308 QV failed emmissions bad

I had the emmissions test for my '85 QV (idle test), and the results were as follows:

HC - 1192 (state standard 220)
CO - 9.14 (state standard 1.20)

Seems like something is WAY off. The car runs well, and has new distributor caps, rotors and O2 sensor. What could cause it to be so rich?

 

Man, at first blush, I would ask if their equipment has been calibrated.

 

Bad cat? Them numbers are like something a truck in Zambia would produce.

(no offense to any Zambians on the board)

 

good one Daniel, LOL.

 

I would think that even a bad cat would have better numbers. Someting is way off, but the car runs well.

 

I agree. I bet your CIS system needs to be adjusted. The 308QV I bought ran way too rich due to a previous owner "adjusting" the CIS. I took it to an expert and it was all reset back to factory settings. Unfortunately, you likely will have a burnt out cat with the car running like that. I did. I just had a smog done with the car tuned and new cat. The HC's were 20 at idle, and CO was 0.2%.

-steve

 

Your fuel mixture base setting is likely far too rich. Disconnect the O2 sensor, adjust your base setting to 1.1%, plug the sensor back in and go for a drive. Have you checked the air filter and engine oil for fuel saturation? With the fuel mixture set properly your HC levels will be reduced greatly. Hope this helps...good luck! Niki

 

Hi, Niki!

Are you the one we saw tuning Roland's F40????

Welcome, and thanks for helping out...great log in!

Take care of Roland, while his shoulders are on the mend!

 

Hello Big Tex! Yup, that is me working on Roland's baby! Love that car...but I love Roland more! Poor guy needs to stop hurting himself; he has had enough abuse already! I'll take good care of him...and his F-40!

 

A little further checking reveals that my TPS isn't clicking at idle. I can't adjust it far enough to make it switch (out of range), so I am going to replace it. What effect does the switch not working have?

 

Follow the thread it may help you.
http://ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=71162&highlight=308+emissions

 

Do you have a fine black powder all over the rear bumper too?

 

By the way, you could always just move down here to Alabama. Nobody would notice.

 

I didn't notice any black powder, but I get a black spray on the wall behind the car when I start it. I assume it is unburned gas.

 

that's it. I had the same problem for a while. I could swipe my hand along the bumper and it would look like your wall.

 

And what was your final solution to fix it?

 

It has been a really long time since it was a "problem", probably back in 97 or 98. The only thing I think we did was simply adjust the CO. It seems like it took a few trips back to the meter to finally get it right. The only other thing that has changed back there is the addition of a Tubi and now that I think about it, since the Tubi has been on(about 99) I haven't seen a spot of black.

It's more or less, as if the problem just went away on it's own. Either way it is not something serious to worry about.

 

Thanx...I'll get it on a meter this week, and get it set up.

 

Dave -- Clearly, you're in need of a serious tweak, but I just wanted to add that there are a couple of other things that (I think) any K-Jet with Lambda Owner could do/check with about the same difficulty as "checking the oil" that can give some insight into how the system is working (or not working).

The first is to identify/find the "metering valve" (sometimes also called the "frequency valve") -- it's shown in the 308QV OM figures in the "fuel injection" section. The best look is to make an electrical measurement of the duty-cycle of the voltage between the two terminals, but an easy check that virtually anyone can do is to just confirm by touch (or sound) if it's buzzing/vibrating when the engine is running (warm or cold). If it isn't buzzing, you've got a rather serious problem somewhere else, and it wouldn't make sense to try resetting the mixture with this fault (although the system will sort of work if the mixture is retweaked with a dead metering valve).

The second thing is to make a voltage measurement between the signal coming out of the O2 sensor single output wire and chassis ground (the 2-pin connector on the O2 sensor is just for an internal heater). At warm idle, if your K-Jet with Lambda system was working correctly, this voltage would be slowly varying every second or two between 0V and 1V. Until you, or a Shop, confirm that this is occurring as intended, it doesn't make much sense to do the emission testing IMO (and I'm surprised that whoever installed the new O2 sensor didn't make this measurement -- it would have shown that replacing the O2 sensor didn't solve the real problem).

Just some suggestions and hopefully you're just mis-tweaked (although I think a lot of K/KE cars get mis-tweaked because of some other underlying system problem). In a way, it's the same for the Weber guys. You don't have to know how to tweak up a gaggle of Webers -- anyone can easily measure the idle airflow in each barrel if they buy a Synchrometer to see if they reasonably match. If they do (and the car is running well) -- all is good; if they don't -- then you need to seek out, or become, a tweaker; and if they don't after you just paid someone to set them up, you need a new someone .

 

I noticed the "frequency valve" wasn't buzzing, but when I disconnect the connector on top of the FD by the air intake, it starts buzzing, and the idle raises up a but. Any ideas?

 

Dave -- Is this the connector (blue) that you are unplugging? If so, it shouldn't have any effect at all because when the engine is running (i.e., the airflow plate is deflected downward from it's rest position) that safety switch is "open" (same as if it is unplugged), but maybe you're taking about a different connector -- please advise.

AKAIK, the frequency valve on a K-Jet with Lambda should always be buzzing in all modes (warm or cold) -- so "no buzz" is a bad sign (although the manual A/F tweak on your system is set so far rich that it probably doesn't make much difference in your present state whether the FV is running or not -- i.e., it's always way rich).
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Yes, it is the blue connector. I was assuming that it as the safety switch for the fuel pump. Apparently it is shorting something that is shutting off the frequency valve.....now I am confused.

 

Steve you are correct at any time the fuel pump is running the freq valve is (or should be) running.

I wonder if the well has gotten full of water from the ant mast and some creative electrical circuts have been made via H2O.

 

I did check the ECUs and clean the connections. While I was in there, I didn't notice any moisture or corrosion. If I push down on the metering plate (briefly of course) with the key on, the fuel pump cuts on, so that circuit is working correctly.

 

Well, we are too

I really can't see how the physical action of unplugging that (already open when running) switch would cause the FV to suddenly "come to life" unless you are influencing some "bad connection" in the process as Brian suggested.

If you've got an AC voltmeter, can you measure the voltage between the two terminals on the FV (while it's still plugged in and the engine is running) in both the "alive" and "dead" conditions (with the O2 sensor unplugged to force the system into the open-loop mode)?