failed california smog

[Low86GT]

So the wonderful state of California lowered the standards from the last time the Mustang had to be smogged so it failed this time which really sucks since I was set to sell it this weekend.

It is an 86 5.0 5 speed with mass air conversion.
Has all the normal bolt on, CAI in the fender, 65mm tb, headers, bassani with cats, Flowmaster catback. 77mm maf, custom chip.
It does have a stock 195 thermostat which i could change to a 180 but that could hurt the other readings.

Failure was from NOx.

2 years ago the Low speed test was about 300 higher than it is now so that has come down. The High speed has gone up by about 300.

KOEO tests
15. Prom Failure. Probably from having a chip in it.
81. Air management system 2 or Inlet Air Control circuit failure or boost pump fail.
82. Air management system 1 or Inlet Air Control circuit failure.
95 Thermactor Air System inoperative or fuel control circuit failure.

On the KOER test.
41 No Exhaust Gas Oxygen Switching Detected- always indicating lean

I know that NOx are normally caused by temp and in most cases a bad EGR yet I got no EGR codes on either test.

I need to drop the NOx down by about 45 at the slow test and about 230 at the higher speed test.


I checked all the thermactor lines and there are no cracks, breaks, or anything disconnected.

I am going to check and maybe adjust my fuel pressure. It might be a little low so raising it may help with the lean issue.

I am also thinking that since I have a chip in there I might pull it and put the stock MAF back on incase the chip is giving it a little too much timing.

I only get one free retest so i need to make it count.

Thanks.

 

[Haus]

to get mine to pass I put premium fuel in it, made sure it was really hot and pulled out the spout so it stayed at base timing(10*) the whole test.

before doing this i had really failed the NOx part by almost twice the amount allowed

doing what i did made the car fly through

 

[Low86GT]

thanks. The chip in it is made to run on 91 so unless I remove it that part isnt going to help.
I don't think the smog tech is going to let me run without the spout connector since they remove it to check base timing then put it back in for the test.

right now the big things to check are vacuum leak which im 99% sure I do not have. vacuum routing for all the smog solenoids, and try to correct the ECT error which if could be keeping the engine in open loop which could cause other errors leading to the lean issue.

 

[KMatch]

thanks. I don't think the smog tech is going to let me run without the spout connector since they remove it to check base timing then put it back in for the test.

They are required to check the base, but ask them if they're required to have the pip installed for the remainder of the test. It may not be required - they may reinstall it just because it's there. Worth asking someone. Otherwise, dropping the temp and making sure the EGR is doing all it can are most important. Codes only set when the computer is maxed out.

 

[Low86GT]

So I changed the ECT. That cleared the KOER error 41 I was getting but now I am getting a 44 and a 94

I am getting a Memory code of 95 which is the second half of the 95 I get with the KOEO. Fuel Pump secondary circuite failure. I believe this is commen in Mass Air Conversions unless you tap a wire on the fuel pump relay.

So we still have
KOEO tests
15. Prom Failure. This is from having a chip in it. I got that confirmed.
81. Air management system 2 or Inlet Air Control circuit failure or boost pump fail.
82. Air management system 1 or Inlet Air Control circuit failure.
95 Thermactor Air System inoperative or fuel control circuit failure. Again I believe this to be the commen fuel pump code with mass air conversion.

KOER
44 Thermactor Air System failure.
94 Thermactor Air System inoperative bank 2 or fuel control circuit failure.

No EGR codes still which I guess is good but the Thermactor code bug me. Since the come up on the KOEO maybe the controllers are bad? I mean they are 24 years old.

One final thing. The temp gauge was reading 205 with the 195 thermostate in it the entire time. Any thoughts on that one?

Anyone?

thanks again.

 

[Low86GT]

after looking at some wiring diagrams I found my problem.
When the mass air conversion was done the pins for the TAB and TAD solenoids never got moved.

TAD needs to move from pin 11 over to 32. and TAB needs to move from 51 to 38.

Entire air injection hasnt worked since the mass air was done. smogged many times without it. lol

 

[393strokervert]

I don't think the smog tech is going to let me run without the spout connector since they remove it to check base timing then put it back in for the test.

They actually check your timing????? that is unreal! my car is MY car & I will set the timing wherever freakin' I please! that is nuts!

we don't have any inspections here in FL..........*Thanks God*
why can't they just test your car & if it passes...it passes. shouldn't matter if it had a 572cu.in. carbed caddy motor in it as long as it passes the test!
I have seen some stuff that you can put in your gas tank that is "supposed" to help with smogging. don't know if it works but......just a thought.

