Is there any quick remedies that will make my 93 Sonoma pass the emission part of the state inspection?

Question

My plugs are not even 2 yrs old and I got a new air filter. I'm only failing it by 10-15 points. They keep saying its so close! I've put that emission cleaner in my gas tank and it improved it. Just not enough to make it pass. There is this one thing though, aboout 6 months ago, I knocked out all the insides of my catalytic converter. It was clogged up and I cant afford a new one. Somebody please tell me a secret I can do to make it pass!!

Answer 1

iamtheba doesn't know what he's talking about. Low exhaust flow will automatically fail you on the emissions. Get a good cat as that is the only thing that is going to do you any good.

Answer 2

maybe try shoving a little steel wool up the tail pipe to filter the exhaust and this will restrict the flow so less exhaust will come out the tail pipe. THe problem is, you wont want to leave that in there as it will hurt the performance of the truck. I would stuff it up there with a broom handle or something a few blocks away. Once you pass the test drive a few blocks away and stick a wire hanger up there and fish that stuff out.

Here in Wisconsin we dont have emissions testing so I dont know the procedure but I do think this will help you squek through.

Mustange, If they measure flow along with the sniffer valve, you can argue the exhaust system has no leaks....... To rig it to work, maybe try taking those peices of ceramic that came out ofthe cat and put those in the pipe before the steel wool to absorbsome of the pollutants?
I am just throwing ideas out to try to help her beat the system. I dont know how the test is actually performed as I live in a state that doesnt require this testing.

Answer 3

Buy a used, but working, catalytic converter at a junkyard. You probably need a working catalytic converter to pass, but it does not have to be new.