Almost Failed Smog Test in 2004 Honda S2000.

[HTSS_TR]

I had a smog test few days ago for my 20004 Honda S2000, this is the first smog test for the car before I can renew registration, the smog test was waived previous years with a small fees for each
registration.

The smog test place is only 9-10 miles away, of which 4-5 miles is highway. The car engine was barely warm when I came to the place and I had to wait about 1 hour before my turn, at that time the engine was pretty cold. Because of the cold engine the HC was pretty high at 57 while the max allowed is 58 at 15 MPH. After few minutes at this speed, the next test was 25 MPH and HC dropped to 12 versus max of 42. CO and NO are very low compared with max or average at both speeds.

Next time I will take with me 2 keys, give 1 key to service adviser/mechanic and keep second key to run the engine 10-15 minutes before actual test.

 

[The motor guy]

That happened to my dad. He drove it one mile down to the local quick lube place to have his car inspected and it failed. One mile is just enough time to warm it up. Then it sat there for half an hour before they got to it. Just make sure you take it on a good drive to get the cats up to temperature to do their job. If your vehicle is getting close to not passing I would take it on a good 15-20 drive of 50 plus mph befor the test then maybe just leave it running until they get to it. BTW take it early in the morning. Like 8am. That way you won't have to wait forever and they will get right to you. This wouldn't have happened if the tech at the quick lube knew what he was doing.

 

[demarpaint]

Failed smog tests generate lots of money for NY shops. A favorite replacement part is a Cat Converter. Those machines cost the shops a lot of money, a $37.50 inspection fee is a loser for the shop. A $500 or more CC replacement helps fund retirement.

I'm thankful the guys I use are fair and honest, the exception and not the norm around here.

 

[tom slick]

What were the o2 numbers?

 

[mechanicx]

You'd think that one of the requirements for the test is that they allow the engine to reach operating temperature before taking a reading.

 

[KrisZ]

A knowledgeable shop should've allowed the car to idle for 10mins in the parking lot, and you should've insisted on it. Crooks take advantage of this little known fact and sell people all sorts of unneeded parts.

 

[oldmaninsc]

Originally Posted By: KrisZ
A knowledgeable shop should've allowed the car to idle for 10mins in the parking lot, and you should've insisted on it. Crooks take advantage of this little known fact and sell people all sorts of unneeded parts.

I agree. Anytime I've ever had a smog test they tell me to pull the vehicle up to the garage and leave it running. They do the visual inspection and type stuff into the computer. This usually takes at least 10 minutes.
I had a smog test on my MGM last year. First thing in the morning I drove it about 4 miles to the shop (mostly stop and go driving max speed about 40 MPH) and it passed with flying colors.

 

[The_Jeff]

Mass smog back when I had to deal wtih it, they have an inductive pickup for a plug wire and your car has to be at the spec idle speed. My old mazda 323 was idling slightly high after a 4 mile drive so they ignored me and let the radiator fans run before continuing the test. (and I passed!)

PS they do sniffer tests on OBDII cars? Gotta feed the machine I guess.

 

[oldmaninsc]

Originally Posted By: eljefino


PS they do sniffer tests on OBDII cars? Gotta feed the machine I guess.

In Ca. it depends on where you are at. Some counties do, some don't.
http://www.bar.ca.gov/80_BARResources/02_SmogCheck/engineering/Program_Map.pdf

 

[HTSS_TR]

Originally Posted By: tom slick
What were the o2 numbers?

The %O2 is 0.87 at 15 MPH and 0.86 at 25 MPH.
The %CO2 is 14.37 at 15 MPH and 14.30 at 25 MPH.

 

[hooligan24]

my local state emmisions place has a sign that says something along the lines of if your wait is less than 15 minutes, leave the engines running for a better chance of passing

 

[morris]

if kansas ever does smog test iam moving!

 

[garlicbreadman]

Originally Posted By: morris
if kansas ever does smog test iam moving!

hope you're being sarcastic


you dont really need a long drive to get it pass smog with flying colors. i brought two cars to this station 2 miles(35mph with couple of lights) away and it passed with flying colors, but it did get smogged 5 minutes within getting there and i didnt shut off the cars.

 

[CBR.worm]

I had a '91 escort GT (Mazda 1.8) from '91 to '96. Every year they tried to fail me saying that the levels were too low. They had to do a 'load test' to verify that the exhaust was hooked up to the engine and not an air pump.

The car was totally stock. At about 180k the catalytic converter got rattley again (I had already replaced it with OE ones multiple times over the years). I broke out all the honeycomb material and put it back on - that was the first time I passed without a hassle.