Hi All,

Does anyone know of a good Gold Shield repair station in the California bay-area ? These are repair stations certified by the California DMV to repair & certify cars that fail the test-only smog-check. Here's my story. Forgive me for the painful detail...

My apprehensions about my upcoming smog-test (my first dyno-based one) in California unfortunately proved correct. I failed the Nox part of the test even after extensive prep-work. I have an '85 - 740 with a ZFHP22 tranny, so until the dyno-test was introduced in california last year - I'd been exempted from the high-idle testing. Here's what I did prior to the test:

- Cleaned Throttle Body, and reset idle
- Cleaned Intake-Manifold
- Cleaned Injectors
- Cleaned IAC
- Made sure FPR was fine
- Tightened all Vacuum hoses and checked for leaks
- Replaced Distributor Cap & Wires
- New Air-Filter
- New Fuel-Filter
- New In-Tank Sock-Filter
- Verified my O2 sensor worked correctly
- Verified ECU temp-sensor works correctly
- Adjusted the AMM screw 2 full 360-degree clock-wise turns past the point at which the test-LED blinked evenly (50% duty-cycle).
- Set timing to 12 BTDC
- Filled the car with Chevron 92 fuel before the test
- Drove for 30 minutes immediately prior to test, and didn't shut engine off

Since I was nervous about NOx emissions, I asked the smog-tester to run a preliminary test to see what my CO levels were. They were low enough so I turned the AMM screw 2 more full turns to richen the mix and hopefully reduce NOX. Didn't help unfortunately. Here are my numbers:



Can anyone help identify what the problem might be ? Though the O2 sensor seems to fluctuate correctly within the proper range, I dont have a scope so I cant really see how quick-on-the-draw it is.

Would a bad Cat.Converter cause high Nox ? It's about 9 years old now, so it's due for a change anyway.

Since I was directed to a Test-Only smog station, I might be able to use California's Consumer Assistance Program (CAP) in which the state pays $500 toward smog-related repairs after a $100 deductable. However, if I use this program I can only get the car repaired at Gold-Shield certified stations.

Has anyone used this program before and can recommend one to me in the bay-area of California ? I'd like to be able to direct the repair-station to focus on parts that have not been replaced by me - like the cat-converter and the O2 sensor, rather than have them tinker & waste money on stuff I know to be good & clean.

Thanks for reading this lengthy post !

Noel