Engine Ecology - Smog Test

Pass the Smog Test
To pass the smog test in California, your engine has to be running very well. Now I knew that our engine air system modifications help burn more of the fuel in the engine, and therefore make a marked change in power output, but how did they fare in a smog test?

First off, you might ask "What is smog?" Very simply, when considering liquid fuel engines, it is unburned fuel vapors exiting the engine to be released into the atmosphere.

One of the the vapor particles looked for and regulated by California emmissions controls is called 'hydrocarbon' and is measured in parts per million of your exhaust. Hydrocarbon is actually an organic compound existing in many forms of fuels and is a combination of hydrogen and carbon.

On with the smog test. I took a seven year old Honda Civic LX with a completely stock 1.7 liter engine (other than our Engine Ecology modifications) to a California state licensed smog test shop to find out.

The results were impressive:

Smog Test measurements Maximum allowed

Test run at a simulated 15 MPH:
HC Parts Per Million equaled 0. (Yes, zero.)	California's maximum allowed is 64.
CO Percentage equaled 0.01.	California's maximum allowed is 0.55.
NOx Parts Per Million equaled 2.	California's maximum allowed is 477.

Test run at a simulated 25 MPH:
HC Parts Per Million equaled 0. (Zero again)	California's maximum allowed is 47.
CO Percentage equaled 0.00. (Also Zero)	California's maximum allowed is 0.54.
NOx Parts Per Million equaled 41.	California's maximum allowed is 764.

You can download a PDF of the smog test results here.

Well, I thought rather smugly, those are pretty good numbers for a seven year old car! But compared to what?

How about a 10-year old car?

This is a 1999 Mercury Grand Marquis with a 4.6 liter V8 engine. It is basically the same vehicle used for years as a standard police vehicle, so you've probably seen many of them over the years.

This customer of mine has been through a progression of changes of our system in the last couple years, and had the most recent modification installed about two weeks before her bi-annual California smog test was due.

What she noticed upon the last installation was even more power and a much smoother engine over the last version. One of the main things she noticed was that the engine pinging had stopped completely, whereas before her engine was pinging going up a steep grade, or trying to accelerate up a light grade.

She also noticed that she always has the power she needs, with no stutter or stumble, and can ususally accelerate without the car down-shifting.

Now, on to the smog test... Ready for a shocker?
Smog Test measurements Maximum allowed

Test run at a simulated 15 MPH:
HC Parts Per Million equaled 1.	California's maximum allowed is 47.
CO Percentage equaled 0.00. (Yes, zero.)	California's maximum allowed is 0.46.
NOx Parts Per Million equaled 0000. (Zero)	California's maximum allowed is 400.

Test run at a simulated 25 MPH:
HC Parts Per Million equaled 0. (Zero again)	California's maximum allowed is 31.
CO Percentage equaled 0.00. (Also Zero)	California's maximum allowed is 0.43.
NOx Parts Per Million equaled 0000. (Zero)	California's maximum allowed is 687.

This is a two ton, 4.6 liter V8, American car that is polluting less, or emitting less greenhouse gases, than a 4-cylinder, one ton Japanese car!!! This is a fantastic result for us and proves that what we can do with our engine air system modifications in the area of cutting greenhouse gas levels is real in a very large way.

You can download a PDF of the smog test results here.

Cutting greenhouse gases is needed, and it's cheap to do
What are your children going to be breathing in the future?

To be blunt, they are going to be breathing what comes out of your exhaust pipe. And so will you.

If you don't change the amount of pollution that comes out of your exhaust now, you won't be able to undo it later.

It does not matter at all whether or not you believe, or know about 'Global Warming'. You know that running an internal combustion engine pollutes, and that you, and your children will have to breath that pollution.

So why not lower your current vehicle's pollution?

It is one heck of a lot cheaper for us to modify your engine to cut it's outpouring of greenhouse gases that it is for you to buy a new vehicle. And as you can see in the above cases, our modifications can also be more effective!

Can Engine Ecology modifications help your vehicle pass a Smog Test?
Engine Ecology modifications can help your vehicle pass a smog test because more of your fuel will then burn inside your engine rather than being spat out as pollution/greenhouse gases.

The reason why a smog test fails is that too much unburned fuel is currently exiting your engine out of your exhaust pipe.

For instance, if you have an older car where the injectors are squirting rather than misting your liquid fuel, our engine air system modifications will help atomize more of your fuel, allowing your engine to burn it instead of pollute it. Your vehicle may pass a smog test on that change alone.

Normally tricks such as heating up your car before the test or running special chemicals in the fuel tank are used. These are only needed because your car is not burning all of its fuel. So if you burn more, you have a better chance at passing the smog test. Simple, isn't it?

Engine Ecology "Making your engine run greener"