Failed Smog...
 

'92 SVX 109,000 mi,. orig OEM exhaust/cats. Failed the idle test, excess hydrocarbons. Technician suggests replacing main cat. Fresh air filter, plugs replaced last year. Do I need a new cat? What do I need to do to pass?
Thanks,
WGJ

It could be the cat, as I did everything else within economic reason to my Nissan 240SX, with over 220K, & it still failed - three times!. As a last resort, I replaced the ORIGINAL cat, & the car became greener'n a Prius.

My '92 SVX with about 130K somehow passed with all original everything, except plugs & PVC valve. Just be sure the car is REALLY warmed up (drive it over 20 miles) before re-taking the test. In my home state of Merryland, if you spend 450 bucks attempting to cure the problem, you get a 2 year reprieval.
I hope Ah-nold is equally forgiving.;)

Good luck, Ron.

Our silver with 176,000 failed first attempt, but hadn't been run for a couple years, and still had some old gas in tank. Ran it out, bought some 'Emission Test for dummies'-[injector cleaner] and followed directions. Passed easily.

Re: Failed Smog...
 

Did it pass? What'd ya do? Mine has the same problem.. . But, I've replaced these cats [2 front cats at least once, and "large" cat at Y point at least twice (my SVX is lowered... it hits and breaks up cat eventually, causing super-quiet gutless performance)]. So...I'm not anxious to replace the $200 to $300 large cat again!

My friend suggested O2 sensors, so I sent for 2 @ SubaruParts.com for $240 with S/H...Yikes! I wonder if I wasted my money on those...maybe shudda bot a CAT!?

Thanks for any help you can give...I'm stumped right now! :confused: Jim :D