serbRX7

iTrader: (9)

yea upstate

where i go, i do not think they ever got my car on the lift to look under and see

and i do not pay them extra not to look...

94touringFD

iTrader: (30)

I have to agree, NY ain't half bad for modified cars. I never have problems with anything. I don't anyone that's had to pay any extra for an inspection. Does LI have the same inspections as the rest of the city? If so it's a lot easier north of you.

RotaryEvolution

iTrader: (30)

i can't believe you are still trying to tell yourself that you and the car will be ok... it WILL need more than just a cat, i have said this and i own a rotary specific repair facility. the coolant IS going somewhere, either into the engine or somewhere that isn't leaving puddles of coolant onto the ground which to me sounds like an internal leak without having the car to see where it is going, is just a guess but overheating a 15+ year old rotary is what everyone has said= usually the coolant seals are going VERY soon if not already.

you DON'T have to go to a used car dealer to find a used car, you can get a much better deal inspecting and buying a car from a private party, aka craigslist and having the small repairs done by a reputable shop which will still cost much less than the $4-5k a used car lot will sell a car for and you will still be stuck fixing one of those cars as well.

so i ask why? why are you still trying to find your way around this horrible situation? you have a car that is worth something that will eat you alive if you try to fix it or you can drive it on expired tags while moaning about the legislative system until you get a registration ticket which will REALLY put you up **** creek or you can off it and buy something that works equally as well and gets better gas mileage.

if you want to dodge the emissions issue then by all means, register the car out of county, after making sure it is possible . and when it does start eating coolant and having difficulty starting after "limping" (the emphasis is put on the car DOES have issues, eating coolant and failing emissions horribly ARE serious issues) for some time and it does develop the more serious carbonization(autos do not do well when running rich and ******* the engine, they spit seals much more readily than manual cars do) or coolant seal failures and you are sitting on a brick then you just lost almost half of the cars potential current value.

time to let it go, end of story.

twinsinside

iTrader: (34)

I think the problem he's having is he has had this car for 18 years and it's ran reliably for him until now.

What he doesn't realize is that an FD going for 18 years without any upkeep other than oil changes is a ticking time bomb.

My car ran the same way, had it for about 4 years before I had to really start putting much effort into it, but when it went, it went hard.

At 70k miles I'd get a compression test at least before deciding to sink money into trying to fix all of the things that need done. Not going to do much good to fix all the emissions issues if it's going to spit an apex seal on startup one morning.

If he does want to keep it I'd do the following at a minimum:
Get a compression test. If your compression is borderline theres not much point in going further. Go through the vac hoses/check valves/etc etc and fix that mess. Verify no vac leaks. Test air pump system to make sure it's working. Send injectors out to be cleaned and tested and order a fuel system recall kit or whatever its called to replace all those old pieces of rubber crap + mixer plates. You didn't mention if you have a pre-cat, but if you do remove that and replace with a downpipe. Replace your main cat. Check your fuel evap system. Check the ignition system and replace wires/plugs.

Probably need to do more but thats all I can think of off the top of my head.

You can't escape the fact that you are going to need to do a lot of work to get it to pass. Even if you circumvent the system, your car has serious problems if your emissions are that high, and a 70k engine is getting into the red zone for life expectency.

Best of luck in whatever you decide.

merc 93

One more time.... no coolant leak. Problem found as hose exiting bottom of newly installed AST was leaking due to misaligned and loose hose clamp.

Thanks though to those of you offering advice and help!

RENESISFD

iTrader: (13)

Yes they do. I believe that on Jan 1st of 2011 they will only be doing an idle emissions test to cars 1995 model year and older.


John

merc 93

So.... park/drive the car for another few years and then it magically becomes.... GREEN.... argh.

Wargasm

My low speed emissions failed results are below:
Pollutant/Standard/Reading/Result
HC(PPM)/136/1332/Fail
CO(%)/.76/6.99/Fail

----------

HC is too high which could be a few things:

cat not hot enough
cat doesn't work well ( old age, years of dirty stuff is caking it up )
car is injecting too much fuel (or has a leaking injector)
car is burning oil through turbo seals or oil seals
spark plugs aren't working well or wire issue
engine is old with poor compression (basically means car injects too much gas for the now-lower compression)

CO is too high which can be another list:

air pump disconnected/not working
cat not hot enough


So what can you do? Well you're on a budget.

So let's start by checking plugs/wires. Replace anything that looks bad. Wires last a long time so I bet they are OK.

Is the car modified? That may explain some of these issues.

How is the compression?

How does it idle/run?

Does it smell like raw fuel?

Did you get the cat nice and hot before the test (at least 20 minutes of highway-speed driving)?

Is your air pump present and hooked up? Do you think it's working?

You can try adding 1 gallon of denatured alcohol to your tank when the fuel gauge shows around 1/4 tank. DO NOT BOOST ON THIS MIX. This should drop your CO values, but it won't do anything for your HC probably.

Disconnect the purge control to make sure you don't get a burst of crap from that and plug the hole.

How long ago was the car tested (and passed)? What numbers did it pull at that time? Any modifications since then?

twinsinside

iTrader: (34)

Yeah funny thing emissions laws. If they were so concerned about emissions they would make fewer cars, and repair the ones they already have.

The process of manufacturing a "green" car produces more emissions than an existing car will have in its entire lifespan.

It's typical though, people concentrate 99% of the effort on 1% of the problem.

merc 93

And now.... local ******** are paid to block us.... rather than illegals from the border..... argh

RotaryEvolution

iTrader: (30)

compression won't affect emissions as much as you would think, even tired motors with borderline compression will pass just fine if everything is in proper working order.

merc 93

I am willing to go to jail in order to allow my family to drive on my crime on a failed emissions car....
How long do I need to spend in jail for how long they can go to work on my jailtime without it ending?

I can be a jail butt ***** if it means my kids and wife get to live a semi-normal life.

And, I plan on killing any butt monkey while I am there too to save others from my fate....

I am old and would love to give my life for others at this point....