Failed emissions test

[RHSZR1]

Originally Posted by John Boothby

When I bought my 1990, I had it smogged and it failed. The guy I bought it from said that it had never failed a smog test. When I got home, I noticed that the power key was on "FULL POWER". I returned the next day, turned the power key to "NORMAL" and it passed with flying colors. I posted this before, and some folks have stated that it should pass either way, and that I may have other issues. However, my car runs fine and everything checks out fine. Just thought I would pass this along. By the way, my car has 69.5K.

John,

Thanks for the reply - I am taking her back in tomorrow for another try at the e-test. I ran the living day lights out of her this weekend and we will see if that helps, if not, at least it was fun!

If it still fails I will order a new chip from the dealer - I didn't know that they would be available or that inexpensive.

Thanks to everyone for the advice - I will let you guys know how I make out tomorrow.

Ron

[RHSZR1]

Well my emmisions problem has finally been solved. After a fair bit of searching it turns out that an O2 sensor was the culprit. The sensor had not totaly failed, but was found to be reacting too slowly. The mechanic who diagnosed the problem said that he had some doubts that the sensor was causing the problem, but couldn't find any other possible cause, so he opted to replace it.

They ran the e-test again and the nox measurement went from 860 ppm down to 160 ppm, the upper limit is about 660 ppm, the car passed without a problem.

Finding the problem was a real pain, so a heads up for anyone who runs into a similar problem.

Thanks to all of you for your suggestions and advice!

Ron