Emission problems in NW Indiana

[Black Sunshine]

Hi sorry for posting this here, but no one is replying to this in the smog section. Going to try to hopefully get something done about this tomorrow so here goes.

Hi I can't seem to pass the Hydrocarbon part of emissions for some reason. Our standard here is 1.40 The first time I took the test I had the Hi Flow cat converter from Poston put on my car that barely has 500 miles on it. I failed with a 2.74 hydrocarbon reading. Wishing a easy fix would help I put a stock thermostat in instead of the 160 degree one that is usually in my car. Took the test today and the reading jumped up to 4.76 wtf!?! My EGR valve is only a few years old. I have the heated o2 sensor kit which is probably 4-5 years old. I don't drive the car a whole lot so it would be hard for me to believe it would be those things. I do have a small exhaust leak coming from the gasket area where the downpipe meets the turbo. Would that have anything to do with it even though I passed a couple years back with that same leak? I also just replaced the exhaust system with a Hooker one a couple years back. Anyone have any ideas? How about that guaranteed to pass stuff they sell out of a bottle? Are those even safe in our cars? Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[BlackMetal]

Get an emissions chip and turn fuel pressure down.

http://www.turbotweakstore.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=1001

 

[38turbo]

Other mods ? Seem like car runs good any misfires spark or fuel related ? You have a scanmaster
Or scan tool to see what yor. Blm/int. Readings are?

 

[turbojd]

Get an emissions chip and turn fuel pressure down.

TurboTweak - Turbo Buick Custom Chips and Parts

x2 Thats all I do when I go to emissions testing for my car, cat converter, TT emissions chip. cut fuel pressure to 38 lbs. and get it good and hot before test. No need to swap out the thermostat, as the emissions chip will allow the car to run much hotter than with your street chip. Just remember to take it out when your done with emissions testing!

 

[TurboDave]

Smog chip is needed!! Several people can burn them for you. Basically nothing more than a stock chip reburned to match your injectors.

Adjusting fuel pressure does nothing. That's an old myth. What's not understood that fuel pressure adjustments are negated by the BLM and INT which readjust around fuel pressure tweeking.

G2P (guaranteed to pass) can help but you need the emmisions chip first.

 

[turbojd]

Good to know, Thanks Turbo Dave, I have to go to emissions testing in two months, I won't fool around with the fuel pressure then.

 

[Black Sunshine]

No misfires the plugs and wires aren't even a year old. The Bl/INt are the proper range hovering around 128. I'm going to try G2P and turning the chip one setting higher than stock since I have alot of room to work with for NOx and CO2. Cross my fingers and if that doesn't work I'll be ordering the chip. The test site isn't far and it's free so I have room for trial and error. The RJC boost controller is the only mod I have that is not in my sig.

 

[timmanis2000]

I am glad we don,t have emissions test around here. I didn,t know we had them in Indiana.

 

[Black Sunshine]

Well got the TT emissions chip put in and now I did worse than ever before!! Got freaking 5.3 Hydrocarbons!! However the guy that put the chip in did not disconnect the battery. He disconnected the main board under the passenger kick panel and put the chip in that way. When first starting the car the instructions said the service light was going to flash or something, but I did not see it. The car drove fine and no codes showed up so I assumed it was in good running order. I didn't turn down the Fuel psi cause someone on this board said it wasn't necessary. I drove the car for a good 40 min to get the car to learn the ECM before I took the test. This headache almost makes me want to sell this thing. but I won't

 

[TurboDave]

You'll forgive me for saying so, but if you couldn't do your own chip change, maybe a different car is in your future. Maybe selling this one isn't such a bad idea.

 

[Black Sunshine]

It was a sarcastic joke I'm not selling the car. Just because I don't own any tools and don't do my own work doesn't mean I don't love the car. Just REALLY frustrated failing for the 4th time after putting that G2P stuff and the TT chip in my car. So yea reading that smart comment didn't make me feel better, but I'll forgive you. You think it could be the chip? I have a appointment with a emissions adviser in less than a hour cause now I need his approval before any more retests are done since I failed 4 times already.

 

[Black Sunshine]

Besides I had the car 6 years and all the mods in my sig were done while I owned it soooo yea the only different car in my future is a new daily driver. The GN isn't going anywhere.

 

[TurboBuRick]

Get the exhaust laek fixed. If the o2 is getting hit with outside air, the ecm can not maintain a propper afr.

Also, I would throw a new o2 in it just for peace of mind. They are only like $20 bucks. The o2 tells the ecm what the afr is and the ecm corrects fuel to maintain a 14.7 afr. If it's getting bad signals or bad data, emissions will suffer.

 

[TurboBuRick]

It was a sarcastic joke I'm not selling the car. Just because I don't own any tools and don't do my own work doesn't mean I don't love the car. Just REALLY frustrated failing for the 4th time after putting that G2P stuff and the TT chip in my car. So yea reading that smart comment didn't make me feel better, but I'll forgive you. You think it could be the chip? I have a appointment with a emissions adviser in less than a hour cause now I need his approval before any more retests are done since I failed 4 times already.

Unless they are turbo Buick guys, your waisting your time and money.

