Posted by Ken in CO on Wednesday, January 10, 2001 at 10:49AM :
In Reply to: Re: Ideas to help smog? posted by CD on Wednesday, January 10, 2001 at 1:11AM :
Well, here along the front range in Colorado the hole in the pipe and the false pipe will not work. The test comes back with % of total for HC and CO, so a diversion such as the hole does nothing but reduce the volume, the % stays the same. As for the fake pipe, the software doesn't pass a 0 emission test, that's why the falsifying method involves a second vehicle known to pass the required standards, not just waiving the sniffer wand around in the air.
Change your oil! Clean oil makes a vast difference in older engines. Perhaps not initially intuitive, but it's true. Give it a tune up, all the normal ignition stuff and don't ignore the plug and coil wires. They do degrade in performance without any visual degredation. A high quality set will last 100K+ but cheapos can go south after less than 25K.
Adding alcohol will lean out the mixture and is non hydrocarbon so it can't directly increase HC emissions, but it can increase them indirectly through incomplete combustion if pushed to the point of overly lean condition. High CO = rich mixture, high CO and high HC = really rich mixture, high HC but normal CO = lean mixture. So don't use the alcohol if high HC but normal CO. For the really rich mixture another 'trick' is to allow a vacuum leak, but this can easily lean it out to an overly lean condition on the 'cruise' rpm test.
If your only failing at idle, adjust the idle mixture screw obviously.
Remember that if your truck is failing the smog test, it would be in your best interest to fix it properly anyway, as a good running engine should not have problems passing the 'sniffer'. I had a BMW 530i that had all the smog equipment removed, over 250,000 miles on the engine, visual/olfactory senses said 'rich' but it would still pass the sniffer test with just clean oil and plugs, no alcohol or other 'tricks'. It did fail for not having proper equipment.
Anyway, good luck.
Ken
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