If you've been following the adventures of Sponge Bob (square car), you'll know that since he failed his last emissions test in a blaze of smoke and steam while on the treadmill, I've been challenged by faulty fan mounting screws, blown radiators, blinking oil pressure lights, and fan belt issues. Today, Sponge Bob boldy sidled up to the treadmill, took a deep breath and blew into the tester. The results? Pass with flying colors! From an air darkening 4.5 reading for NOX down to a baby's breath .13 (yup, point one three). To what do I owe my success? A couple hundred bucks, a few hours of time, a half cup of blood, and of course, the generous help from members of this board - THANK YOU!

The fix? though I can't pin it down, what I did was replace the O2 sensor ( me thinks it was OK), plug the lean-burn vacuum hose to the ECU (might have helped), replaced the catalytic converter (that's the cure, I think). The cat was $75 from our local Autozone and was an easy install.

The SO and daughter have driven a couple hundred miles since his last tow and are feeling more confident of his reliability (though we got a new road side assistance with 100 miles towing just in case). I convinced them (with suggestions from some of you) that safety is more important than ultimate reliability. Everybody knows Sponge Bob is a safe car, and maybe with the help of this board, I can keep him reliable.

Stay tuned.