Help! Toyotas & CA Smog Check

[YotaWhoopRunner]

I am getting really frustrated with my truck right now. I have a toyota with the 22r and after three smog checks at a test only station, I still can not pass smog. I even have access to a sun smog tester(w/o dyno). I just can't seem to get my CO to go down when it is under the load of the dyno. I have even tried some tricks on one of the tests like adding isoHeet to the gas and unplugging the vacuum advance lines to lean it out and retard timing. I've tried everything I can think of and it's buggin the hell out of me. I have basically a stock system with the exception of the downey headers, a 2.5 car sound cat and dynomax exhaust.

Things I have done:

set timing to 0 deg (vacuum advance unplugged)
87 octane
leaned out mixture
changed exhaust to downey header with stock cat and muffler(instead of 2.5 cat and muffler).
checked all vacuum lines
checked egr
checked pcv
checked and reset carb float
changed oil
changed to new platnum spark plugs

I know high CO is caused by a rich mixture, but I've tried everything I can think of to lower it.

I am starting to think that it might be fault of the headers. Could it be that it runs a lot cooler than a stock manifold and it doesn't heat up the cat enough? I am getting really desperate right now and need all the help I can get.

Does anybody have any suggestions of something else I missed?
Anybody know of a good place to go to for help( la or orange county)?
Does using Methanol like top fuel dragsters work?

Thanks in advance to all who reply! I am running out of time.

[Brian Mapes]

I heard that heating up the cat makes it easier to pass so maybe drive your truck around for a while to get it hot and then go take it in. That is what i heard, but other than that I'm not an engine mechanic so thats all the help I got.

[Eric_M]

maybee check your intake?? check the filter and make sure its clear and not stuffed full of dirt...... depriving the truck of much needed air to thin out the mixture?? justa suggestion. hope it works out for you. but if you get it to pass, let me know what you did because i think i gotta get my truck smoged soon and ive got the 22R as well so if mine doesnt pass ill be lookin for a solution.

[heavy8]

try a search on google, I just did a" 22r smog check"search and there is all kinds of tips and also tips from people with headers and aftermarket cats. From what i found, if all the basics were checked it was the carb adjustment and or poor condition.
good luck, if all else fails I used the smog pass fuel additive once and my beater car passed. True

[YotaWhoopRunner]

Yep the filter is clear and I made sure I drove around before I got it checked. Right now I am kinda thinking that the headers don't allow the cat to be warmed up enough or maybe because the diameter of the new exhaust is larger that it is not turning all the emmissions into water. I tried my old stock cat which has a smaller diameter and it was pretty much the same, so I'm confused still.

Thanks for the suggestions! and I will hopefully post a solution if I ever get one...

[Kritter]

Skyler passed a few months ago with a hollowed cat..the first time it didnt but then he tuned it up and it passed with flying colors.

Kris
"Buy American before it's too late"

[drtdevil93]

the header wouldnt make the cat cooler, if anything it would be hotter. one place i went to before, the guy was kinda cool, so he had me rev the motor at like 3500 rpm for a minute or two, that lowered the CO pretty well. i found a place that let me put the truck on the smog machine without hooking up to sacramento, so i could tune it. after that it put out almost no CO and HC, and like half the limit on nox ( i went a little to lean, but it passed, who cares.) and that motor had intake, honed throttle body, cam, header, and a flowmaster. so you should be able to make it pass.

erik

[Jerry Zaiden]

If your truck is a pre-90 toyota IE. with a carb you are going to have a really hard time. From what I have been told they just want your truck off the road so they are making it really hard to pass.

[cleartoy]

I had a problem with my 85 22r passing. Found out the timing was too far advanced, not burning all the fuel. I can see youve already addressed that so not a problem for you. I too ran HEET in my tank to lean out the mix. Run 1/8th tank of fuel before you put it in. I also leaned out the carb as low as it would go and still idle.

Next thing that comes to mind is under load......what size tires and gears are you running? Make sure your geared right, or you will probably never pass with the big tires\load imposed.

94 Toyota stdcab 2x4
99 Yamaha YZ250

Got Sand??

[YotaWhoopRunner]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions! Well I am running bald 33's with a 4.88 ratio, which shouldn't be a problem. I took it to a smog repair shop today and they recommended that I buy a new cat. I just replaced my cat about 2 years ago with a cat from car sound, so either it has gone bad or something else is wrong. Does anybody know how to test whether a cat is still working or not?

[bajaruner11]

Something to know about Hi-performance cat's. Even though it is a cat, and you can put it on your truck does not mean it will pass smog. As a matter of fact most Performance cat's fail at the smog dyno. Because of the hi-flow design the exhaust gasses pass through the cat to fast, and before they have a chance to fully burn.

[YotaWhoopRunner]

So what is a good brand? I think I might buy a new one and just stick it on every time I have to smog it.

[Eric_M]

hey this is a little off topic but its about my cat..... is a bad thig when i kick my cat and i hear little things rattle inside?? im pretty sure its not normal, but do you think it will give me a little trouble smoging?? thanks in advance

[YotaWhoopRunner]

I don't know how good this brand is since I might be having trouble with my cat, but this 2nd page of this link may be of some use.

<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.car-sound.com/05converter/05reason.htm>http://www.car-sound.com/05converter/05reason.htm</A>

[Eric_M]

that second page answered my question, seems like my cat has that catylst breakdown thing goin on. thanks for sharing the link!!

[Kritter]

If it runs good it should pass without a cat!!! Re read my post above.

Kris
"Buy American before it's too late"

[yotatech]

I had my 88 gross pollute this summer. I have found that if your truck is set to factory settings it runs better and passes no prob. With my header, the gaskets covered up the EGR ports going from the header to the head, also the TPS was out of adjustment, causing the fuel cut not to cut fuel at closed throttle, and the timing was also off because of the tps. Set the timing, making sure to jump the conecter Te1 to E1 at the diagnosis connector. The cat was the last thing we worried about, and once all was set the original cat was no prob. I think thats about it, good luck with whatever you end up doin.

[cleartoy]

You can go to a muffler shop and they can do a heat test to see if its lighting off or not.

If its bad, pay a little more for a high capacity cat.

94 Toyota stdcab 2x4
99 Yamaha YZ250

Got Sand??

[YotaWhoopRunner]

What brand of headers did you have(yotatech)? Was it smog legal if it covered up the EGR?

Well I have tried (as well as 2 master mechanics) to lean out the engine as much as possible and it doesn't register emissions at idle, but it gets high about 2 percent CO at 2500 rpm(don't think my engine can pass without a cat kritter). After my initial smog check, the engine was running a bit too rich and that could have possibly damaged the cat.

My problem It seems is that my mixture gets rich when the rpms are high, but it's lean when its idle. I thought about a fuel regulator before the carb to lean it out manually, but that might hurt the engine at low rpms. I wish there was a way to tell the engine to lean the mixture as the rpms get higher. Hopefully a new cat will cover it up...

[1992f150]

The cat converts pollution and gets hot, so you can use a temp gun to see if the exhaust is hotter on the exit side. When a car runs poorly it sends tons of bad stuff thru the cat, which converts it, but it gets *really* hot and melts/cracks. Aftermarket cheapo cats get destroyed at a much lower temp than OEM ones, so prob your cat is bad.

Azusa: shame of the foothills

[cleartoy]

1992 is right.

If you are rich, mis fire, timing off, you can fry your cat in a week easy!!!!

Dont put a new cat on a poor running engine. Especially if its an OBD2~!!!!! They are hella expensive!



94 Toyota stdcab 2x4
99 Yamaha YZ250

Got Sand??