SMOG "Test-Only Center"

[Sanchi]

Dam just my luck my Tags are comeing up and i got hit with the Smog Test only note. im sure my car will pass smog but i have my check motor light on! And is it true that even if you pass smog they will fail you for haveing the light on?!?! :tweak:

[Wei240]

yes .

[DRFT]

yup happened to me before, but it depends on where you go. some places dont care about little things like that and some do

[ThatGuy]

Unplug it??

[holisticbeatz]

If your car is OBD1, you can easily reset the ECU before the test and clear the code. But you're better off finding out why your CEL (check engine light) is on and fix the problem.

[ankyle62]

they arent allowed to test it with the code being thrown. i had speedo senser code being thrown and i told the guy what it was and he cleared before he smogged it and then did it. some places are cool and will help you out some wont. i think obdII cant have any codes at all. i dunno

[phrozen]

reseting it wont fix it... i learned the hard way, came on 2 different times at the smog shop thinking i was gonan get lucky.. paid like 95 bucks both times so all in all 95x3 u get the picture. find out the problem and fix it

[nightwalker]

hahaha, TEST ONLY centers don't care! You pass, you pay! You fail, you pay! HAHAHAHA!

[Ritz S14]

hahaha, TEST ONLY centers don't care! You pass, you pay! You fail, you pay! HAHAHAHA!

DAMN Right!

nah. I'm a nice guy when it comes to things like that. The car is always testable unless there are safety problems. I'd say 75% of S13s will be sent to test only centers if you live in CA.

<- I just opened up a T/O last week, so if you need a LEGIT smog at a fair price let me know. I'm in the 510.

510-293-9801
Just Smog
909C West A Street
Hayward, CA. 94541

[nightwalker]

hahahaha, yeah, I forgot that S13s are profiled high emitters!!! (you guys can all thank the SOHC S13s!!!)

...btw, wanna hire a soon to be smog tech Ritz? ...just gotta take my test.

[Sanchi]

Dam.. well mines a s14 zenki and i do know what the problem is. A buddy of mine checked it for me but ive been too lazy to fix it. just a stuped sensor in the fuel tank some where. Nothing important atleast. But what i dont understand is My car was smoged 2 years ago i though that it was every 3 years or something?!!?!? Also if i get picked to go to the test-Only station does that mean they will never pick me to go to another test-only again?!?! gerrr, anyways i do hope i pass with no problem i guess its time to fix that dam check light. Like they wont make me do another test-only again right??

[psychedelicbeats]

reset ecu if it's the glitch... i'm having teh same situation as you. i fixed the ecu light, but my car still wont smog. i "kind of" know the smog guy, so he doesn't charge for fail. i'm going tomorrow to smog my car with fuel injector cleaner, a full tank of 91, and octane booster to pass this shit.......

[Var]

hahahaha, yeah, I forgot that S13s are profiled high emitters!!! (you guys can all thank the SOHC S13s!!!)

...btw, wanna hire a soon to be smog tech Ritz? ...just gotta take my test.


WRONG my friend. THe DOHC s13's are the culprits in this case. Most of the ones i test fail for NOx. They seem to ping for no apparent reason. I would recommend setting the timing back a few degrees before you go in ...also use premium gasoline. SOHC pass easier cause they have lower compression and 5 degrees less advance on the timing.

My SOHC has 163.xxx miles on it.
My readings were ridiculous

HC was like 9 & 13
CO was .000& .001
NOx was a ridiculous 27 & 30


Original engine with original catalytic converter.

[Sanchi]

Dam are you serious about the $90 bux pass or fail!?!?! WHAT THE HELL!!

[Var]

Dam are you serious about the $90 bux pass or fail!?!?! WHAT THE HELL!!


not for you bud..you are in socal. you should find one for about 50 bucks out the door. If you want a reference

Ace Test Only in Eagle Rock

that's my uncle

[mrmephistopheles]

moving to Tech Talk.

[Wei240]

But what i dont understand is My car was smoged 2 years ago i though that it was every 3 years or something?!!?!? Also if i get picked to go to the test-Only station does that mean they will never pick me to go to another test-only again?!?! gerrr, anyways i do hope i pass with no problem i guess its time to fix that dam check light. Like they wont make me do another test-only again right??

pretty sure it's every 2 yrs,
and no, they can pick on you after you go to smog test only, i know cuz it happened to me, and i passed smog, 4 set of times (8yrs), first 2 regular, last 2 test only, stock cat, 185k miles

[nightwalker]

hey westborough, do you have the higher compression SOHC, or lower compression SOHC? Mine was a higher compression SOHC, and it was a PIG! GP man! My brother's friend who owns a test and repair in Oakland says all the 240s he sees that fail are the really early 89s (higher compression ones) I ended up swapping it out for a DOHC.

As for the DOHC ones, I will find out soon, cause my smog is coming up in a month.

and I was talking to one of my instructors at the school I went to, (guy also works with BAR) he said that by 2005 40% of cars will be randomly selected to go to TEST ONLY centers. HAHA, this is going to suck.

[Var]

hey westborough, do you have the higher compression SOHC, or lower compression SOHC? Mine was a higher compression SOHC, and it was a PIG! GP man! My brother's friend who owns a test and repair in Oakland says all the 240s he sees that fail are the really early 89s (higher compression ones) I ended up swapping it out for a DOHC.

As for the DOHC ones, I will find out soon, cause my smog is coming up in a month.

and I was talking to one of my instructors at the school I went to, (guy also works with BAR) he said that by 2005 40% of cars will be randomly selected to go to TEST ONLY centers. HAHA, this is going to suck.


