iNFAMOUS
01-31-2003, 08:35 PM
My car's been parked since late November, but I thought I'd bring it out a little early because I needed my starter rebuilt and a gold ole emissions test. So the starter gets done no problem and I head over to the emissions facility with my mechanic. We just made it over there before they closed. So they strap up the cougar and run the emissions. I was a little bit nervous, because I have had my pre-cats gutted. However I was not expecting a FAIL, which is what happened. So I head back to mechanics all pissed off, and we come to the conlcusion that its gotta be the gap on the spark plugs. I bough NGK iridium's from Canadian tire which were suppose to be pre-gapped, but after further inspection there gap was too big. So i'm happy we strap on the OBD-II scanner go for a ride, and the car seems happy. My mechanic's OBD scanner is the most sophisticated one I've seen, and he even had a NET engine Torque field. I don't know how accurate it is, because I maxed out at 225 foot pounds of torque. Ok back to my nightmare :), wake up the next day and head back to the emissions, and FAIL even worse than before. Now i'm beyond pissed off. Hook up the OBD II scanner and find out that the upstream Sensor 1 is completely dead, flat-lining. So i get one, pop it hook up the scanner, and find out that its still not working. Now i'm sooooo pissed my two-day adventure does not look like its gonna have a happy ending. The mechanic suggests that we do a complete OBD drive cycle. After an hour of city and highway driving the O2 sensor has finally woken up. We head back to the emissions place and before running a real run, they let us do a couple of practice runs :) The first one failed, and the following two passed. So we go for it, and YUP, i FINALLY PASSED!!!!! I never thought passing emissions could be such a relief..... My little ordeal has justified upgrading to the 3.0L class, and not having to worry about strict emissions standards...