Hello All, My '86 328 failed WI emissions a few months ago. A local Italian car shop determined that one of the banks was running very rich and told me I needed a new fuel distributor (or did they say regulator?) - pardon my K-jetronic ignorance. Anyway, my car sat at their shop waiting for parts for 3 weeks and today was the second emission test...which I failed. The shop said they had done many adjustments and the car was running far better than before, but most likely the cat (or cats) are shot due to running rich for so long. So, a few questions: 1) Wouldn't the shop know prior to testing if I would pass? I mean, that's why I took the car to them...they have a 4 gas analyzer, etc. 2) Where's the best place to get a new cat? (read: cheapest) 3) Are there alternatives to orig Ferrari parts...performance or just other brands? As always, thanks for all of the help! Battman
Yes, they should have known you would not pass, or their machine is out of calibration. But their explaination is plausible, that the richness destroyed the cat..but they should have seen that you would not pass, which is confusing. Here is the cheapest source I have seen for Ferrari converters...I have no idea as to the quality... http://members.aol.com/SportsCarConvert/Ferrari.html
Jeff, your 328 should be a pretty clean running engine, even without the cat(s). I have a '88 3.2 and took the single cat out and replaced with a straight pipe - the car subsequently passed the state smog test very easily (less than 1/3 the limits on each). I suspect there's more to it than just a potentially blocked cat. For example, ensure the O2 sensor is connected and functioning properly as this can dramatically affect the smog readings.
The O2 sensor sounds like a good idea, but wouldn't the shop have looked at that? Seems like one of the first things to check?
Yes, you would think that would be pretty obvious, however, there may be no effective test of the O2 sensor leaving replacement as the only option. They're not that expensive and should be replaced periodically anyway so that may be a wise thing to do right now anyway. They're certainly less expensive than caps and rotors and plug wires - some example of other culprits typically involved in a not-so-clean running engine.
