What have you done to your square lately??

[skysurfer]

Gave it a bath then took it in for the dreaded California smog check. It didn't pass the first time around but the tech was nice enough to work with it a bit by holding it at high rpm's to get the cat good and hot before the second sample. That's the trouble with aftermarket cats, they aren't efficient at idle and low engine speeds.

Passed by a gnat's ass. The top line is at 15 mph and the bottom line is 25 mph. I always have trouble with the low speed hc sample.

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[DoubleDingo]

Gave it a bath then took it in for the dreaded California smog check. It didn't pass the first time around but the tech was nice enough to work with it a bit by holding it at high rpm's to get the cat good and hot before the second sample. That's the trouble with aftermarket cats, they aren't efficient at idle and low engine speeds.

Passed by a gnat's ass. The top line is at 15 mph and the bottom line is 25 mph. I always have trouble with the low speed hc sample.

The best advice I can give you is drive it around for an hour, hot rod some to blow it out, make sure the carburetor is set a tad rich, and the oil is new with fresh filters all around and fresh pcv valve, and a fresh tune up too. Also, when you get there leave it running. You'll pass no problem then, unless you have something else wrong that is causing the high emissions, or to fail the visual. I do that for each vehicle I own and they all have extremely low emissions levels when tested, and that includes my square with no catalytic converter. Every time I've gone in and had them tested before letting them get good and hot, the levels were higher. Try it next time, you'll see a difference in the readings.

 

[DoubleDingo]

It was bound to happen. The ignition gets tough just at the START position since I've owned the truck. I'm surprised it last this long.

Is it a tilt column? I noticed mine was difficult to turn too. One day I was wiping things down and changed the position of steering wheel, made it perpindicular the column instead of up towards the windshield, and the switch turned with minimal effort compared to what it was like before. I have left it there since so nothing broke from it in a kinked position.

 

[skysurfer]

The best advice I can give you is drive it around for an hour, hot rod some to blow it out, make sure the carburetor is set a tad rich, and the oil is new with fresh filters all around and fresh pcv valve, and a fresh tune up too. Also, when you get there leave it running. You'll pass no problem then, unless you have something else wrong that is causing the high emissions, or to fail the visual. I do that for each vehicle I own and they all have extremely low emissions levels when tested, and that includes my square with no catalytic converter. Every time I've gone in and had them tested before letting them get good and hot, the levels were higher. Try it next time, you'll see a difference in the readings.

I drove it for 30 minutes before the test and it's in the mid-90's today so she was good and warm. I'm tbi so not much can be done with it running a bit on the lean side, I've already installed new plugs and replaced all the vac lines. I go through this every two years and this isn't the first time it's hit the max 134 hc level. The tech asked me what I was going to do next time around and I said "Same thing I do every time, **** bricks and pray."

 

[MadOgre]

I drove it for 30 minutes before the test and it's in the mid-90's today so she was good and warm. I'm tbi so not much can be done with it running a bit on the lean side, I've already installed new plugs and replaced all the vac lines. I go through this every two years and this isn't the first time it's hit the max 134 hc level. The tech asked me what I was going to do next time around and I said "Same thing I do every time, **** bricks and pray."

Wouldn't advancing the timing lower your emissions ? Im pretty sure it would

If your lean it should

 

[DoubleDingo]

I drove it for 30 minutes before the test and it's in the mid-90's today so she was good and warm. I'm tbi so not much can be done with it running a bit on the lean side, I've already installed new plugs and replaced all the vac lines. I go through this every two years and this isn't the first time it's hit the max 134 hc level. The tech asked me what I was going to do next time around and I said "Same thing I do every time, **** bricks and pray."

It's not so much getting the engine warm, it's getting the catalytic converter(s) extremely hot. My other 2 "emissions-test-able" vehicles are computer controlled and fuel injected. One is a 91 cherokee with 193.*** on the clock and I can smell oil when driving around, and it can be hard to start, but drive it around for a long time to get the cat hot and it passes with flying colors. The other is a 07 Forester, but I still get those cats good and hot before going in and then leave the car(s) running while I wait my turn to make sure the cats get even hotter. I'm not familiar with TBI, or squares with cats. Mine is a c20 so no cat involved unless one decides to take a nap under my hood .

I wonder if the timing could help like Ogre mentioned?

 

[MadOgre]

A Lean condition needs additional timing to complete the burn so advance the timing 2-6 degrees I would say

 

[skysurfer]

I wonder if the timing could help like Ogre mentioned?

I'm pretty sure I'll fail the inspection if I tweak the timing. One of the 17 underhood test parameters lists ignition timing. It actually shows I'm at 0 degrees. Don't know what the pass/fail window is, it might allow a couple of degrees before automatic fail but I have no idea exactly how much.

It would be nice to know how the timing affects a tbi system. The ecm is reading input from multiple sensors and I wonder how it would compensate for timing not set to factory specs.

 

[MadOgre]

I'm pretty sure I'll fail the inspection if I tweak the timing. One of the 17 underhood test parameters lists ignition timing. It actually shows I'm at 0 degrees. Don't know what the pass/fail window is, it might allow a couple of degrees before automatic fail but I have no idea exactly how much.

It would be nice to know how the timing affects a tbi system. The ecm is reading input from multiple sensors and I wonder how it would compensate for timing not set to factory specs.

Get a different air cleaner unless its on your rad support They can only go by what it says under the hood. Up here if there's nothing under the hood then they have nothing to fail it by.

 

[MadOgre]

Heck drill some holes on the top of your exhaust. install 2 cats I dunno lol

 

[skysurfer]

Can't drill holes in the exhaust because a "sample dilution" error pops up if the muffler is shot but I've actually thought about adding a second cat.

All of the underhood parameters are in the computer based upon year/make/model. Many years ago I was a smog test technician and the computer told me what to look for under the hood. It's kind of frustrating being on the other side of the test program after doing 250,000 (true story) cars myself.

 

[Don5]

Can't drill holes in the exhaust because a "sample dilution" error pops up if the muffler is shot but I've actually thought about adding a second cat.

All of the underhood parameters are in the computer based upon year/make/model. Many years ago I was a smog test technician and the computer told me what to look for under the hood. It's kind of frustrating being on the other side of the test program after doing 250,000 (true story) cars myself.

If anyone should know how to get around the sniffer I would say it is you. Thank God we don't have to do that here in my state.

 

[DoubleDingo]

Wow, 250,000 cars!! That makes me tired just thinking about it...lol... At least you know what to fix because you know what they're looking for.

 

[skysurfer]

Back then I could get ANY car through because I knew how the system worked, but that was a long time ago and the state has since plugged all the loopholes.

(off topic) The place I worked at was a centralised drive-through test facility owned by a private company under contract with the state. It looked like a car wash and we had three cars in process at all times. The first position was where we removed the driver and entered the vehicle information into the computer. The person doing the data entry would call out to the underhood inspector what each car was required to have. This usually took 1-2 minutes. Then the car was pulled forward onto the dyno where 40 mph and idle samples were taken. One tech stayed in the car while two more ran the dyno. This portion could be done in less than a minute. As soon as the dyno popped back up the car was driven outside where the waiting customer was given the results of the test. Total time through the building averaged a little over three minutes. Most days we had at least 50 cars waiting to be tested and could process around 200 on a good day. 80% failed the test the first time through so we could expect several dozen very pissed-off owners each and every day. I'm pretty sure I've been cussed out in more languages than anybody else on GMSB. It was an experience to say the least.

 

[1981suburban]

Oil and filter change this afternoon.