re: gross polluter

[Oliver Seiler <oseiler@acm.org>]

On Sun, 20 Feb 2000, luis flores wrote:

> [reformatting this a bit]
> here are my emissions:
>                      max allowed       measured 
> hc ppm               0150              0218
> co %                 1.20              4.12 
>
> at idle              max allowed       measured
> hc ppm               0120              0471
> co %                 1.00              9.99 !!! 

Well, don't run it for very long in an enclosed space...

Are these being measure before or after the cat?

> [...]
> would i be wasting my money if i replaced the cat?  it seems to be okay
> (no visible signs of damage, no rattling)... would a bad cat and O2
> sensor cause readings this high?

I don't really see the cat causing this, unless perhaps it's causing a lot
of back pressure. If you can rent a CO meter for a day I'd perhaps try
taking off the cat and taking a CO measurement again. 9.99% is really
high... It'd indicate a real rich mixture; how's your mileage?

Of course before replacing the cat you should check whether the emissions
control unit is working, replace the oxygen sensor if you're not sure
about it, and check the fuel pressure. The cat might be dead anyway, from
having such a rich mixture to deal with (I'm not sure what the effects of
back pressure would be; presumably it would reduce the amount of air going
through the engine, causing it to run rich, but checking all the other
bits first is probably useful...)

-Oliver

Oliver Seiler -- Software Developer, Pivotal Software, http://www.pivotal.com
    Scirocco MkII Diary - http://erisian.com/~oseiler/scirocco/index.html


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