Failed smog! Suggestions? 96 V6 Camry

[pio!pio!]

Hydrocarbons were too high..the HC measured at 59..and 51 is the limit.
The car has a good cat..about 30000 miles old
The O2 sensors are only like 10000 miles old

what could I do to reduce HC to pass smog?
New plugs? plug wires? distributor?..just clean something or adjust something?

Thanks

[SwampFox]

How is your engine air cleaner? How many miles?

[73sport]

Hmmm....

Do 96's have 3 coils and wires?
My 95 has six coil packs, no wires, and no dizzy! Have you ever looked under the hood? Check and look/listen for vacuum leaks, cracked hoses, broken wires ect....
Pull the plugs and look. Make sure none are fouled and they all look the same.

Replace the Following:
Air filter
Plugs
Oil change
Fuel injector cleaner (add to gas) Chevron Techrolene is good.
Also, working the engine by pulling some semi steep hills while in the 5k rpm's will help loosen deposits. Most of the injector cleaners will need a couple tanks through to help you at all.

Test on DRY hot low humidity days, after sustained highway RPM.

Good Luck...

73...

[Toysrme]

When there is alot of unburnt fuel in the exhaust, it comes from too much fuel, or no/weak spark. (Fuel passed out of the cylinder into the exhaust.)
Start by checking spark. Ignition ends to fail before fuel in such a case.
Start with plugs. NGK or Denso ONLY I wrote my recommendations on it here.
DO NOT replace the wires with cheap crap. Simply put, if you're not paying roughly $100usd+ for a set of Toyota v6 plug wires.... It's cheap junk. Stick with OEM Denso, NGK, or real performance wires; Al-la Vitek / Magnacore.

Passed that. I would clean your MAF wire with a q-tip & some Isopropyl Alcohol.

[-SCWEET1-]

Originally Posted by Toysrme

When there is alot of unburnt fuel in the exhaust, it comes from too much fuel, or no/weak spark. (Fuel passed out of the cylinder into the exhaust.)
Start by checking spark. Ignition ends to fail before fuel in such a case.
Start with plugs. NGK or Denso ONLY I wrote my recommendations on it here.
DO NOT replace the wires with cheap crap. Simply put, if you're not paying roughly $100usd+ for a set of Toyota v6 plug wires.... It's cheap junk. Stick with OEM Denso, NGK, or real performance wires; Al-la Vitek / Magnacore.

Passed that. I would clean your MAF wire with a q-tip & some Isopropyl Alcohol.

Damn Toys, you write it as if yu were a Mechanic.............. LOL!!!!!!!!!

[Toysrme]

Well... Sometimes I am a paid mechanic. I've been doing short-hand fill in work at one of the b'hams best indy domestic / jap shops for afew years. Spent a summer rebuilding transmissions a couple of years ago.
Got volumes of tech training books here from a tech school I never went too LoL!
All the autoshop101.pdf's everyone is always quoting from??? Yeah I recognized those along time ago. It's just the generic Toyota training manuals for years & years back.

[OEMonkey]

Just get an oil change and make sure the vehicle is at operating temp before re-testing. A simple oil/filter change can easily lower your hc readings by 10ppm or more (depending on how diluted the crankcase is from blowby.) It will get it to passing levels but maybe not ave. readings for that yr/make/model. There maybe other maintenance issues you have to address.

[73sport]

Toysrme, vbmenu_register("postmenu_1453838", true);
I mention doing the injector cleaner and plugs for that same reason....

If the injectors are shooting a stream fluid verses a mist, the fuel will not atomize hence un-burned hydrocarbons in the quench area of the cylinder head being dumped into the exhaust and a failed test!

Getting a clean squirt (mist) from the injectors and a good hot spark will drop the hc's...

Personaly start low and work your way up $$$ ... start with a GOOD set of plugs an air filter to lean it out, and some injector cleaner.....

You have nothing to loose, however, buying new ciols and wires - may not solve the problem at all.

Just my 2 cents....

73...

[Toysrme]

I know why you said everything. I didn't contridict you in any way. No need to reiderate yourself.
I agree... Start cheap & go from there, which is why I suggest new plugs & general maintenance cleaning. Past that start fixing alot of things @ once b/c nobody in their right mind should want to deal with multiple CA emessions testing failures.

Seems brutal.

[acitydweller]

sounds like you need a fundamental tune up.

[Zandro]

High HC readings you say? checked the EGR system? you should also check if the ECU has registered any fault codes.