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Someone on another forum said that my car, without question, without question, unambiguously, is running rich. And the very high O2 reading of 3% is probably due to an exhaust leak he said. At that time, my O2 sensor wasn’t seated properly and all the way in. I think that’s what caused the leak. And he said just change the cat. I trust this man, though I don’t know him at all. He speaks with such certainty, lol. I think that’s the next step for me, getting a new cat. Or a kitten. I’m still going to do tests and things here and there in the meantime.
Cooling system is in perfect working order now. It was just corrosion at a wire on the exhaust fan. Both fans work perfectly.
I’m more concerned about the NOx than the HC. What could cause 3,000+ NOx? It’s insanely high, it’s 4 times over the limit, and 6 or more times over your typical car.
Had 2 different fuel cleaners and burned both of them off in two tanks at two different times. Seafoam through the vacuum line straight to the injectors will clean them out much better though, which is what I did. I’ve been going full throttle on this thing many times like it was on fire and I was trying to put it out with the wind. A lot of fun. I’ve sprayed carb cleaner and brake cleaner over everything under the dash, and focusing on hoses and even on the injectors and the entire lines themselves. Gone through a whole bottle. Doesn’t seem to be any leaks. About checking for ignition voltage, what am I looking for when I’m spraying water on them? I’ve never done that before.
Cooling system is in perfect working order now. It was just corrosion at a wire on the exhaust fan. Both fans work perfectly.
I’m more concerned about the NOx than the HC. What could cause 3,000+ NOx? It’s insanely high, it’s 4 times over the limit, and 6 or more times over your typical car.
Had 2 different fuel cleaners and burned both of them off in two tanks at two different times. Seafoam through the vacuum line straight to the injectors will clean them out much better though, which is what I did. I’ve been going full throttle on this thing many times like it was on fire and I was trying to put it out with the wind. A lot of fun. I’ve sprayed carb cleaner and brake cleaner over everything under the dash, and focusing on hoses and even on the injectors and the entire lines themselves. Gone through a whole bottle. Doesn’t seem to be any leaks. About checking for ignition voltage, what am I looking for when I’m spraying water on them? I’ve never done that before.
I think I’m running lean. Again, I don’t know what I’m doing so please correct me if I’m wrong.
The old spark plugs were unusually clean. White as bone. Except one was broken at the white park and burnt. I replaced them.
I also had an acceleration hesitation and performance loss. That was when the car was at 10 BTDC. It’s now at 14-16 and doesn’t have that problem so much and performance is much faster and better.
Warm-up was definitely much too lengthy, but I think less lengthy now after some general maintenance.
Maybe once or twice it had trouble starting. I gave it some gas and started it, but I don’t know if putting my gas pedal down while cranking really helped. Saw it on a tv show once? lol.
Lean air/fuel can cause high NOx. And I believe lean air/fuel can cause high combustion temperatures, which in turn causes high NOx. Please correct me if I’m wrong.
Also the higher O2 levels in the smog test, at 3.0%, also seems to indicate a lean condition.
And my exhaust fans seems to be not working. This might also contribute to higher temperatures.
But the question is, even with all these things, are these things alone capable of producing monstrously high NOx levels of over 3,000?
Maybe I’m wrong and maybe it’s something else. Maybe it’s a bad sensor sending crazy readings causing the engine to run strange. Maybe all of this is irrelevant and it’s simply a bad cat, and a bad cat alone. Maybe it’s a dirty fuel injector, though I did just do a seafoam treatment, but maybe it was the wrong vacuum line and didn’t get all four cylinders. Maybe there’s an air leak causing excess air to get in. Maybe I’ve got air pirates coming to steal me booty. Maybe there’s a head gasket problem. Maybe I’ve got a fuel pressure problem. I opened my fuel filter and switched the key to ON like Eric did and quite a lot of gas squirted out. But I haven’t done a fuel pressure test yet. Maybe I should do that next. Maybe the car will pass smog right now. I don’t know, I just don’t know.
