on that failed emissions question? and seats

[Tessie McMillan <tessmc@domain.elided>]

I would like to bring this question back again. Do you think it is
possible that the emissions inspection folks have recently changed their
equipment or testing methodology?

I have an '87 Graduate and exactly the same thing happened to me: failed
on CO by 6.4 times the normal value; everything else was FINE. The comment
that the [rude] b****, er, woman -- why is it they have to have a
chip on their shoulder? -- in charge made to me at the time was "oh, this
is a sportscar, and all sportscars fail CO". Oh really....? I had done an
Italian tuneup before going in so the engine was VERY hot, the car runs
fine, except for the popping noise which I believe is a crack appearing
in my exhaust manifold. It is an easy start, has good pickup, etc., and
idles fine. No stumbling which might indicate a bad O2 sensor. The only
thing I can think of is that I might be idling slightly below 1000 rpm
... er... my tach doesn't work, really, so it's hard to tell...

I asked Pasquale Perrina to give me his opinion of the numbers I got from
the emissions station, and he was surprised only CO was out. He pointed
out (and I had a little bit of trouble understanding because he has a
slight accent) that the Alfa manual states to *remove* the O2 sensor to
perform testing on the engine. So I understood his opinion to be that the
car should still pass *emissions* regardless of what is happening with the
sensor.

If the cat is bad, why only CO? If I have a hole in my center muffler, why
only CO? If my sparkplugs are dirty and the oil is old, why only CO? I
don't understand why only one contaminant would be more prominent than the
others.

Thanks - hoping Eric Storhok is reading this... &:-)

Now about seats (humor me here, guys): is it possible to mount the Spider
passenger seat backwards?

Tess
in drizzly Seattle, WA USA
-- 
Victim of Audi Bangernomics

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