Emissions = teh suck

[Sp3c1al ReG]

So i went for the second time and i failed yet again, to many hydrocarbons, whatever the hell those are. I honestly dont get it, i have done no work nor tampered with anything, im mad.

[CamarosRsweet94]

Hydrocarbons are what result from burning things. Basically they are hydrogen atoms bonded with carbon atoms and they are supposedly bad for the environment. What year and engine is your car? and if you haven't done anything at all to it and you're still failing emissions I suggest a tune up at least and maybe a new cat maybe that'll help fix the excess hydrocarbons...

[tcfco2005]

i say just find someone who will do it without doing it if you know what i mean....sometimes you just have to

[supervisor1886]

chemistry 1100, Hydro carbones are gas, and you have unburnt fuel in exhaust. AKA running rich. bad O2 sensor probably. Multiple problems or missfiring. You can lean it a bit, but your NOx will go up. Do a tune up and get someone to see what your O2 sensor reads. usually you can smell exess fuel in exhaust.

[88camaroproject]

lol think im running rich then, i smell gas really bad. not like extremo but def smell it.

[89IROC&RS]

yup, supervisor nailed it, youve got bad combustion, a tune up, new plugs, wires, cap and rotor. the O2 sensor, and all that jazz.

[Teal95Jimmy]

Depends on the year of your camaro, my 86 z28 (RIP) with the 305 4bbl standard output had an emissions problem and even with a complete tuneup, professional carb tuning, and sensor replacements it turned out to be the cam. Apparently in the early 3rd gens they had soft cams that would go flatter and screw with emisions and performance

[89IROC&RS]

interesting take, although a cam loosing its lobe would only contribute to excess hydrocarbons if the map or maf sensors were malfunctioning and it was still spraying the default amount of gasoline, but good point never the less cant say i would have thought of that one.

[supervisor1886]

camshaft usually goes after 130 miles, but even if its flat it still should pass emissions (it affects emissions, but not so severely). Think compression, timing, spark, and desirable amounts of gas, and cat of couse. Any car can pass emissions, the carb cars are simplest of all. On the carb you just make it run way lean and adjust the timing to get a full burn watching for NOx stuff (thats where EGR comes in pretty handy) and watching for lean miss. I had an old v6 that passed emissions with zero or close to zero numbers.
{ get a buddy with an identical car to pass for you, just swap the vins on there, he he...}

Anyway How many miles on it?

[supervisor1886]

When you smell the exhaust there should be no gas smell at all. Ideal case is when there is only water vapor+ a hint of carbon. Try smelling exhaust of new cars you will understand. Look for some carbon build up on exhaust pipes too.

[Sp3c1al ReG]

Well my car (94 3.4) is going into the shop today because im having issues with the clutch so im having our mechanic take a look.

[Teal95Jimmy]

My 86 had 75000 miles on it when i had to replace the cam. As soon as the cam was replaced, making no adjustments, it passed emmissions right away. Also had to rebuild the heads, the valve guides were leaking oil, that was the first reason i was failing emissions, then it was excessive hydrocarbons even with carb tuning. My dad's 86 z28 did the same thing with the cam too, and he has had it since day one with all the maintnance done by him.

[silicon212]

Look for vacuum leaks. Also, look for a plugged air filter.

It sounds counterintuitive, but if the engine is running too lean, you'll have increased HC. The reason is that the fuel mixture is too lean to support proper burning in the cylinder, which in turn leads to increased HC (unburned gasoline) in the exhaust. Of course, too rich can also increase HC, but will more likely negatively impact CO first.

Any sort of misfire will result in a fail due to high HC. You want to make sure that your engine is running on all 8 cylinders. If the engine is in good mechanical shape, then things to look for are plug wires, the plugs themselves, the distributor cap, module, carb tuning i.e. idle speed (low idle speed will cause failure on both HC and CO), air filter, evap system, vacuum hoses etc. If you're getting a check engine/service engine soon light, find out what the trouble codes are and that will give you an area in which to look.

Note - if an engine is running too rich for an extended period, then you will probably wind up needing to replace both the O2 sensor and catalytic converter as neither of these will last too long under rich conditions.

[89IROC&RS]

if your valve guides were leaking oil, id say thats where the excess HC's came from, not a worn out camshaft, oil is where gasoline comes from, its a HC substance and does not burn as well as gasoline, so it would foul your emissions.

[Teal95Jimmy]

Originally Posted by 89IROC&RS

if your valve guides were leaking oil, id say thats where the excess HC's came from, not a worn out camshaft, oil is where gasoline comes from, its a HC substance and does not burn as well as gasoline, so it would foul your emissions.

I failed because of visible smoke, they didnt even let me get the sniffer test done and even with the head rebuild i failed the sniffer