Smog check fail, 02 camry. HC high

Status
Not open for further replies.
Joined
Mar 22, 2008
Messages
647
Location
los angeles
Have friend with 02 camry, recently failed smog check in california, High HC at 200, limit 140. any insight or suggestions?
 
What is the maintenance on this vehicle like? What mileage and what engine?

Can you give us the NOX, HC & CO numbers?
 
Oil change, fuel system cleaner (run down and then refill, may at a little while), mix in some E85 (no more than 30%), and get the cat really hot....worked great for my MR2, Escort GT, and several other cars that had trouble passing smog in CA.
 
Italian tuneup right before the smog check....get that sucker nice and hot, and try to use a smog place with no wait.
 
My county does a fake smog check. They read your OBDII computer. If no code and all monitors are ready you are good to go. I know to be careful what I wish for but I would like to see the actual numbers and trend it. Like a used gas and air analysis.
 
yeah, the car is owned by a female friend. really religious on the 3k oil changes, but i think she is delinquent on almost every other piece of car maintenence.

according to her, only the HC number was high.
If I can find out all the numbers and give it to you guys, can you guys help out?

my considerations:
1) just throw some basic maintenance at it: plugs, wires, injector cleaner, air filter
2) have her take it to a reputable shop.
 
What engine?

Any codes? I believe there was an issue with converters on the 2.4L having a short life, so the converter may be out or on the way out. So if it's got less than 80K miles and less than 8 years old, take it to your Toyota dealer and have them evaluate it on the emissions warranty.

Otherwise...

Tune up is easy on the 2.4L, plugs and air cleaner as it's a coil on plug setup. Plugs are pricey as the 2.4L calls for iridium plugs. Change the PCV and give it a fresh oil change just to be sure. Make sure there are no codes and make sure it's good and hot when you take it in.
 
if just HC is high, likely misfire. A good butt dyno should be able to feel that. New ignition wires will most likely fix it. Or it could be one plugged injector making that cylinder too lean.
 
Originally Posted By: ajchien
V6 2002 camry. No check engine light. 150k+ miles. so its out of warranty.

If there is no CEL on, then all the components "seem" to be functioning properly.

I would check for a bad Catalytic converter especially if the car has been poorly maintained.

You can check for this using a handheld thermometer gun. Aim it just before the converter at the converter and after the converter. If the converter is the same temperature as the pipe coming out of it it is plugged and not doing it's job. It should be much hotter and the pipe leaving should be cooler.

If you could post the numbers on the report that would be helpful as it would give us more insight into whats going on in the engine.

If the HC's are the only thing that are out of whack I would think it's the Converter or an engine mechanical problem.

If the other numbers are reading high then it could be a bad O2 sensor, leaking/plugged injectors, bad Mass Air Flow or something else causing the mixture to be off. It may not set a CEL depending on whats gone wrong.

Steve
 
If it still has the original plugs at 150k, I would start with replacing the plugs and the engine air filter.
 
Quote:
according to her, only the HC number was high.
If I can find out all the numbers and give it to you guys, can you guys help out?


All of the numbers would be helpful, HC is only one piece of the puzzle.
 
Like oilyriser mentioned, high HC is usually a misfire. This is often cured by standard tune up stuff - spark plugs, wires, etc..
BTW, high CO is usually a rich mixture -maybe a bad O2 sensor in a modern car.
 
im sure you know this, but if the vehicle has failed smog, any work has to be done by a smog shop in order for any money spent to count to a waiver.
 
How about a lazy O2 sensor? Not enough to trigger the CEL/MIL ..but enough to throw some transient HC in the sniffer test that the system tolerates, but California doesn't.
 
OKAY... here are some test results:
Car miles 171138, toyota camry, V6

*Visual* inspection of ECS:
PCV, EGR, O2 sensor, Fuel Cap, EVAP, spark control, wiring to sensors, liquid fuel leak, malfunction indicator light, catalytic converter, fuel ignition, vacuum lines, fuel cap integrity: ALL PASS

ASM Emissions test:
15 mph rpm:1728 C02:13.7 O2: 0.9 HC:*160*(max 84) CO:0.15 NO 375
25mph rpm:1681 CO2:13.5 O2: 0.7 HC: 48 CO 0.03 NO: 79

So it seems the 15mph HC is the line that failed the test.

For additional info, this thread: http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1521286&fpart=1

is about the same car that I havent gotten around to doing anything about yet. it might be the two issues are related.
 
Last edited:
Was the engine fully warmed up when the test was run?? This looks amazingly like the test results from my friend's 1987 Ranger pickup the first time around...all he did was change the oil and take it back and have it retested, making sure to rev the engine while waiting for the retest to keep the cats and o2 sensor warm.

It passed with no problem the second time around.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top