83 Civic Wagon deq failed!

hi i got an 83 civic wagon and the thing wont pass deq....it failed on THC and NOx..it seem's to be running rich too?? i got the chiltons manual and could not find the a/f mixture adjustment screw...if anyone could help me out so i can pass deq?? thanks...

they make you have emissions test on an 83????

the do for my 83, i will post later with some tips. i see you are from oregon, was your car originally from California?

here it is, emissions info (http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=1392205&postcount=6)

oh the glory of the82-83 civic wagons. hold on to this gym because they are slowly dieing out (i have killed about 3) and they are hard to find. i swaped a h22 into mine, one of my three and i couldnt keep it still always wanted to smoke tires (made me proud by the way) but i put in a slip diff and that saulved that issue till a drunk driver nailed it two weeks ago so if u wanna sell this old girl let me know.

just here to help :)
http://www.civic1200.com/discus/messages/4/7162.html?1085451561

thanks for the info ...very much appreciated...i will try what you explained about the water into the carb through the hose...also where is the idle speed adjustment screw located?? couldn't find mine..thanks once again...

is it a Cali. car? the idle adjustment is on the back of the carb on the passenger side, if it is a Cali. car you will have to undo the two bolts that hold those hoses to the bottom of the air cleaner set-up to reach it.

i am not sure if its from cali, is there a someone that i can tell if its from cali?? i live in Oregon and thats where i bought it from.....

if the engine looks like this with the two black boxes that have all the vacceume hoses it's a cali. car
http://www.redpepperracing.com/gallery/albums/AndrewSmit/aac.sized.jpg

hey just took a look at my engine........same exact..

If you are close you can take the air filter out. Mine's in a box they should not notice. I'm not close, though, but the car is 100% tuned up and running well.
Person on another site said he ran his car almost to the E and put in a gallon of methanol.
I'm skeptial this is bad for my engine.
I posted that, but no reply yet. If I don't hear from anybody, next week I plan to take the filter out, and put in a gallon of methanol assuming I can find it.

not methanol, methyl hydrate. 2 very different things. my experience with methyl hydrate have been mixed, it does help to raise the octane a point or two but nothing more than that. the stuff burns cooler than gas so it's not good to run with that for very long. a gallon is quite a bit i think, it comes in 1L bottles by me and thats all i would want to put in at once i think, just run your tank pretty empty when you add it.

Dude at work told me methyl hydrate is methanol. i'd rather run ethanol but only way to get it is at the ABC store lol. i've got to get my HC down some bottom line for 15 mins or i've gotta get a new cat i think and i'm freakin broke right now.

it's not, alcohol is an entirely different story. lots of gas companies add 10% ethanol to boost octane cheaply.
ethanol can be hard to get without some concentration of water, the highest you can get is 95% pure, anything more is near impossible to make but most places don't like to sell that because of liability, 190 proof will get you f*** up real quick. you typical drug store methanol will have quite a bit of water in it so you will have to find a supplier that has pure stuff. methyl hydrate is relatively safe and can be found at most gas stations. it will not make all your problems go away, all it does is raise your octane.

Thanks that is a good explanation. I don't think I need an octane boost, but I'm gonna try some of that if I can find it, maybe it will help. You have it right I need my problems to go away LOL. Looks like I'm back to the idea of puttin on the cat I have with 'only' 120k miles. It's just such a pain cause the bolts are stuck, I've got to buy the gaskets, and another day at least of my life gone under this freakin car....sorry to rant. If home depot does not have it i dont know where to go.

cvcc-wagon.....can you please show me where my idle adjustment screw is located...i want to go to the deq tomorrow, and all i have done right now is i just took out the air filter, and i am going to put in 3 bottles of that Heet stuff....thankss

I have good news, at least for me :)
I was able to pass with a few adjustments
these adjustments were $70.
Only one more sticker needed and it goes away here. I wish everybody struggling with this good luck.

undo the two bolts here and let that hose thing dangle (you will have to push it down, it will stay put if you don't) you are gong to basically wrap your hand around this thing with your thumb over the top and fingers below, it's pretty easy to get at with this disconnected
http://www.redpepperracing.com/gallery/albums/album326/abb.sized.jpg
the idle knob is pointed out here, counter clockwise will turn it up, with mine it's a bit finicky so you may have to turn it both ways a bit to get it to respond properly
http://www.redpepperracing.com/gallery/albums/album326/aba.sized.jpg

thanks cvcc_wagon i found it and turned the idle up a bit....went to the deq today and failed once again.....not sure what to do now...i had two bottles of Heet fuel line anti-freeze and a quarter tank of 92....any suggestions...i thinking of doing that water through the vacuum line to see if that helps....if i were to do that....do i just unplug a vacuum running to the carb....and turn my car on, stick the vacuum hose in a bottle of water and rev her up a little just before she dies and take the house out of the water....do it a couple times...? and sugggest's???? thanks

I'm not a 100% expert but I think you're gonna have to have a fuel switch. I did ask around at work before I 'passed' the other day. The general concensous: Drive around and get the cat hot, make sure you near E, right before you get to the place add a significant amount of alcohol. It was in general agreement 20-30% would be ok for a short time. Go directly from the test to the closest gas station and fill up.

.i thinking of doing that water through the vacuum line to see if that helps....if i were to do that....do i just unplug a vacuum running to the carb....and turn my car on, stick the vacuum hose in a bottle of water and rev her up a little just before she dies and take the house out of the water....do it a couple times...? and sugggest's???? thanks
thats pretty much it, it will take a few minutes to do empty the bottle but it goes pretty quick. i un-did one of the hoses on the driver's side of the carb. there are a number of hoses going into the same hole, just un-do one of them. you will have to keep it revved up a bit and pull ut out just before it dies, wait till it runs normal and repeat till you do about a liter. make sure it's clean water