2 catalytics inline = emission pass?

[makemagick]

I found an article before about this but cant seem to find it. I keep failing my emissions.

1st time I failed by 15%

I ran 94 + new oil change + new sparks + new pcv valve

2nd time I failed by 8%

added new o2 sensor (last one was still working but was pretty old)
added new air filter

3rd time failed again 64%
had 87 (10% ethanol) and 91 shell (no ethanol) mixed

Thought lower octane would burn faster thus cause less emissions

Sorry for the long intro but would 2 cats (one in the normal place) one somewhere more to the back? (or even in-line) solve my problems?

 

[civicious]

Denatured alcohol: Make your car pass emissions - e30tech.com Forums

1. Buy 1-2 quarts of denatured alcohol from your local hardware store (home depot give me a sponsorship!)
2. Run your tank down anywhere from 1/4 tank to the E line depending on how gutsy you feel or how badly your car passed emissions last time.
3. Throw the bottle of denatured alcohol into your tank.
4. Warm up the car and drive it immediately to your emissions place.
5. Either run down your tank or siphon out the rest of the fuel
6. Fill up a FULL tank to dillute any denatured alcohol thats left

Much cheaper and easier than installing a second cat.

 

[makemagick]

wish i could get that where i'm from, unfortunately not, already looked everywhere for it

 

[phunky.buddha]

wish i could get that where i'm from, unfortunately not, already looked everywhere for it

No hardware store? Home Depot? Lowe's? Ace? True Value? Tractor Supply?

 

[makemagick]

Tried many home depos (Canada) n none of them seem to even know it exists -_- havent tried lowes, but w.e that's not what i was asking for. in theory would this 2 cat method work? Methyl Hydrate is the closest thing i found

 

[E_SolSi]

https://hondaswap.com/members-lounge/e-vs-emissions-501184/

 

[E_SolSi]

post up your actual emissions test numbers
ill do what i can to help you out with your mix

 

[makemagick]

1st one
_______ 2.5 rpm_____ Idle
Limit Reading
HC 200 131 pass________257 fail
Co 1 1.15 fail_________ 1 pass

2nd one

HC 200 162 pass 217 fail
Co 1 1.08 fail 0.66 pass

3rd one

Hc 200 164 pass 283 Fail
Co 1 1.85 fail 0.91 pass

 

[makemagick]

I actually read your post before but like i said its a canadian thing, its hars as hell to find denatured here

EDIT: actually found it, 21$ and 16 depending on pressurized or not, i need presurized right?$ (in us its 4$ for 4 as i looked through few websites)

 

[E_SolSi]

found this
BioFlame Ethanol, 3.78L | Canadian Tire

95% ethanol 5% proponol

that will work fine

run it down to about 1/8th tank or to just about the empty line
dump in the gallon (or 4L how ever you find it)
drive it around for about 10-15 minutes getting everything hot and mixed in
then go get tested


also what car is this / what engine / any mods / tuning / etc

 

[E_SolSi]

pressurized??? like aerosol???
no you want a jug of liquid that you can just pour in to the tank (with a funnel)

got a link to what you found?

 

[E_SolSi]

heres another product
Captain Phab Phab Marine Alcohol - Marine Outfitters - Ontario Canada
90% ethyl
10% methyl

 

[makemagick]

Im not sure what they meant by pressurized, didnt bother to ask but i think thats what i've seen on one of the forums as well..but nevertheless they have both

the stuff for 21/16$ for galon is called Starbrite or starbright?

i did find captain fab but dam stuff is like 13$ a litre, 4 litres of that is 52$, id rather put another cat then spend 13$ a litre on alcohol

 

[makemagick]

you know what's funny? still noone answered the original question...

 

[Jeef]

Go to a paint store, they will have it. If you have a Sherwin Williams near you, their American stores carry it so try them.

 

[makemagick]

nope they dont carry it here already tried, you guys really dont believe, that ish is hard to get in Canada, and even if you find one its like x5 x10 times more expensive than US

 

[invisibledemon]

to answer the original question, its probably a toss up on whether or not a second cat would solve your problem.

the issue is if you dont get it close enough to the engine, it may never actually get hot enough to burn off everything that you need.
personally, its too much of a gamble cost wise to do that, plus the extra restriction in the exhaust would suck.

there is no reason your car shouldnt pass of everything is running correctly and you dont have a check engine light on.

you already started to do the regular maintenance, just finish that. that way, you arent jjust wasting your money on something you are going to take right off.

make sure you got the correct temperature of spark plugs,
and make sure you gapped them correctly.
change the fuel filter, and run a can of sea foam through the gas tank, and run a can through the intake. you can find the instructions online somewhere for running it through a vacuum line. that will clean out a whole lot.

clean out the throttle body, a lot of people dont think that this one small thing can affect your emissions so much, but it can.

make sure you dont have any vacuum leaks, visually inspect the hoses on the engine, replace the dry rotted ones. vacuum hose is cheap as dirt.

i (may or may not) have passed more than one car with no emissions equipment on them at all by doing all of that first, then driving it around for a good 30 min before having the test done.

do a run on the interstate or whatever you canadians call it up there, going up to 80 mph. then, cruise around town for 20 min, then get tested.

you dont want to go straight to the emissions place straight after nailing it on the interstate bc that could leave a lot of unspent fuel in the cat, drive around to make sure its all cleaned out.

make sure you change the oil too. old oil can get those numbers up in the fail zone.

adding unnecessary equipment = no. it would probably be a waste of money, but i cant tell you 100%

doing all of the routine maintenance = yes, its not a waste of money even if it fails again, because chances are it needed it anyway.

 

[makemagick]

out of what you listed the only thing ihavent tried is intake seafoam, n i didnt gap the plugs . Didnt know you have to gap plugs yourself, they were a bit smaller than manual said

 

[makemagick]

what about 99% isopropyl? Would that work?

 

[invisibledemon]

yeah, most all plugs will need to be gapped. the system that your parts place uses will specify if they do not need to be, otherwise, it will tell what the gap is supposed to be.

even if they are not calling for a gap to be set, its pretty good to double check the gap in those plugs as well.
i have worked in a parts house, the employees do not give a shit, those spark plugs get dropped a lot. so, the gap may be knocked down.


run the seafoam through both gas and intake, then drive it like i said, then try again.

i dont know what year or how many miles/km's your car has on it, but to get it past emissions it may be useful to put a slightly thicker oil in as well. high mileage engines will burn oil either through the piston rings, or the valve seals, that will throw your levels up.
so, that could be another help.

personally, i would never suggest using that lucas additive for oil, its shit.
use thicker oil, not that garbage.

i put that to a test one day, that little gear display they have on the counters is a great selling tool when turning by hand, but, put a drill to that bitch and the result is much different than you would think. the lucas side gets real frothy and stops climbing up the gears, afterward, it oxidizes and turns black, the plain oil side climbs properly.