Hello All:

Yesterday, I took my car for the required emissions testing and it passed the test easy for a 12yr old. Results (my car/state standard) were 0.061/0.9, 3.51/20, 0.64/2.1 grams per mile for HC, CO, NOx respectively. Anyways, being a 1994 car, it had to be run on the dyno for the test. At the end of the test, however, the dyno flashed a "Vehicle Underpowered" message. What did it mean by that? Is it something I should address?

yt855
1994 855, non turbo, 5 speed, 114000 miles

I wouldn't worry about it unless you notice drivability problems. I recently went through Connecticut emissions testing on the chassis dyno. The printout I received said something like 14.8 horsepower.

It would depend greatly on the RPM the test was done at. The test was surely done at much lower than the point of peak HP/torque. Also, being a transient test (ramping up/down engine speed) the dyno may have sampled the "underpowered" data at low rpm or partial throttle. I can't figure how the machine could determine what qualifies as acceptable or underpowered unless they have a bunch of different parameters inputted for each particular make and model of vehicle.

--Will

Thanks Will!

That was what I suspected too. Otherwise, the car drives fine - for a non-turbo. Also, I am happy it passed the emission test this time. It failed in 2003 and 2004 - found out it was due to the fact that I went for inspection right after an oil-change in both cases. Should have let the new oil burn off the volatiles, i.e., driven it for a few hundred miles.

yt855