My E-Test Saga

[v00d00]

I don't get why anyone would fix their vehicle BEFORE doing the E-Test.. makes no sense.

[OnTheVerge]

I agree with warming up the car, but if you have to wait for the next e-test, then the car has cooled down.

For example, Can. Tire does not take appointments so if there are 3 other e-tests ahead of you, your car may be sitting and cooling down for 1hour plus.

I'd still do it, but just so that others know, this may be a waste of time.

Hope your car was properly warmed up before taking it to the testing station (i.e. Run it on the highway for 20 minutes or so) Your catalytic converter does not function until it is warmed up.

[Iron Chef Ajax]

Damn. Sorry to hear about all your problems. Taking my 2002 olds for a E-Test this week hope it passes.

[Chookman]

I agree with warming up the car, but if you have to wait for the next e-test, then the car has cooled down.

For example, Can. Tire does not take appointments so if there are 3 other e-tests ahead of you, your car may be sitting and cooling down for 1hour plus.

I'd still do it, but just so that others know, this may be a waste of time.

Warming up the car makes a big difference. In London, Mufflerman at Wharncliffe and Baseline is great for this. The last two years, they took me in immediately after a 20 minute run on the highway in 3rd gear (Supposedly running the car in high revs helps burn out the carbon.). Here are my last 3 results.

July 2002

This was from the car sitting cold for 24 hours and driven 1 KM to the testing station.
LIMIT | READING | LIMIT | READING
HC 93 | 90 | 200 | 77
CO .52 | .09 | 1 | .04
NO 1046 | 46 |

May 2003

This was after a 20 minute run on the highway - testing occured immediately after driving in.
LIMIT | READING | LIMIT | READING
HC 82 | 17 | 200 | 17
CO .46 | .01 | 1 | .02
NO 948 | 493 |

June 2005

This was after a 20 minute run on the highway - testing occured immediately after driving in.
LIMIT | READING | LIMIT | READING
HC 72 | 35 | 200 | 31
CO .40 | .04 | 1 | .03
NO 948 | 493 |

A couple things to notice are that they are consistently lowering the limit while the car is getting older and that NOppm numbers will increase as HC numbers decrease. I've been told that this is because as HC's are processed, they release more NOppm. If the Cat isn't warm, supposedly more HC's will slip by which happened in my first test when I drove the car in cold.