Date: Tue, 26 Oct 2004 08:12:56 -0700
Reply-To: gary hradek <hradek@YAHOO.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: gary hradek <hradek@YAHOO.COM>
Subject: Calif Smog Issues
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Tom,
There is a major advantage to a test only station
in california. Go to the DMV site to get the details
but if your van is up to snuff on the smog equipment
the state will pay $400 toward getting you smogged
after you have spent $100. I am guessing that you
have already spent the $100 at vw so I would consider
taking it back there and ask them what needs to be
done to get this to pass in a test only station and
can it be done for another $400?
Keep me posted, gary
Date: Mon, 25 Oct 2004 17:07:23 -0700
From: Tom Young <tomyoung1@COMCAST.NET>
Subject: Calif Smog Issues
Hi all:
Took my '82 (Federal) to a Test Only station and
failed fairly
significantly
in the Hydrocarbons (HC) and Carbon Monoxide (CO).
I'd installed an O2
sensor in the crossover pipe but was getting very
funky readings from
the
sensor so after failing Smog I took the vehicle to a
local VW dealer
and had
them set the basic air/fuel mixture, which they did.
Went back to the
Test
Only station and tried again. This time the HC was OK
but the CO was
still
too high.
The engine is, I think, mechanically sound and the
ignition components
are
all in order with fairly new plugs, wires, distributor
cap and rotor.
I've
also installed a Pertronix ignitor. The catalytic
converter is new.
Did
the oil change thing, brought the car in hot, etc.
Question 1: At this point, it seems like the mixture
is still too rich
and
the answer is to continue leaning it down. Agree?
Question 2: Since the VW dealer isn't a Test Only
station and can't
test
emissions on a dyno like the Test Only stations do
(I'm told the stress
of
running on the dyno tends to push up the pollutants as
compared to the
static idle and unloaded 2000 rpm tests) how the heck
do you get
adjustments
done without just going back, and going back, to the
Test Only station?
Question 3: I've got my O2 sensor installed in the "J"
bend of the
crossover
pipe, shortly after the connection to the left-side
heat exchanger.
Even
after VW set the basic mixture I'm still getting
anomalous readings.
Sometimes when I hook up the voltmeter the reading
will be "high" (like
.710) and slowly drift upward. Sometimes the reading
will be "low"
(like
.387) and drift downward. I've watched the voltage
move up (and down)
across the .5 volts reading and it's very languid and
constantly up or
down
without the rapid up and down fluctuations I'm
accustomed to seeing on
my
California vehicle. (I've used the O2 sensor in the
California vehicle
many
times to adjust the basic mixture.) This is with 3
different O2
sensors, 2
of them new. Does any of this suggest some
fundamental problem that
I've
overlooked?
TIA.
---------------------------------------------------
Tom Young
Lafayette, CA 94549
---------------------------------------------------
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