FocusCanada Forums

Hey guys:

My wife's Tercel just failed the etest for the second time in 2 years :( She's pretty upset. Unfortunately we can't afford to go out and buy a new car yet so we have to make this work.

Last year we replaced one of the o2 sensors and it passed. Not by flying colours, but it made it, and we didn't have to spend the 700 dollars Canadian Tire told her she would have to spend to make it pass. In fact it was a little over 250 dollars if I can remember correctly.

Here are the numbers this year....

ASM 2525 CURB IDLE

HC ppm Limit: 85 Tercel: 103 (fail) Limit: 200 Tercel: 197 (pass barely)
CO% Limit: 0.48 Tercel: 0.67 (fail) Limit: 1.00 Tercel: 0.97 (pass)
NO ppm Limit: 670 Terce: 85 (pass)


It failed under this category:

High CO on driving test or high idle test.

So here is the list of crap (it could be)

• Carb Malfunction (I'll spry some cleaner on it tomorrow)
• Dirty Air filter, faulty choke or carb. (replace this myself)
• Faulty computerized engine management or o2 sensor. (one was replaced last year)
• Faulty fuel injection system (I'll dump a bottle of cleaner in the tank tomorrow)
• Faulty thermostatic air cleaner system. (???)
• Defective canister purge system (???)
• Inoperative / missing Cat coverter (I hope to hell this isn't the issue)
• Faulty air injection system. (???)

So there we have it. I can do most of that list myself.

Does anyone have any other ideas or tips I can carry out to help this problem(s) go away.

Thanks a bunch fellas.

-Anthony.

Maybe your catalytic converter needs to be replaced.

what was the conditions for testing?

I usually do the following before i go test the car.

1- Put 92 Oct. Gas
2- Change all the filters and add all the additives you had mentioned.
3- Make sure you go on the highway and try to clean/warm up the car before the testing. also try to clean the pipes :)

As you said its the wifes car and usually they just stick with the speed limit and don't rev the engine at all. And after so much driving i bet most of the pipes are just coverd in cunk and crap. Just rev it up a bit and hopefully you won't blow the engine.

Also try doing some google on this, I know tercels had some problems with emission from what my dad was saying.

i remember with my older toyota u can bypass the egr valve to make it run open all the time that brought my emissions down long enough to pass emissions sure it will idle like s*** almost like its gonna stall but u can get passed the test and then put it back to stock

I had the same problem with my focus. I have a header and exhaust with a cat in the middle. I failed my first time so the guy told me for 100 bucks they would test to see what is wrong with it. If it costs over 450 they automatically pass you. 100 dollars in deducted right off the bat for the testing so if the charges to fix it are over 350 they automatically pass you. They tested it and said I needed to replace my whole system to fix it. They said around $1250 dollars????? So they automatically passed me. I just cant sell the car until its fixed.

I think Mo covered it well, that was my routine on the old Sube. Worse come to worse how much would a cat from a place like Midas be anyway? What is the limit the gov says you have to spend or did they do away with that?

What shocks me is the fact that the old girl is carburated :o

I thought it was an early 90's model?

Not carbourated. That was just one of the "possible problems" It doesn't apply to the Tercel.
I have all the crap I need to do the easy stuff. We'll have it tested again once I'm done and if it still fails, I have the other o2 sensor swapped out.

any engine light ?

None.

Car runs fine. It;s a little stinky in the morning, but nothing to crazy. Geeze, even MY car is a little stinky sometimes.

what it smell like ? Im thinking its your cat convertor clogging up

i (honestly) have never done it so i don't know.. but apperently there is some magik juice you can toss into the tank to get catless cars to pass etest? i never had a catless car so didn't look into this too much.. but if all else fails maybe ask ppl who have heavy modifications who they get their e test sticker?

or.. arent there.. different.. ways to perform the inspection procedure....

Does it smell like gas? Could be a bad O2 sensor, causing it to run really rich. Has she noticed a decrease in gas mileage lately, or at least since the last e-test? If so, probably the car is running in a 'safe' mode of sweet gassy richness.

Ryan

Anthony, no word of a lie, when I got rid of my '94 Tercel last summer after buying the Focus, the only thing that helped it pass emissions was running a tank through of the guaranteed to pass stuff.
I had had the e-test done the previous summer, and it barely passed. After I had run through the full tank of gas with the additive in it, it was brought to e-test and passed with flying colours.

I know a lot of you don't like these additive things, and don't believe in them, but it seemed to have done the trick in my case. The only other things I did before giving the car away was to put in a new air filter, recent oil change, and changed the spark plugs (they were always dying on the car... gummed up with carbon sediment), but nothing that I hadn't done before...

Good luck! Call me crazy, but I miss that car sometimes!

looks like the car could be running a little rich... check the spark plugs, make sure they're not fouled, O2 sensors (why you'd need to check this again, not sure -- they should last more than a year), clogged air filter could do it too.

after that, you can try to find a gas station that puts alcohol additive into the gas to help lean it out a little....

of course, if none of that works, it could be that your cat is done for...