Emissions Question
 

OK, did a search, nothing answered my question the way I was looking for, so here goes. And this is aimed for people with turbo'd Miatas that have to endure emissions testing of course.

I'm taking my new Miata to get a GA emissions check. It has an FMII Link turbo kit, test pipe (going to be swapping it out for a Jackson High Flow as soon as possible, they actually look here, even if the car passes fine, they fail you until they see one installed), and FM dual exhaust. It is running very well: ides smoothly, no overly rich conditions, etc.

My question is this: Should I unhook the wastegate actuator arm so that when they run the load tests (2 of them, one at 25mph for 30 seconds, and then 15mph for another 30 seconds), there is no boost, or should I just leave it as it is, boost and all?

Thanks!

I have heard that some stations will do a visual inspection for the cat, but I've never had it happen to me.

Drive down the street in first gear, hold 15 mph, and watch your a/f. Does it stay around 14.7 the whole time? Go up a gear, and do the same thing at 25.
That should tell you everything you need.

The turbo won't make any pressure when cruising, and the test doesn't start until the wheel speed stabilizes at the test sped. So I wouldn't sweat disabling the actuator.

Get the cat good and hot pre test, and keep the car running while waiting. You should breeze through.

Don't have my A/F gauge hooked up yet and I don't have my laptop with me either to watch it on there.

No cat, has a test pipe. lol

Link keypad, or go ahead and hook up the gauge.

No keypad. It was messing up and not working properly. Gauge is at home. I'm at work with no time to get it in there. :(

But I'm getting the test done today, and I won't have the cat for another week or so.

Basically, think it'll be fine? I mean, it idles dead on, buddy of mine with a 3rd gen RX7 said he was surprised when he was following me to not see any smoke or smell any heavy rich exhaust fumes... I guess it's just a matter of getting it done and going from there at this point.

why wait for the 11th hour like that?

Huh?

well you post here for help when you have the test today and no time to do any significant. changes. The term 11th hour means last minute essentialy.

But I posted a question that didn't require any significant changes for the test today. It was whether to leave the wastegate actuator attached or to unhook it. Not to install gauges, etc. I know what I should do if I had the time, but I don't at the moment.
I'm just trying to get the first test done ASAP so I have as much of the 30 days as possible before I must register the car.

so you expect to pass the sniffer with no cat? Ok go for it.

I don't expect to, hope to, but I have read on here and on clubroadster where it has happened with comparible cars.

And did they wire the wastegate open?

Can you not put off the test until you can sort the car out further? Aren't you taking a big chance by getting your car emmission tested with out the Cat in place, can you be fined for that?

Ah I love living where I do, no emissions testing at all. :gay:

No, the ones I read they didn't leave it open. But then I read some people suggesting you do. Thus the confusion on my end.

I could wait, but there is a reason that I'm doing it ASAP, and if it passes now, the less hassle I have to rush through in the next couple of weeks. You can't be fined for not having the cat, they just will fail you until you install one and prove it, even if the car passes the tests.

Basically, if I can pass emissions here, I can get it registered here where my permanent address is, and things are simplified for me, and I can make the necessary changes when I have spare time. However, if it's bad, I can go and change my driver's license to my apartment in the other county where there is no emissions, and then have it registered out there, which is more of a pain since I'm here more than there, I work from 0730-1800 everyday except Sunday here, and have no time to go out there and get the appropriate paperwork, etc. done.

You can fail the first test and get a free retest within 30 days. You just have to fill out what you changed in an effort to pass the retest (plugs, wires, etc.). If it's running fine now, I don't think you have anything to worry about. Messing with anything boost related won't change the test results since the car won't be in boost for the test anyway. I passed GA emissions with a 90 Link'd Miata that had a 2.3 liter in it, blown head gasket on number 2 & 3 cylinders and only a coarse tune. Your Miata is 12 years old and the test takes that into consideration.

Kind of playing with fire. I'd wait.

I would go to the DMV first and get the title work started. Ask to register the car, too. They won't let you register teh car, but will give you a document stating that you tried, adn were denied pending the sniffer test. That's so you have documents in case you get pulled over.

m2cupcar has a good point, get it tested now, if you fail it buys you 30 days to get that cat in there.

OK, so just got back from the emissions place. It failed as I was expecting it would, but was so close to passing going by the numbers.
I have someone willing to trade me his lightly used Jackson high flow cat for my test pipe, so going to get that in there and go back for the retest. He said do that swap, change for fresh oil, and maybe plugs (which are about 3k miles old now), and I should be great. That and I need to learn to use the Link correctly so I can make sure it's not running overly rich.
That's what I needed to know though for now! Gotta hurry up and find out where I need to register it so I can turn the title into the bank so they stop pestering me. Damn $1500 loan.

What failed? Numbers?

I'll take a guess and say too much advance and maybe not enough fuel. The typical approach if it fails is to pull master fuel and timing.

Maybe it was the fact the CAT WAS REMOVED!

Haha! No, that's not why. It was the numbers. It was just putting out slightly more pollution than the limit. Get the cat in, pull back some of the fuel, make sure everything is fresh, and do it again.