1998 V70 NA Failed Emissions High CO and HC at idle

[erikv11]

Open up the flame trap housing, if the little disc with holes in it (like in the picture up there) is still in place, take the disc out and throw it away. That may help.

Also we are just guessing here. The quickest way to get info on the CV system is to do the "glove test" see if there is positive crankcase pressure.

[evilxsystems]

Ok. I did the glove test and it failed (ie. the rubber banded glove inflated on the oil cap). I hard reset/drive cycled the computer. The car hasn't thrown a P0172 code since replacing the vacuum line, but is throwing a P0102 code, which it had previously thrown but I had thought was due to my disconnecting the mass airflow sensor at one point, but it came back after I'd cleared the P0172 code, so it seems to be something real. Not really sure where I should go from here???...I'd really like to do something quick to get it past emissions, but I don't think I can tackle a PCV rebuild myself in the middle of the week. Is there an easy way to pull the flame trap housing off the rigid airtube without disassembling too much, to try to clean it, to see if that helps enough?

[erikv11]

PCV is a pretty long job, you are probably on the mark in your assessment there. I can't think of any shortcut to dealing with the flame trap, you have to take apart a few things (accordion intake hose and airbox both come off pretty easily, that should make enough room to get in there and open up the flame trap to throw away the disc).

P0102 is most likely another vacuum leak, get vac leaks all sorted out before you go chasing MAF demons. Similarly, the car can pass emissions with a clogged PCV, but probably not with vacuum leaks.

There is danger of blowing out the rear main seal if the car is run a long time with clogged PCV. You can relieve the issue until you have time to repair it by relieving the pressure - pull the dipstick up just a hair so it can vent. But beware this can throw oil out of the dipstick tube. Showing up to the inspection with the dipstick out would probably lead the car to fail emissions too ..

[tryingbe]

I'd say you'll need a catalytic converter too. Not sure what the laws are in Seattle, it's $80 for a mangaflow cat and then labor to install here in AZ.

[benpineapple]

What's the state of your O2 sensors? Your car has 2 O2 sensors, and as I understand it the rear-most one mostly is used to control emissions or something. Just a hunch.

With emissions reading that high, it could be a slew of things going on. I agree with everyone else though, PCV system (while not easy task) is likely one of the main culprits here. No easy fix/silver bullet for fine-tuning and emissions.

[evilxsystems]

What's the state of your O2 sensors? Your car has 2 O2 sensors, and as I understand it the rear-most one mostly is used to control emissions or something. Just a hunch..

I believe (need to double check) that both O2 sensors were replaced about 60,000 miles ago.

[evilxsystems]

With emissions reading that high, it could be a slew of things going on. I agree with everyone else though, PCV system (while not easy task) is likely one of the main culprits here. No easy fix/silver bullet for fine-tuning and emissions.

It seems weird to me that the cruising emissions would be fine though, it totally passed at 2500rpm, which makes me think it's still a vacuum problem.

[evilxsystems]

I'd say you'll need a catalytic converter too. Not sure what the laws are in Seattle, it's $80 for a mangaflow cat and then labor to install here in AZ.

how in the hell do you get a CAT for $80?!? the stock one is like a grand! Platinum is fucking expensive, I can't see how they can do that. But I'm sure replacing or cleaning the cat would help, but I'd thought it would be crazy expensive. How hard would it be to pull off the old cat and install a non-OEM one? It's the original cat, I've heard they get so hot that they can be basically welded on.

[evilxsystems]

PCV is a pretty long job, you are probably on the mark in your assessment there. I can't think of any shortcut to dealing with the flame trap, you have to take apart a few things (accordion intake hose and airbox both come off pretty easily, that should make enough room to get in there and open up the flame trap to throw away the disc).

Ok, that's easy enough...I'll try that this morning

As far as tracking down other vacuum leaks, are there any other hoses that are especially problematic? The rubber elbows on the lines coming from the vacuum tree are pretty degraded...I can replace those lines without too much effort..Could the vacuum solenoid valve fail and cause this?

[rspi]

Come on guys, give him the magic answer. You guys know that no one wants to do the proper maintenance. Why else would he have paid top dollar ($4000) for the car. In the time that has been spent chasing this post, the system could have been replaced. It literally can be done in 2 hours on a NA car.