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Forum > Failed Smog Test > Question

1991 Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera Failed Smog Test

The car runs fine. No problems but it is dumping too much fuel. I can smell it when I turn it on. I have replaced the gas pump, fuel regulator and injectors. There is no check engine light on. Also the areas I failed the test were idle speed CO was 5.63%, High speed CO 3.41%, Idle speed HC 434, and High speed HC 279. I was wondering if maybe you have seen the same problem on these kind of cars and maybe point me the right way. Thank you.


Answer:

You are correct. The CO numbers are off the chart. We can assume your Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera is running very rich, and more than likely, causing the high HC fault. Correcting the high CO fault should lower HC automatically... so we'll focus on the high CO.

CO stands for Carbon Monoxide. It is a by-product of incomplete combustion, more then often related to the presentation of too much fuel to the combustion chambers. In a Rich Fuel condition such as this, diagnosis would begin with inspecting all possible mechanical and electrical faults which could cause excessive fuel to enter the combustion chambers. This diagnosis would include inspecting your vehicle for high fuel pressure, air restrictions and/or leaking fuel injectors.

Since you've already replaced (repaired) the fuel injectors, pressure regulator, and fuel pump we'd recommend inspecting the fuel "feedback" system. This includes ensuring the oxygen sensor is working properly, your Oldsmobile's emissions computer is receiving the signals from the oxygen sensor, the computer is computing the data properly and sending the correct signals to the fuel injectors to either increase or decrease fuel delivery to the combustion chambers.

There are several other emissions sensors which need to be inspected as well, such as the TPS (Throttle Position Sensor), ECT (Engine Coolant Temperature Sensor) and the MAP (Vacuum/Pressure Sensor).


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