Next I’m going to test the fuel pressure and spray carb cleaner around looking for leaks and see about the exhaust fan.
I think I’m running lean. Again, I don’t know what I’m doing so please correct me if I’m wrong.
The old spark plugs were unusually clean. White as bone. Except one was broken at the white park and burnt. I replaced them.
I also had an acceleration hesitation and performance loss. That was when the car was at 10 BTDC. It’s now at 14-16 and doesn’t have that problem so much and performance is much faster and better.
Warm-up was definitely much too lengthy, but I think less lengthy now after some general maintenance.
Maybe once or twice it had trouble starting. I gave it some gas and started it, but I don’t know if putting my gas pedal down while cranking really helped. Saw it on a tv show once? lol.
Lean air/fuel can cause high NOx. And I believe lean air/fuel can cause high combustion temperatures, which in turn causes high NOx. Please correct me if I’m wrong.
Also the higher O2 levels in the smog test, at 3.0%, also seems to indicate a lean condition.
And my exhaust fans seems to be not working. This might also contribute to higher temperatures.
But the question is, even with all these things, are these things alone capable of producing monstrously high NOx levels of over 3,000?
Maybe I’m wrong and maybe it’s something else. Maybe it’s a bad sensor sending crazy readings causing the engine to run strange. Maybe all of this is irrelevant and it’s simply a bad cat, and a bad cat alone. Maybe it’s a dirty fuel injector, though I did just do a seafoam treatment, but maybe it was the wrong vacuum line and didn’t get all four cylinders. Maybe there’s an air leak causing excess air to get in. Maybe I’ve got air pirates coming to steal me booty. Maybe there’s a head gasket problem. Maybe I’ve got a fuel pressure problem. I opened my fuel filter and switched the key to ON like Eric did and quite a lot of gas squirted out. But I haven’t done a fuel pressure test yet. Maybe I should do that next. Maybe the car will pass smog right now. I don’t know, I just don’t know.
Next I’m going to test the fuel pressure and spray carb cleaner around looking for leaks and see about the exhaust fan.
I suspect a bad cat as well, but I don’t want to guess at it. I’ll probably re-do the pyrometer test. I’m also going to try soaking the cat in soapy water overnight. My coolant fan is working but it seems like my exhaust manifold fan is not working. So I’ll try to look into that but again, I have no idea what I’m doing, lol.
What else might it be? Because I know people who have replaced catalytic converters and yet still have failed smog, and I do not want to join that group. Worst of all if my current cat was in good condition and was replaced needlessly and welded on needlessly. Maybe the cat will get me to pass smog, but if the cause of a bad cat isn’t addressed, you’d have to buy a new cat come smog season again. Don’t want to put an expensive band-aid on it if it is that.
What else might cause high HC readings and 3000+ NOx readings, along with 3% O2?
I suspect a bad cat as well, but I don’t want to guess at it. I’ll probably re-do the pyrometer test. I’m also going to try soaking the cat in soapy water overnight. My coolant fan is working but it seems like my exhaust manifold fan is not working. So I’ll try to look into that but again, I have no idea what I’m doing, lol.
What else might it be? Because I know people who have replaced catalytic converters and yet still have failed smog, and I do not want to join that group. Worst of all if my current cat was in good condition and was replaced needlessly and welded on needlessly. Maybe the cat will get me to pass smog, but if the cause of a bad cat isn’t addressed, you’d have to buy a new cat come smog season again. Don’t want to put an expensive band-aid on it if it is that.
What else might cause high HC readings and 3000+ NOx readings, along with 3% O2?
Lol, I had just forgotten to connect my radiator fan. Just ran the car for half an hour at high RPM and put Seafoam through the vacuum line, and it was fine, didn’t overheat at all, all the hoses are fine as well.
