the government's main frame and data is transmitted in real time.

[Surfnut]

Oh, one other thing, I also installed a new Bosch oxygen sensor the night before the e-test.

[Gus Kelley]

Hey Surfnut! Check the timing belt. Anotherwords pull the belt cover off and check that timing gears are properly lined up. Two of my capris were off when I bought them. They were off one and two teeth. Did not run with a lot of power is why I checked. Seafoam is a chemical that is ran through the engine to loosen up carbon build-up in the combustion chamber.  Good Luck  Gus.

[Rocketman]

Seeing as everything else is in check I would say tweak your timing a bit, retarding it a few degrees might get you through.

How many miles are on it?

Seafoam is about $7-8 would be worth it to run it through. I'd run it through the manifold. You can find it in walmart and most autoparts stores near the fuel injector cleaners.

And yea we do not have an EGR.

[Surfnut]

Thanks guys for your input I really appreciate it.

  I put 5 gallons of gas in it, poured in 2 containers of Isopropyl alcohol, 4 containers of different brands of emissions clean products (from STP and other brands) and ran it for 150 miles on the highway at 4250 rpm +.  

     I have never beat on a car like this poor old Capri had to deal with today.  I made regular bursts to 5700 rpm and back down again for over 2 hours and I can tell you that there's PLENTY of power at that RPM range.

    I ran the tank dry 4 times (to make sure I got all the emissions junk out) and tomorrow I will refill it with premium and bring it back to re-test.  I just have to find out if that emissions clean stuff and running it hard will actually show any hard results on the computer.

     If I don't get any good results with the re-test, I will try the seafoam stuff, install a new pcv valve and retard the timing a bit and retest a third time.

     If that doesn't do it, I'll throw up my hands and give it and my credit card to the mechanic and see what he can do.  How frustrating.  I wouldn't be so peeved if I knew there was a problem with the car or if it didn't run well or there was an obvious issue but I wouldn't hesitate to jump in this car right now and drive across the continent.  And I'd bet cash money the car would be fine and pull 35+mpg in the process.

     Any more ideas ?   Thanks a lot so far, I'll post tomorrow with re-test #1 results,

Dave

I'll look for the Seafoam stuff.  How do you run it through the manifold ?

[1992xr2]

Mazda PCV from a 323 gtx.  Just take a vacuum line off of the IM and use the vacuum to suck it up.  The car will smoke alot!

[Surfnut]

Hunh.  I never would have thought of pulling a vacuum line and sucking up the seafoam like that.  Ingenious.
What year 323 GTX ?  '89 ?   I don't remember when they made them last.

[Surfnut]

Another sparkling failure with my re-test.
Before I brought the car in I retarded the timing a bit and went for a 20 mile high RPM highway run.
On the driving test, my NO emissions did go down from 2400ppm to 1800ppm with a mandated limit of 825.
On the idle test my CO and HC emissions went up from barely nothing to juuuusssttt under the acceptable limits.
The mechanic said he thought putting a new PCV valve in wouldn't do anything because my problems were on the driving portion of the test and not the idle portion.  

I left my Capri with him for a minimum $150 diagnostic to tell me which direction to take.

So what this means is that
1.  Additives didn't do crap to help pass the e-test.
2.  200 miles of high RPM driving didn't hurt but didn't come close to fixing the problem.
3.  The government wins again.

Seriously, is it just me or doesn't it seem fishy that the place you bring the car to be emissions tested is also the place you pay to fix the car if it doesn't pass the emissions test ?

Thanks for everybody's input on this one.  I'll post again with new developments from the mechanic.


Dave

[spiro]

Hi Surfnet !

Is there is any chance if you have a spare moment,can you please measure the length of the BOSH Oxygen sensor you put on. I have a feeling its shorter than than normal, which is exactly what I am looking for.


Not sure if its a universal code but Im thinking you used either..
0258986501
0258002054

Kind Regards.