Quote:
Originally Posted by neanderthal
Hi all
Question for the collective wisdom out there. My 94 E320 has failed the emissions test in Arizona several times. These are the initial numbers and they have not changed much in any of the subsequent tests
Pollutant Reading Limit Result
Hydrocarbons 0.12 0.80 PASS
Carbon Monoxide 1.13 12.0 PASS
Oxides of Nitrogen 4.74 2.00 FAIL |
Latest results. Run with a full tank of premium fuel (I can only find 91 octane,)
AND a bottle of 104 octane booster. The previous tank of gas also was premium with a bottle of 104 octane booster. I also ran a bottle of Chevron fuel injector cleaner prior to that and have been running premium the whole of the last few months and driving a lot harder than usual, in case the car "learns" your driving behavior and replicates/ adapts to it as some of the newer ones do.
Pollutant Reading Limit Result
Hydrocarbons 2.19 0.80 FAIL
Carbon Monoxide 3.98 12.0 PASS
Oxides of Nitrogen 4.85 2.00 FAIL
I did reroot the EGR tube from both ends just 4 days ago. I did also spray and remove whatever tar/ carbon build up was partially blocking the intake end of the engine where the EGR tube is attached.
I had tested the EGR valve when I initially did the EGR pipe about 2 months ago. I admit to not testing it while the car was running as prescribed, but when I had tested it, it opened and closed with the application and removal of vacuum.
It would appear that using premium did absolutely nothing to improve the emissions results. And now hydrocarbons are also failing.
Prior to the test the temps were a little high and the overflow hose at the expansion tank is frayed, so it was spewing coolant out of there, and they wouldn't let me test with fluids coming from the car. My fault, I had slightly overfilled the cooling system. I presume that was preventing it from pressurising and ergo making it run hot.
I left, went elsewhere and parked noseup and "burped" the cooling system and returned to the emissions testing station whereupon it failed it's retest with the numbers posted above.
The tech blamed the hot temps (it was running at just about 100C) for the NOx which I thought was bullpoop since that is within the operating parameters for the car. I didn't state that, or inform her that the "high temperatures" stated in their paper work are high
combustion temperatures.
The car did sit for about 5- 10 minutes before the test on the rollers, because they had to recalibrate the machine. I assume that is the cause of the HC failure, because the cat had started to cool down. But that is a wild guess at best.
While I love, absolutely love, my W124s, I am getting to the point that their foibles are starting to bother me. And this is just about the straw that is getting on my last nerve.