OK, I went to justanswer.com, clearly not the most satisfying exercise, but I got some hints.
So if it is not the wires, it could be the PCM, powertrain control module, i looked and that should be around $130.
what i fail to understand - and now you can call me an idiot again - what has the PCM to do with emission?
Any help appreciated, I am just trying to get clever here.