My smog nightmare again

[Saint_]

It has been two years since I last had smog check and now is the time again. This time I was pretty sure it will pass since I fixed bad coils, fixed the punctured flex pipe at the intake (short RAM) and changed the O2 sensors. Besides the last fillup I got 25.3 mpg

I took my car to a test center. The guy looked like an easy going one, trying to make jokes and smile all the time. He opened the hood and saw the short RAM and told me that I am gonna fail immediately because of visual inspection failed. He said he already started the test and could not stop it. And he would charge the next test half. I said ok whatever I dont wanna waste my time. And I would like to see if it would pass the tailpipe emissions or not. He ran the test twice and both were incomplete. First was accelerator violation (applied too fast) and the second I didnt see. And then he came in and told me he doesnt wanna do this car because it may have something that he cannot tell since he is not charging me. WTF? Thats what I said. I tried to insist but he doesnt wanna do. I wasted my 2 hours for nothing. Why every mechanic hates milly?

Today I tried to put the top portion of the old intake back. It has been too long with the short RAM and the area is filled with stuff. HID ballast, radiator hose (not OEM) bla bla. It doesnt fit.

I am so frustrated. 2012 didnt start well for me. Hope it is much better for you guys...

[lefty]

That's a tough break, Saint. Is that CA State law, or DMV policy, that modified intakes automatically fail? I'm probably wrong, but it seems that the enabling legislation would have to have something like that in it to make it stick as a legal matter. One would think that the legislation would address what comes out the tail pipe, not other things.

Maybe the only other alternative is to try to configure things so you can switch more easily between your regular configuration and a passible configuration.

good luck with sorting this crap out.

[99SnowWhiteMillyS]

Thankfully in Illinois our emissions test now just consists of an OBD check to see if all monitors are ready, and as long as you have no CEL you pass.

Maybe you can get away with the short ram intake by going with black couplers and a heat shield to hide the cone filter? Make it look OEM-ish so an inspector doesn't notice.

[Saint_]

Haha thanks for the advice snowwhite.

In CA smog check is done in government licensed private stations. So there are bunch of stations next to each other selling the same thing. Its inefficient since they have to buy expensive smog equipment and as you expect they dont run them 24hrs a day. Consequently the vehicle owners are ripped off. $50ish for a smog check. In other words the smog equipment manufacturer has a good lobby.

Back to the topic again, I search K&N website and it says kone filters are not legal for CA vehicles (exemptions exist). Its only test stations technician's discrimination to fail me in visual inspection. I bet there are places that dont care much, but I imagine the price would be higher. Not to mention they are hard to find since they cannot advertise.

As of this morning my 5 yo battery gave up. It doesnt turn the starter at all. A great start to a new year (or no start)! It was weak for the last 3-4 days after I left the OBD scanner attached overnight. It is a sudden dead. Now I think I have to wait for OBD readiness. OMG...

[MonoxideChild]

Originally Posted by 99SnowWhiteMillyS

Thankfully in Illinois our emissions test now just consists of an OBD check to see if all monitors are ready, and as long as you have no CEL you pass.

actually 90% of IL desnt have any emissions at all. only chicago, and like 1 other part of IL have any sort of emissions. here in rockford there is none at all.

[95MillyLee]

Good morning, I'm Lee, I am currently restoring a 95 Millenia, I just had the car successfully smogged here in California, but was quite surprised to look at the results and see that the car has quite high hydrocarbons and NOX emissions, it just barely passed the test. This particular Milly is no youngster, she has 195,000 miles on her.

I love the Millenia, it has many of the same characteristics as my favorite car I've ever owned, a 1983 Mercedes S-Class 380 SEC Coupe -- aluminum hood, "4 bucket seats" interior configuration, high class fit and finish, over-engineered engine, etc.

Have others experienced high-number smog tests with their Millenia? Or is this just an aging problem perhaps with my own car?

Lee
Mount Aukum, California

[Saint_]

Do you have an S?

Actually I am in trouble. My registration expired and I couldnt pass smog. I am burning oil, about 1 qt/1200miles. I dont know if it increases my HCs. If it does I will put 20w-50 and try again.

This is my first test:



Then I changed oil (fresh) with Pensoil 10w-30 (used to be walmart 10w-30), run seafoam in the tank, run seafoam from PCV, got average amount of smoke. I put shell 91 octane 10% ethanol gasoline for the last couple tanks (used to be chevron pure 89 octane). And I got this in the second test:



Obviously high octane didnt help much. The smog technician says there should be some O2, I always have zero O2 at the exhaust. Doesnt it show cats are working fine? I cant decide what to do next. I changed the spark plugs 40k miles ago. Upstream O2 sensors couple months old. Air filter is old. I usually used the short RAM but I had to put the stock box with the old filter in it. Getting 22-25 mpg. Loosing oil but front IC is dry. It should be the valve seals that I wont struggle replacing. Any ideas?

[bigb]

I know it sounds stupid, but put a 0w20 or very light oil in there. conventional not synthetic.

then use non alcohol gas even lower octane.

also, over inflate the tires. this will help

if you have HC, that is either unburnt gas or oil. using conventional and light weight oil vs synthetic and heavy means it will burn off faster. also, you want lower octane, not higher again if you have HC out the back. you want it to combust easier. remember higher octane means more resistance to combustion.

just a few ideas.

[95MillyLee]

My 95 Milly is the plain old 2.5 california engine. I don't think the S existed yet.

I get 27.5 mpg from her. I do not over inflate the tires, but I do inflate them all the way up to their 44 psi max pressure. This is perfectly safe, max is max.

The other main mpg trick is to use the hypermilers' "pulse and glide" driving style, I learned to do this from my Prius hybrid. You accelerate just as fast as usual to your cruising speed (the "pulse"), but then at cruising speed, this is the "glide", you just keep your toe very very lightly on the gas pedal, try to use as little or even no gas at all if you can. You will slowly lose a few miles per hour doing this, but when you do just pulse it back up to just above cruise speed again, and glide.

And whenever you see something way up in front of you, stop sign, stop light, traffic, need to turn, whatever, GET OFF THE GAS and coast.

You will accelerate just as fast as other traffic using this method and people will not find you to be a problem.

27.5 mpg on the Milly.

I like the lower octane gas idea for the high HC, I will remember this for next time 2 years from now. Any other possible causes or fixes?

Cheers Lee

[Saint_]

I have been working on it. I will write here when I am done. I think there is a misfire.