Thread: Failed Cali smog test today

Is your cat OEM or aftermarket?

I'm pretty sure it's OEM.

More than likely it's still good. Just need to tune it up a bit and make sure it's nice an hot before the test. Aftermarket cats are crap....I had one on P10 with only 10K miles and it wouldn't pass smog.....slapped on my OEM cat with roughly 120K miles and the car passed with flying colors. And the aftermarket one wasn't a muffler shop special either, it was a direct bolt on from DEC (I believe that's the brand).

True dat. I had 2 brand new (catco) aftermarket cats on my old Z32. They didn't last long. At least I was able to pass my smog that time though.

Would an exhaust leak cause a failure? This morning I found one of the 3 nuts to the down pipe was really loose. I could actually spin it with my finger.

Yes, an exhaust leak can lead to a rich condition and cause you to fail.

Dang that sucks. In the 4 years I have owned this car, I never even noticed that nut being loose. I've never worked on that part of the exhaust before. Who knows how long that's been like that.

Passed the re test today.

Nice. So what did you do different this time around?

Really the only thing I changed since the failed test was the spark plugs and pcv valve. PFR6G-11 are the plugs I put in, I had PFR5G-11 plugs in there. Looks like I had the wrong plugs in there. I also used that g2p fuel system cleaner. Tech guy said that the g2p doesn't work and the new spark plugs and pcv valve are the reason why I passed. All I know is i'm done with smog until 2014.