 

[2000xp8]

I'd start by removing the chip.
It serves no purpose on a mildly modified car.
And it wouldn't be the first time that a chip on a fox made the car worse not better.

 

[Low86GT]

I'd start by removing the chip.
It serves no purpose on a mildly modified car.
And it wouldn't be the first time that a chip on a fox made the car worse not better.

Nothing wrong with the chip. The car runs much better with it than without it plus I would have to run a stock meter again since my current meter is calibrated for 30s and the car has stock 19s. The chip makes them happy.
I have a very good tuner.

As stated in an earlier post the bad ECT was causing the lean issue.
Once I move the pins so that the TAB and TAD start working again the car should run as clean as a new car does.

 

[Low86GT]

I don't think the smog tech is going to let me run without the spout connector since they remove it to check base timing then put it back in for the test.

They actually check your timing????? that is unreal! my car is MY car & I will set the timing wherever freakin' I please! that is nuts!

we don't have any inspections here in FL..........*Thanks God*
why can't they just test your car & if it passes...it passes. shouldn't matter if it had a 572cu.in. carbed caddy motor in it as long as it passes the test!
I have seen some stuff that you can put in your gas tank that is "supposed" to help with smogging. don't know if it works but......just a thought.

Well the car no longer has the lean codes showing up or the ECT error so they are gone. The car will probably pass now but if I can fix the air injection by changing two wires on the computer I might as well do it.

I do agree that if you can make it pass the sniffer nothing else should matter.
Sadly more and more states are starting to adopt California's standards for emissions testing.

 

[Low86GT]

new info

so after moving the pins the TAB and TAD now work.

Whats strange is I now have a couple new codes.

These are only KOER
24. ACT sensor out of self test range 0.3 to 3.7 volts.
33. EGR valve opening not detected.
94. Thermactor Air Injection system inoperative (left side).

I had the 94 before so I'm not real worried about it.
The 24 and 33 are new.
I an going to pull the EGR off and clean it as well as remove the sensor to see if any of that helps.
I guess I am going to pull out the ACT as well and look at it. Kind of strange that The ACT only fails the on the KOER test.

If its not one thing its another.

 

[mustangphil]

My car failed NOx in NJ many years ago. I got two words for you, Denaturated Alcohol. You can pick that $h!t up in any hardware store. I poured a gallon of it in when I had about 1/4 tank of gas and it passed with flying colors. It lowers your engine's flash point, which means it burns cooler, thereby reducing your NOx. See for yourself, notice how much it dropped other readings as well. After you leave the smog inspection station, just go fill up your car with 91 octane and all will be back to normal.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

 

[2000xp8]

Nothing wrong with the chip. The car runs much better with it than without it plus I would have to run a stock meter again since my current meter is calibrated for 30s and the car has stock 19s. The chip makes them happy.
I have a very good tuner.

As stated in an earlier post the bad ECT was causing the lean issue.
Once I move the pins so that the TAB and TAD start working again the car should run as clean as a new car does.

Sorry man, but i've been around quite a few dyno runs.
First off, chips literally do nothing for a stock engine, sometimes they even lose power, and if your car doesn't run right before the chip, it still doesn't run right after it.
Second, if your tuner was good, instead of putting a chip on the car to calibrate the maf, he would of just told you to sell the meter and buy another with the right calibration.
Would of been an even swap, and probably saved hundreds in chip and tuning money.

 

[Low86GT]

Sorry man, but i've been around quite a few dyno runs.
First off, chips literally do nothing for a stock engine, sometimes they even lose power, and if your car doesn't run right before the chip, it still doesn't run right after it.
Second, if your tuner was good, instead of putting a chip on the car to calibrate the maf, he would of just told you to sell the meter and buy another with the right calibration.
Would of been an even swap, and probably saved hundreds in chip and tuning money.

I have to completely disagree with you. This is my 3rd mustang. This one has not been on a dyno but the other two spent a lot of time on them because I kept changing the setups.
The chip was free and the tuning was free so thats not an issue.
I already had the meter and calibrating the chip to match meter and injector sizes is a very commen thing.

Changing the timing in the chip can get you a much better curve than you would get just by setting the timing at 13.

Running the stock meter with timing at 13 vs running the meter with the chip with the base timing set at 10 is a night and day difference in how the car performs.

If I had to pay for all of it I wouldnt have changed meters and not run the chip.

As for my tuner he is very well known by anyone that used to tune the AutoLogic chips as well as consulting for other companies that are still doing tuning.

You can think what you like about it but I know the car and the tuner so I know it made a big difference.