I heard a rumor about the higher compression SOHC, but it's supposedly only 9:1. Anyways i have a 90 which should be 8.5:1 compression ratio. My experience has been the DOHC have Nox problems and SOHC pass fine.

[Sanchi]

Ok well supposedly one of my o2 sensors are bad and thats why my dam check light is on!!! Another question if my o2 sensor is bad that would explain my HORRID MPG right!!! Im like getting alil over 200 a tank this blows!!

:w00t: WHOO HOO ima Zilvia Junkie!!! :jerkit:

[Ritz S14]

yeah bad o2 = bad gas milage

[Wei240]

Ok well supposedly one of my o2 sensors are bad and thats why my dam check light is on!!! Another question if my o2 sensor is bad that would explain my HORRID MPG right!!! Im like getting alil over 200 a tank this blows!!

:w00t: WHOO HOO ima Zilvia Junkie!!! :jerkit:

cel on could be a lot of reasons, for me, it was stupid egr crap...

[idlafie]

Ok well supposedly one of my o2 sensors are bad and thats why my dam check light is on!!! Another question if my o2 sensor is bad that would explain my HORRID MPG right!!! Im like getting alil over 200 a tank this blows!!

:w00t: WHOO HOO ima Zilvia Junkie!!! :jerkit:

Sanchi,
Just out of curiousity have you serviced the car lately?? Changed the air filter, fuel filter, sparkplugs, distributor cap & rotor? Flushed the throttle body with carburator cleaner & poured a can of fuel injector cleaner in the gas tank? Checked the Engine Coolant Temperature Sensor along with the Oxygen sensor? Did you checked your Idle with the throttle position sensor disconnected? Is it at 650 rpm +/- 50 rpm? How bout your timing? Is it at 20 degrees??Also, did you check the vacuum lines running to the EGR system?? Also, what tire pressure are you running?? Do you do a lot of short driving trips stuck in traffic or do you do a lot of freeway driving at speed?? Been driving around with your A/C a lot lately??
All these factors play a key role in your gas mileage. A bad Oxygen sensor can cause your gas mileage to drop, but a faulty Engine Coolant Temperature Sensor can also be dumping more fuel into the throttle body than it should be. A bad signal from the E.C.T.S makes the ECU think your car is still cold, and as a result the ECU dumps more fuel into the intake. If your engine timing is off, that would also cause you to burn gas. Jackrabbit starts from streetlight to streetlight, lead foot & poorly inflated tires will also cause you to have poor gas mileage. A lot of things to consider.
Hopefully, changing out the Oxygen sensor will get you back into the 300 gallon range...if not then check the other items listed. Worse case scenario is you have a gas gauge that's just gone bad....that happens too!!
Anyhow, good luck with the repair...if you need anymore info, feel free to ask. Hope this helps...
ID

[idlafie]

WRONG my friend. THe DOHC s13's are the culprits in this case. Most of the ones i test fail for NOx. They seem to ping for no apparent reason. I would recommend setting the timing back a few degrees before you go in ...also use premium gasoline. SOHC pass easier cause they have lower compression and 5 degrees less advance on the timing.

My SOHC has 163.xxx miles on it.
My readings were ridiculous

HC was like 9 & 13
CO was .000& .001
NOx was a ridiculous 27 & 30


Original engine with original catalytic converter.

WBP...forgive the ignorance here, but I thought that NOx failures were due to high compression champer temps due to EGR system not pumping exhaust gasses back into the intake manifold or to a bad or clogged catalytic converter?
Reason I am asking is because I failed a smog test on my 95 SE a few years back due to NOx. I checked the EGR system & found it to be working properly. A mechanic suggested I have swap out the catalytic converter to which I did. It was during the catalytic converter swapout that I found that the honeycomb inside the catalytic converter had melted causing a unknown backpressure in the exhaust. I was kind of shocked to see the damn thing had melted.
Have you run across anything like this??
ID

[RBS14]

In my S14, the guy who put in my clutch broke the crank position sensor, so i was throwing a CEL. I turned it off right before I went to get is smogged and it didn't come on when he was smogging it. However, it came on when I was driving out of the station.... whew! I passed with ok numbers, but this was right after I put a brand new high flow cat on....... the old one was completely hollow, don't know how it got that way but it was. Also be careful messing with your timing, the guy busted out the timing gun and checked my timing during the test! I was amazed, luckily I managed to get it at 22deg after putting 91 cams in somehow. You are allowed +/- 3 degrees of timing for legal smog on our cars. stock is 20 degrees btdc. One place also refused to somg it because of my cone filter on stock piping and exhaust. You just have to find a guy who is laid back enough to let the little things slip. But I was pleased that it passed with the intake, exhaust w/ high flow cat, and cams.

[Var]

WBP...forgive the ignorance here, but I thought that NOx failures were due to high compression champer temps due to EGR system not pumping exhaust gasses back into the intake manifold or to a bad or clogged catalytic converter?
Reason I am asking is because I failed a smog test on my 95 SE a few years back due to NOx. I checked the EGR system & found it to be working properly. A mechanic suggested I have swap out the catalytic converter to which I did. It was during the catalytic converter swapout that I found that the honeycomb inside the catalytic converter had melted causing a unknown backpressure in the exhaust. I was kind of shocked to see the damn thing had melted.
Have you run across anything like this??
ID


Yes if your cat looks like that your emissons readings wont be accurate. I'm assuming people are running a properly working cat. When it comes down to diagnosing the problem a lot of smog shops get lazy and just change the cat cause they're so cheap now. They can spend 1-2 hours on diagnostic or like 50-60 bucks for a new cat which works 75% of the time.