Re: IML: 69 Imperial Failed Emissions /Passed Emissions
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Re: IML: 69 Imperial Failed Emissions /Passed Emissions



After doing an oil change & adjusting the carb, I went back for a retest & it was worse. I bought a set of new plugs & installed them. The old ones looked rather fouled, considering only a few hundred miles on them. I realized I had put them in just before getting rid of the Holley carb that was making the car belch clouds of black smoke. A neighbor had given me an engine tester a long time ago when he bought a fancier one. I had only used it one time before & didn't realize it did so many things until I looked in the owners guide. I used it to set the idle speed which was almost 800 RPM when it is supposed to be 600. I then set the fuel/ air mixture & air filter test. I went back again for another retest & much better but not quite passing. I realized that one test I didn't do was the dwell. After checking that, it read very high. When I change points I just stick the gauge in there & if it runs OK, then I leave it. That's probably why the meter was almost into the bad reading also. I reset the gap wider & the reading is on the dwell meter is right where it should be. I also leaned the air/fuel mixture just a tad more. This time it passed at 3.56. Would have probably been better with new points. I wish I had thought about that engine tester sooner. That took out a lot of guess work. I've also found that the when you adjust the air/idle mixture, do it in small increments as it makes a lot of difference in the emissions readings.

Now, to try & get the windshield repaired. I drove the car to work the other day & got a rock chip right in the middle of the drivers side.
John

----- Original Message ----- From: "Christopher H" <imperial67@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "IML (main)" <mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, June 28, 2006 12:01 AM
Subject: Re: IML: 69 Imperial Failed Emissions


High CO tends to come from an overly rich air-fuel mixture and/or unburned
fuel.

I don't know the state of tune of your car or the last time the carb was
rebuilt, but if it's dumping in too much fuel or not using it up, you should
be able to get the car to pass by addressing one or both of those. Start
with the easy stuff: fresh spark plugs (Autolite #85), properly set timing, a fresh oil change, tank of gas and air filter. After that, consider a carb
rebuild, new plug wires and/or even a new ignition coil, as a weak spark
will result in poor combustion.

One thing I always make sure of before a smog check is to drive the car for
a good half-hour on the freeway, with a few good sprints for good luck.
Often an under-warmed-up engine will register high hydrocarbon levels rather than high CO, but high HC is also a result of unburned fuel (or in the case
of newer cars, a catalytic converter not yet fully warmed up, not an issue
with your '69).

What state do you live in, and what kind of emissions testing do they do?
(In CA, the car goes onto a dyno and they test at 15 mph and 25 mph, so it's
a pretty grueling, or at least revealing, test.) 3.75% CO is a very high
standard (meaning not stringent). Also, what's the odometer mileage on your
car?

Here are the results of the last time I had my '78 NYB smogged. Granted,
it's a 17,000-mile car with a Electronic Lean Burn and a catalyst, but note
the maximum allowable levels and how far my car comes from it, since this
engine was not originally available in CA because it failed to meet emission
standards. I offer this only as encouragement that a proper state of tune
can help a lot, even on a car that's obviously only driven very
occasionally.

------
All numbers are listed as MAX / AVG / MEAS, where:
 - MAX = the legal maximum allowed before the car fails
 - AVG = the average figures for all passing vehicles
 - MEAS = my car's readings

15 mph    MAX / AVG / MEAS
------    -------------------
HC (ppm): 175 / 47 / 33
CO (%):   1.17 / 0.20 / 0.13
NO (ppm): 1215 / 554 / 492
-----------------------------
25 mph
------    -------------------
HC (ppm): 142 / 37 / 43
CO (%):   0.97 / 0.17 / 0.12
NO (ppm): 1075 / 468 / 468
-----------------------------

Hope this was helpful. Let us know what you do and how much it helps!

Chris in LA
67 Crown (125,000 miles, and always passed when it had to be tested)
78 NYB Salon (just a 17,000-mile baby)


On 6/27/06 10:53 PM, john sadowski at jsadowski@xxxxxxx wrote:

Well, Its that time again. I had to go through emmissions 4 times last year
before finally passing. I went today & it failed the carbon monoxide test
under load. The standard is 3.75  & it went through at 4.98. The other 3
tests passed by a very comfortable margin. They were supposed to be
exempting collector cars here, but the law has yet to take affect & they
don't know if it will. I've been driving the 69 occassionally now & it runs
pretty well. I was surprised that it didn't pass.
John




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