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Hello. I live in the DFW area and took my 1992 940GL in for state inspection. I bought it with just under 72,000 miles a few months ago and it has yet to turn 75,000. Being in this metro area, it has to go on the dynomometer, not just the simple tailpipe test. Well, the NOx is way high, from 2.5 times to 3 times too high. ONE YEAR ago the prior owner took it to the Volvo dealer for the state inspection, it failed smog, and he spent about $1000 at that time to replace most of the exhaust from the manifold back, including the cat. I have the shop invoice for this. The garage I took it to this time (not the dealer) thought they could make it pass by tweaking and twiddling, cleaning the injectors, checking the seals, and some other tricks, saying that it was running too hot. None of this worked, and the estimate now is that I need a new catalytic converter (they said the factory catalytic converters were small and inadequate) and that the valves needed adjustment in order not to impact the new cat. How does this sound? Has anyone been through this before? This is an 8 valve non turbocharged engine, the B230F. From the records I inherited, I don't think the valves have ever been reset, and I don't quite understand how a $400 cat lasts one year. That makes for a very expensive annual state inspection! My gut tells me to buy a replacement cat from FCP (this is a non-EGR car) and have a muffler shop weld it in, and get the valves set if it is really needed. Comments from the long time Volvo guys?
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