DEQ fail after EJ swap

[andrsn]

Hey crew,

I recently got everything sorted on my 83' BRAT (EJ22 swap with a 5spd D/R) and I thought it was running great. It seems to start up/idle/run just fine but I took it down to DEQ the other day to get some new tags and it failed! It failed for unburnt hydrocarbons and 1 other thing that I can post to the board when I get home. 

The car has some other driving issues and needs an alignment so I am planning on taking it to a shop here in town soon because I'm sick of working on it. I would like to save the shop the nightmare of sorting through the wiring if that could possibly be the DEQ fail culprit. Keeping in mind it seems to run decently, is there anything in the harness I could have forgotten that could cause a DEQ failure?

Thanks all.

[DaveT]

Hydrocarbons = running rich.  Too rich for emmisions,  but not enough to screw up drivability, which takes more.  

The catalytic converters are involved with hydrocarbons and no.

 

How did they test it? As an 83 or what is expected of an EJ?

 

Probably good to read the codes, since the ecu should give a clue about the rich condition.

[jono]

If the O2 sensor signal is not received at ECU the default is to go rich to protect leanout damage.

 

If that is any help?

 

I run an O2 reader led bar graph in the dash to see all the time ( and I don't even have an ecu !)

[skishop69]

They would/should have tested it as an 83 (EPA regs state it has to be tested as the registered MY) which means it should've passed with flying colors. Did it fail HC's at cruise or idle? Cat would only come into play at cruise, otherwise, you could have a bad O2, leaky injector(s), bad MAF, timing set wrong, bad ECT, bad t-stat, bad EGR  or low compression. Annnnnd GO! lol The only other two things you could've failed are NOx and CO. NOx failure would be timing advanced too much or a bad EGR.

[andrsn]

Yeah, I'm required to meet the standards of the original engine/car so I assumed the EJ would breeze through... I feel confident the catalytic converter is fine, the donor car had recently passed DEQ no problems when I got it.  

It failed at both idle and cruise. That is a long list of things to check... good thing I'm about to head off on vacation.

I did replace the timing belt when I had the engine out. I thought as long as the belt was on the correct teeth there wasn't a way to adjust the timing. I can't find any write ups online for adjust timing on these engines, just how to install the belt. Would it run even half way decent if I installed the belt 1 tooth off? I was pretty careful doing it... but I am learning a lot of this stuff for the first time.

[Numbchux]

We don't have any emissions testing here, so I have zero experience with that.

But, you say it's an EJ22 swap.....they made EJ22s for over 10 years. Please narrow that down.

Check engine light? Pending codes?

 

No, ignition timing is all electronic and not adjustable. It is possible to have one cam off a tooth and have it run OK, but not great. You'd probably notice.

Edited July 3, 2018 by Numbchux

[Subaru Scott]

Did you hook up the check engine light? 

[andrsn]

I'll try and hook up a light and check the codes this weekend but then I'll be out of town for 2 weeks. The engine came from a FWD 1993 Legacy. Its an OBDI non-interference engine with about 120k on it.

I looked over the service records that came with the car and it appears it logged an o2 sensor and TPS error before I owned it that may not have gotten fixed. I'll probably start at the o2 sensor. 

[Numbchux]

Don't waste your time or money until you have something hooked up to the CEL wire on the ECU (could just be a test light, or something more permanent).