Help! 9000 AERO doesn't pass emiision test

If your CO and HC readings are within limits, I'd say your cat is okay. I've leaned running lean could cause high NOx. High NOx could also be the result of high combution temperature. Don't know much about the technical stuff. They bore me.

Any case, one year by simply changing the spark plugs on my 94 9k cs turbo I was able to lower NOx to acceptable numbers in New Jersey. The old one have the tip almost eaten away by ignition sparks.

My 93 Volvo 940 wagon has also just passed the same high NOx emissions recently by simply replacing the O2 sensor.

But my 94 9k cs (not the turbo, I have two SAAB 9k's) still has a red sticker for failing, you guessed it, NOx. This is after replacing the spark plugs and O2 sensor.

I wish they'd do away with NOx emissions testing in New Jersey.

gee, are you in Ohio? The bastards just started checking NOx this year, and I hear tell many cars are failing. My '88 9k turbo didn't make it through due to high Nox (everything else was way down), and folks on the list suggested vacuum problems. I checked my lines, and found two to be potentially problematic, so swapped them out for new, but before I could get it back for a re-check, my charging system went out. Now it sits in the drive until I get some fun tickets to work on it.

But check your lines. Also, pull your throttle body hose, and make sure the throttle body is clean. Either in the service manual, or in a tech bulletin, I saw Saab saying essentially, that even a thin film of gunk there, can cause raggy idle.

My '94 9k CSE is due for a check in April, and I'm expecting the worse, but then Ohio's test program/facilities are a joke - cars go in every other year. My '88 has flunked in 2000 and 2002, and in

2002, they flunked it because there equipment couldn't get a reading on my car. So how did I pass on the re-checks? I merely drove back the following days without doing a thing to the car.

How quickly was the testing done? The engine need to reach operating temperature an the CAT need to be thoroughly warmed up to do its work.

CS,

I am guessing you are in Cincinnati. We do not get smog checks here in Columbus. Do they verify anything on the stickers? I have a '91 C900 which had EGR. I took it off and installed a '92 ECU which does not have EGR. The thing is that the fender sticker states that it is supposed to have EGR, though. Just wondering if I will have problems when we get smog check here in Cowlumbus. I don't think my '97 9k will have a problem, but we will see. A failed smog check could also be from a bad DI cassette/plugs. Incomplete combustion. I know your '88 does not have that, but your '94 could have a weak one... Keep us posted on the '94

Regards,

Keith

P.s My dad is in Blue Ash with 2 9ks ('91 and '94) and an '04 9^5.

cs wrote:

Keith, yes, I'm in Cincinnati. the funny thing is on the '88, it runs as hard and as strong as the day I got it 16 years ago - correction, the day I swapped brains in it 16 years ago. I've always heard you should break your car in the way you intend to drive it - I used to make regular runs to Columbus, and while that car still had it's 30 day tag, I was running at 125 chasing an Alfa (I use to have a 'go card,' so getting stopped was not much of a concern).

But it >CS,