Honda Repair: emmissions, 89 honda civic, mechanic friend

Question
Hello, Gene

I own an 89 honda civic 1.5L
Firstly I should say I live in canada

We have the drive clean program here. Cars are tested every 2 years and my car has passed for the past  4 years of the program except for this year.

There are two tests performed one at an engine speed of 2908 RPM ("fast idle") or so. The test is called ASM 2525 it tests levels of HC in ppm and CO% and NO in ppm.  My car passes those tests.

The second test is done at an engine speed of 767 RPM of so.  this test is called "curb idle".  my car failed this test.  my results at curb idle were 535 ppm of HC the maximum pass limit is only 200.  I had 6.85 CO% the max limit is 1.00

Plesase offer suggestion of what to check or get repaired.
The test facility wants lots of money to check the car and can charge upto $ 450.00 to repair the car to pass or get a conditional pass. I hate to feel vaulneralbe.

These results are my second test after repalcing the catalytic converter. A mechanic friend suggested replacing the catalytic converter.  He leant me one.  It improved the results at fast idle but did very little at curb idle.

Thanking you in advance for all you help.


SAndro  

Answer
Sandro,
Your car is running very rich (too much unburned fuel) at idle. That could be caused by many things. I will list some of them. Could be a tight valve, clogged air cleaner, bad o2 sensor, bad spark plug, clogged injector, or even a leaky injector. You need to check these things. Could even be an exhaust leak. You should not feel vaulneralbe. Car emmisions are very complicated, and unless you have a professional correctly diagnose the car, you will be replacing parts left and right. Maybe you will get lucky and find the problem on your own, but how much money will you have spent??
I recommend you find a good technician who know what he is doing and have him diagnose it. Other wise you will be wasting all kinds of time and money trying to find the problem. When the problem is found and fixed, your car will be running much cleaner and you will be helping out mother earth.
Thanks for the question,
Gene