Automotive mechanical expertise

January 6th, 2009
  • Dear automotive expert, I have a 1986 BMW 528E which failed only the Emission Test Results as follows: Vehicle Reading HC 0.55 gpm CO 12.11 gpm NOx 3.41 gpm Test Limits HC 0.80 gpm CO 15.00 gpm NOx 2.00 gpm What needs to be changed to pass emission control test? Thank you for your help.


  • Dear Harry Alain, Thank you for your question. As you could see from the test, three pollutant elements are examined: Hydrocarbon (HC), Carbon Monoxide (CO) and Nitrogen Oxide (NOx). Two of them are bellowing the limit. NOx stands for the level (in grams per mile, gpm) of oxides of nitrogen. The meaning of the test, is that your vehicle emissions of nitrogen oxide are too high. This can be caused by anything that can rise the temperature of the combustion, most commonly a problem in the exhaust gas recirculation system. High NOx emissions could be also the effect of many other problems, such as problems in the computer control system or in the three-way converter. So, to answer your question, you need to fix your NOx emission in order to pass the test. I don't know if it comforts you or not, but it is estimated that about 20% of the pre-1990 vehicles fail because of that. There are ways to repair NOx failure - this should be done by a repair technician (mechanic) not by-yourself. However, I'll post here several pieces of reading material on how to deal with NOx failures: Wisconsin Department of Transportation, "NOx Emission Repairs: You Have The Power!" PDF Document (you'll need an "Adobe Acrobat Reader" to read this file. This could be downloaded for free at www.adobe.com), http://www.wivip.com/3_5_1.PDF Larry Carley, FIXING EMISSION FAILURES, 2000 CarleSoftware.com http://www.babcox.com/editorial/bf/bf69920.htm rec.autos.tech - http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&group=rec.autos.tech - a discussion group on cars and their problems. I hope that answered your question. I used an internet search, with terms such as to find answers and sources for you. Please contact me if you need any clarification. I'd be pleased to clarify my answer before you rate it.







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