Also, about the white smoke, I think it may be normal, maybe. I just tried my other car, a Corolla, and during cold start up, it smoked a lot as well. After a minute of 4,000 RPM, smoke went away, and it blew clear. The Civic just takes a little longer to blow clear after a cold start up. And it’s 30-50 degrees F outside.
So anyway, besides this radiator incident, how do I pass smog? What is causing my high emissions?
Lol, I had just forgotten to connect my radiator fan. Just ran the car for half an hour at high RPM and put Seafoam through the vacuum line, and it was fine, didn’t overheat at all, all the hoses are fine as well.
Also, about the white smoke, I think it may be normal, maybe. I just tried my other car, a Corolla, and during cold start up, it smoked a lot as well. After a minute of 4,000 RPM, smoke went away, and it blew clear. The Civic just takes a little longer to blow clear after a cold start up. And it’s 30-50 degrees F outside.
So anyway, besides this radiator incident, how do I pass smog? What is causing my high emissions?
So I just did something amazing. Yesterday when I put water through the vacuum line from the brake booster to the intake, I had a stick on the gas at a higher RPM and everything was fine. I looked at the ECT connector and it saw green corrosion, so I cut it out, tested it with an ohmmeter, think it’s okay, and then I reconnected it.
While I was reconnecting it, the two bare wires touched each other a few times. I heard a click from the fuse box. Maybe it was just the relay clicking, maybe a fuse blew. I turned the car on, and as usual, a lot of smoke. Put a stick on the gas, waited about five minutes, and the smoke stopped. Started putting seafoam through the vacuum line.
Maybe 15 minutes later, I see a mountain of steam come from the radiator, and I think one of the radiator hoses blew as well. The temperature gauge in the car was at high, lol. First time I’ve ever seen that. Quickly turned off the car, and the radiator was just exploding with steam. All the coolant spewed out.
Last night I actually had the ECT disconnected, and the car was running and I was trying to see if the white smoke would disappear just simply by warming up the car, which I confirmed. I caught the temperature gauge getting abnormally high and shut it off in time. It was of course because the ECT was disconnected.
So uh first of all, man I am awesome. So the ECT was working fine before I had cut it out and reconnected it and had the two wires touch each other. So what did I break and how do I fix it? And what do I do with my radiator now? I think I might need some new hoses at the very least.
But more importantly of course, I really need to pass smog and if someone can help me, I would just scream in joy.
So I just did something amazing. Yesterday when I put water through the vacuum line from the brake booster to the intake, I had a stick on the gas at a higher RPM and everything was fine. I looked at the ECT connector and it saw green corrosion, so I cut it out, tested it with an ohmmeter, think it’s okay, and then I reconnected it.
While I was reconnecting it, the two bare wires touched each other a few times. I heard a click from the fuse box. Maybe it was just the relay clicking, maybe a fuse blew. I turned the car on, and as usual, a lot of smoke. Put a stick on the gas, waited about five minutes, and the smoke stopped. Started putting seafoam through the vacuum line.
Maybe 15 minutes later, I see a mountain of steam come from the radiator, and I think one of the radiator hoses blew as well. The temperature gauge in the car was at high, lol. First time I’ve ever seen that. Quickly turned off the car, and the radiator was just exploding with steam. All the coolant spewed out.
Last night I actually had the ECT disconnected, and the car was running and I was trying to see if the white smoke would disappear just simply by warming up the car, which I confirmed. I caught the temperature gauge getting abnormally high and shut it off in time. It was of course because the ECT was disconnected.
So uh first of all, man I am awesome. So the ECT was working fine before I had cut it out and reconnected it and had the two wires touch each other. So what did I break and how do I fix it? And what do I do with my radiator now? I think I might need some new hoses at the very least.
But more importantly of course, I really need to pass smog and if someone can help me, I would just scream in joy.
Nope, no check engine lights. I want to remind everyone that I am an idiot, and for many of the tests and things that I’ve done, I have no idea what I was doing nor do I know the actual reason for doing them, lol.