Agh. So the Volvo’s tags are up this month and last weekend I ran it through emissions. It’s never given me any trouble passing before, but the results this time:
HC: 0.73 out of 1.60 – Pass
CO: 3.85 out of 15.00 – Pass
NOx: 5.25 out of 2.50 – Failed miserably
Well, that sucks. So today I went and did a once-over tuneup of the car – I Seafoamed it, then changed the plugs. In the course of changing the plugs, one of the plug wires (about 2 years old only) lost the crimp on the end so I had to drop $30 on a new set. And then, as a last-ditch effort, I disconnected the vacuum advance from the ignition – apparently the computer likes to put the timing on the ragged edge of pinging, which isn’t helping NOx.
The results today?
HC: 0.31 out of 1.60 – Pass
CO: 2.82 out of 15.00 – Pass
NOx: 2.57 out of 2.50 – Goddamnit.
I don’t want to use up the one voucher this car has for an emissions bypass since that may seriously hinder my ability to sell the damn thing, so I just dropped a bit under $100 total on some cheapo catalytic converter and O2 sensor on eBay. The converter had been replaced at some point by a previous owner, with a generic one of course, but I have a sneaking suspicion the fact that they used one that expected AIR injection (as evidenced by the giant open port on the side of it) on a vehicle without that may have contributed to the early demise.
So with about $50 in the tuneup itself, $27.50 wasted on the first two tests, and about $80 on additional parts, this cheap car is proving to be not so cheap anymore thanks to the damned sniffer.