oh yeah.....and then re-tune. (archive)

After you fix the vacuum leaks, re-tune the mixture and timing. You should be able to pass no problem. Mine is an 82 and passed NJ emissions with flying colors. They dyno the car in NJ so it's a pretty tough emission test.

How old is your O2 sensor? Replacing this is cheap.

However, I would guess that the most critical problem is vacuum leaks. These engines need a total vacuum. As time goes on, hoses get brittle, etc. More than likely, your engine has been tuned overly rich to compensate for the additional air from vacuum leaks. Check all hoses, the seal on your oil cap, the seal on your dipstick (I'm not kidding). Some of those vacuum hoses are hard to get at under the intake manifold....take your time. A complete replacement set is available from BMP.

- Lance

Hello everybody,
So I moved from Illinois to California and brought my trusty E21 along for the ride because I am not quite ready to part with it just yet. However, I am having some emission problems in this state and need some advice. Today I got a pre-test and failed miserably. First of all the test was aborted because the idle was too high (1230)and the timing is advanced. The timing is 38 degrees and is supposed to be 25 degrees. At 2500 rpms my hydrocarbons were 295, but they are supposed to be 150 max. Also, my CO percentage was 2.49 and is supposed to be 1.50 max. These numbers mean little to me except that I failed the test. If I correct the idle and the timing how mucgh of an appreciable difference could that possibly make. ANy suggestions and or advice would be greatly appreciated. I do not want to donate my car because of an emission test. Thank you in advance...

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Re: oh yeah.....and then re-tune. Peter S 15:22 9/21/2001 (0)

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