Turbo Emissions - Sniff this!

[Cozmo]

Today I got my car to pass the emissions sniff test here in WA with my Angus turbo and Lovefab tune. I leaned it out to 16:1 or so where the cruising test takes place (25mph, 3rd gear, 2200rpm or so with my gears).

I was afraid I was going to have to have an exhaust with cats in it built just for the test but luckily just some tweaking of my fuel map in the EMS was all it took! :biggrin:

I had taken it in a few weeks ago and it failed because it was running rich during the cruising test (like 13:1). This morning I busted out the laptop and connected it to the EMS for the first time since Cody tuned it (which is amazing since when I had the FIC I was messing with it all the time)

It barely passed the idle test this time which was running at about 14.9:1.. so it seems the leaner the better.

There were a lot of people that told me passing emissions without cats would never happen. Those people were incorrect.

 

[Vega$ NSX]

There were a lot of people that told me passing emissions without cats would never happen.

That's because they are supposed to do a visual test where they actually look under your car for cats. If they don't see any, you fail. No sniffer test necessary. It's often why you see a kneel pad hanging somewhere in their garage.

 

[Hard Five]

A lot of Washington doesn't have emission testing, so the parts that do are pretty lax. You pass the computer test your solid. I've never heard of someone failing here on a visual issue.

 

[Cozmo]

From what I've read of their rules they only make you pass a visual inspection here if you get a waiver (by spending $200 or something attempting to fix your emissions but still fail). You can't get the waiver if you have no cats.

 

[huck-jai]

Here in BC, Canada, for 98 cars and above they only plug into your obd2 port and check for error codes. If none, all good, but they will do a visual test for cats, and the pass is valid for 2 years.

97 cars and below require visual and sniffer test. A pass is valid for 1 year.
I thought 97 cars had obd2, so I've always wondered why they didn't allow just an obd2 test.

They were supposed to scrap this program in 2012, but now they've decided to extend it.

 

[kookoo4nsx]

Florida No sniffer test ever!

 

[angus]

Great to hear you passed Cozmo!

 

[angus]

Here in BC, Canada, for 98 cars and above they only plug into your obd2 port and check for error codes. If none, all good, but they will do a visual test for cats, and the pass is valid for 2 years.

97 cars and below require visual and sniffer test. A pass is valid for 1 year.
I thought 97 cars had obd2, so I've always wondered why they didn't allow just an obd2 test.

They were supposed to scrap this program in 2012, but now they've decided to extend it.

You almost have it correct -

- cars 1992 and newer have a 2 year pass as long as the complete test is done ( you can request only an idle test, or if your car is too low you'll only get an idle test which gets you a 1 year pass regardless of year, I have also seen people put one spare tire on the car and they will only idle test it)

- While 98-up cars do get a pass with just an OBDII scan - this is ONLY if the car has all of the readiness monitors set - otherwise they will still drive it on the rollers and sniff it.

- Yes, this means that a car without cats can pass - let's say for instance you have a 99 NSX with a turbo kit and no cats, as long as you use a "fix" for the downstream O2 sensors so the ECU "sees" that everything is normal and the readiness codes are set then you roll in, they look under for cats (they don't know what they are even looking at), check your gas cap - plug into your car and you pass.

Our test is not done by mechanics so they don't really know what they are looking at, they tried looking under the driver seat for the cats on one NSX I brought in.

 

[SuperSonic]

When I was going to get the turbo kit from angus (till I smashed my car ) I was just gona pay someone and worst case spend a day to take it off and put it back. Whats 1/700 some days to take it off, really.

 

[usafdarkhorse]

You can run an open downpipe in East Tennessee without issue.

What's an emissions test???

Surprised you still passed. The test must be more relaxed on NOx emissions, because you would have had ALOT of them running 16:1.

 

[Semnos_NSX]

- Yes, this means that a car without cats can pass - let's say for instance you have a 99 NSX with a turbo kit and no cats, as long as you use a "fix" for the downstream O2 sensors so the ECU "sees" that everything is normal and the readiness codes are set then you roll in, they look under for cats (they don't know what they are even looking at), check your gas cap - plug into your car and you pass.

If you had a 99 NSX with a turbo kit, wouldn't you typically be running an EMS? And IF you did have an EMS, the smog tech would instantly fail you as soon as he/she tried to plug into your OBD2 port.....correct? I don't know how it is in other states but in the smog Nazi loving place called California, they are brutal!