 

[TurboDave]

It was a sarcastic joke I'm not selling the car. Just because I don't own any tools and don't do my own work doesn't mean I don't love the car. Just REALLY frustrated failing for the 4th time after putting that G2P stuff and the TT chip in my car. So yea reading that smart comment didn't make me feel better, but I'll forgive you. You think it could be the chip? I have a appointment with a emissions adviser in less than a hour cause now I need his approval before any more retests are done since I failed 4 times already.

Just wanted to rag on ya a little.

I don't know anything about TT smog chips so can't comment on whether that could be an issue or not. I do know however, that there have been over the years, those that have tried to "over engineer" their own smog chips.
When I was burning my own chips and was out in Kalifornia, I had the bes luck by taking a bone stock 87 chip profile and changing NOTHING but the injector constant to match the injectors in the car. They ended up smogging every bit as clean as a stock unmolested GN.

Things required to get through a good smog inspection....

1. Good smog chip (verified)
2. NO exhaust leaks
3. NO vacuum leaks
4. Fully functional EGR system
5. GOOD cat converter
6. Closed loop with a good NBO2 in stock configuration.
7. Good BLM's across the board. Don't have to be perfect, +/- 10 will do just fine.
8. NO open loop operations in the chip at all!!

 

[turbojd]

Just wanted to rag on ya a little.

I don't know anything about TT smog chips so can't comment on whether that could be an issue or not. I do know however, that there have been over the years, those that have tried to "over engineer" their own smog chips.
When I was burning my own chips and was out in Kalifornia, I had the bes luck by taking a bone stock 87 chip profile and changing NOTHING but the injector constant to match the injectors in the car. They ended up smogging every bit as clean as a stock unmolested GN.

Things required to get through a good smog inspection....

1. Good smog chip (verified)
2. NO exhaust leaks
3. NO vacuum leaks
4. Fully functional EGR system
5. GOOD cat converter
6. Closed loop with a good NBO2 in stock configuration.
7. Good BLM's across the board. Don't have to be perfect, +/- 10 will do just fine.
8. NO open loop operations in the chip at all!!

X2 and I always like to change the oil right before I go to emissions testing

 

[Black Sunshine]

Unless they are turbo Buick guys, your waisting your time and money.

It's not by choice plus it was free so was only wasting time. The state rule is that I had to talk to this guy to get his approval for a retest since I failed 4 times. If I fail one more time I have to get the work done by thier people which will cost $$$.

 

[Black Sunshine]

Just wanted to rag on ya a little.

I don't know anything about TT smog chips so can't comment on whether that could be an issue or not. I do know however, that there have been over the years, those that have tried to "over engineer" their own smog chips.
When I was burning my own chips and was out in Kalifornia, I had the bes luck by taking a bone stock 87 chip profile and changing NOTHING but the injector constant to match the injectors in the car. They ended up smogging every bit as clean as a stock unmolested GN.

Things required to get through a good smog inspection....

1. Good smog chip (verified)
2. NO exhaust leaks
3. NO vacuum leaks
4. Fully functional EGR system
5. GOOD cat converter
6. Closed loop with a good NBO2 in stock configuration.
7. Good BLM's across the board. Don't have to be perfect, +/- 10 will do just fine.
8. NO open loop operations in the chip at all!!

The only exhaust leak I have is the one where the turbo meets the downpipe. However, since there is no fuel at that area of the car wouldn't that have noting to do with why I am failing Hydrocarbons? I am passing everything else with flying colors. For example my Nitrogen number is 2.18 where I need a 3 to pass. Doesn't that number mean my EGR is working right? The Cat has roughly 500 miles on it and it's a high-flow that I bought from Poston a couple years back. Took it off after the last time I passed emissions and just had it put back on before I took my 1st test this year. The last 3 on that list concern me. I have the O2 sensor with the open loop adapter I think I got it either from Poston or Jay's GN roughly 4 years or 20,000 miles ago. I have passed emissions before with that setup so I don't understand how that will be the source of my problems. The BLM has been at 148 at idle since putting that TT chip in there.

 

[TurboDave]

Well, like I said, you'll want to try and find a chip burner that is willing to burn you a chip exactly as I described above. Like I said, there are a lot of folks out there that start fiddling with too many other things in the chip thinking they can do better. The 87 smog chip had it right! "Don't fool with what works".

A chip like this will ensure full time closed loop operation.

Get a regular known good NB O2 sensor. Throw out the open loop junk for smogging.

A 148 BLM is 20 points high. Unacceptable. Find the vacuum or pre turbo exhaust leak that is causing this. The only other possible causes if there are no vacuum or exhaust leaks could be a faulty PCV, badly programmed chip.

Make sure your cat. is good and hot before the test. Those high flow cats are hard to get hot enough for a good clean test. There just isn't enough material to do a good job.

 

[Black Sunshine]

I don't know what to think about this chip. Could not disconnecting the battery before install have damaged the chip? Here's what the guy that put the chip in responded when I asked him about disconnecting the battery.

"Maybe it could be bad, but I dont think your car would run w/o the computer functioning. When I unhooked the box it has a fuseable link behind it to kill the power, so it should have been ok, thats weird it was .2 b4 and now its way out of wack."