AZ. Emissions, Help

[prodiver]

I have a 95 Viper that I brought from Calif. I have tried 5 times and spent $1700.00 so far trying to get it to pass emissions. 2 new catalytic converters, engine decarb, cooling system flush and new thermostat and tuneup. It passes for HC and CO but not for NOX (oxides of nitrogen). Anybody got any suggestions? Thank you

 

[Steve-Indy]

I would call Dan Cragin at DC Performance in California.

 

[AZTVR]

PM sent. ...

 

[redtanrt10]

Have you spoken to Eddie Martin at Bill Luke Dodge in PHX? He's one of the best viper tech's in he US.

 

[DVSGTS]

Have you spoken to Eddie Martin at Bill Luke Dodge in PHX? He's one of the best viper tech's in he US.

I'll second that, give him a call. 602-448-1587

 

[Sweet Ride]

Have you checked your spark plugs and/or wires? A misfire could be causing the high NOx reading.

Could be a PCV or MAP sensor issue as well.

 

[DVSGTS]

High NOx emissions are from high combustion tempuratures in most cases. Car could be running a little lean. How are the O2 sensors, were they replaced during all this?

 

[95Viper]

Prodiver, You are going to be ticked when you read this. AZ has a loophole. If your car is 15 years old, which your 95 is, you can get your insurance to issue a classic insurance policy. I did with State Farm. This makes your Viper exempt altogether from emissions testing.

 

[Marv S]

Eddie Martin at Bill Luke Dodge

 

[Olddudesrule]

Prodiver, You are going to be ticked when you read this. AZ has a loophole. If your car is 15 years old, which your 95 is, you can get your insurance to issue a classic insurance policy. I did with State Farm. This makes your Viper exempt altogether from emissions testing.

He's right. I live in Chandler, and did this on my FFR Cobra. Regardless of the year of the car, if you have classic car insurance (has to say "Classic Car") then you do not have to deal with smog. My Cobra was actually titled as a 2002 Special Construction, and it worked for me. PM me if you need any additional info. Best of luck.

Pete

 

[DVSGTS]

Some counties don't require it either, AJ should be mostly in Pinal County which does not require emission checks.

 

[AZTVR]

Actually, I've heard that if you live in certain zip codes in Maricopa County (Metro Phoenix area) you don't have to get emissions checked if you declare that you will not use it as a daily driver, and you must have a daily driver registered. Basically the same promise that you make with classic car insurance.

If your car is 15 years old, which your 95 is, you can get your insurance to issue a classic insurance policy. I did with State Farm. This makes your Viper exempt altogether from emissions testing.

Does State Farm classic car insurance require that the car must not be driven to work like Haggerty and Grundy requirements?

 

[Martin]

Whether you have to get it smogged or not, you should figure out what's causing that high NOx reading. As people have pointed out, that's a sign of high combustion temps - which could mean a lean condition on all cylinders, or maybe just one or two. If you have a lean condition, you could burn a piston eventually, so it wouldn't hurt to do some troubleshooting.

Also, some of those additives out there will increase NOx levels - so make sure you're using high quality gas with no crap in the tank. By the way, I always wondered why Shell was advertising that "Nitrogen Enriched" gas as a big benefit. While nitrogen (ammonia compounds) can be great cleaning agents, I'm not sold on using them in an internal combustion engine that's supposed to minimize oxides of nitrogen production. There's enough nitrogen in the air to cause problems, why add more?

 

[jcaspar1]

Something must be seriously amiss. By comparison, my 97 with RandomTech cats in CA scored 0.00 NO at 15mph and 1 at 25 mph. Average car produces 50 at 25mph and max is 706 to pass. Could it be the O2 sensors?

 

[Martin]

Something must be seriously amiss. By comparison, my 97 with RandomTech cats in CA scored 0.00 NO at 15mph and 1 at 25 mph. Average car produces 50 at 25mph and max is 706 to pass. Could it be the O2 sensors?

My thoughts exactly - if you fail a NOx test, that's a free 'early' cancer diagnosis as far as I'm concerned. I'm not a big fan of the CA smog nazis, but in some cases, failing a test can help you out a lot. A high NOx reading almost always says that you're about to have a bad engine experience, so take it for what it's worth: a cheap diagnosis that you've got a bad lean-burn situation in at least one cylinder. All it takes is one cylinder to go bad for the whole engine to need to be rebuilt...