GK

A colleague of mine had his 1998 C5 smogged and he informed me that he barely passed.

He was already being given quotes for new cats at ridiculous prices of $1500 and higher. A quick search on Amazon has cats for less than $200.

I asked him for a copy of his smog results, so that I could post it here for feedback.

Thanks in advance!

Mr.Bill

Be aware that legit shops that sell cats on line like Summit can't sell to California

TB1300

Barely passed = passed. I don't know why he would want to screw around trying to fix a problem that doesn't exist. If it fails next time, worry about it then.

As far as I can tell, it is illegal to install used catalytic converters, and reputable shops will not install them. If he plans to go the used route, he should plan on installing them himself and keeping his mouth shut.

For the record, I learned this the hard way: I bought a used front exhaust section for the very same price of $200. I took them to a shop for installing with my new Corsa exhaust system, and the shop gave me the bad news. While I was out of town, someone broke into my garage and put them on my car, and I am completely unaware of it.

GK

Yep. I know the stuff has to be legal for use in California.

The ones I came across on Amazon were California legal.

TB1300: I'm with you. Leave it be until he actually needs to do something. I think he just wants to be educated, so he doesn't get ripped off.

He did say he is noticing a funky odor when driving. Being a convertible, it's more noticeable.

PhysicsDude55

For the first couple years of my driving life I had 2 cars that just barely passed emissions every year, just like this 1998.

There really are a lot of tips for getting them to pass. What worked me for was:

Letting the car heat up. The cats work better the hotter they get. Park the car and let it idle for 10-20 minutes and it will have lower emissions. On my cars it lowered the emissions by about 5%

Changing the oil RIGHT before getting it smogged. I'm talking like change the oil and then get it smogged within a few days or 50 miles. This one lowered my emissions again about 5%.

There's also fuel additives you can buy. I bought some but never used it. Supposedly they work.

I bet if he does both of those tricks he can get a few more years out of his cats.

Also, an exhaust leak or clogged EGR can cause excessive NOx emissions. Its something to check, especially because he's not getting any CO emissions.

Camjamsdad

As they say in the manufacturing business...Just in spec is good enough.

PLRX

Yes they can. It has to be a California catalyst. Funny, we have many of those manufacturers here in SoCal.

I know a C6 guy that swap the OEM cats for high-flow, and he passed CA smog.

OP, were your cats hot? They must be at op temperature, normally a 5-8 mile drive would get them up there. I assume you use good gas, not that cheap stuff.

Dave68

How does he know it's the cats? He should check or have checked anything that could be causing a lean condition, first. If the problem is not the cats, he could be spending money that doesn't solve the core of the problem.
By the way, that 0 HCs is kinda hard to believe.

danieloneil01

ha!!!!!!!!!

Vetteman Jack

As long as he passed, that's what counts. I doubt I would do anything as long as it got through the inspection OK.

oldschoolvette

As long as it passed then why freak out. It might be better to start a little savings fund and the in the next year or to when / if it does nit pass there are funds set aside to deal with what is now a real problem