Hello everyone,

I am in the process of purchasing an 04 Rx8 right now and the guy I am buying it from just went to get it smogged and it failed, due to high hydrocarbons and NO. From what I gathered from snooping around on here is that the high HCs come from bad coils/plugs/wires or low compression. The car is a couple hours away, and finding someone to check the compression is kinda hard, finding someone to go there with me. However, I did do a warm start on the car after driving it on the freeway for awhile when testing it, and it did start up with little to no effort once warm. Is that enough to go off of and replace the ignition components with good amount of comfort of being able to get it to pass smog?

The readings are
HC 121 max of 55 for 15mph, 93 for 39 for 25mph
CO .07 max of .50 for 15mph, .08 for .48 for 25mph
NO 439 max of 437 for 15mph, 423 of 724 for 25mph

O2 was at 0% and CO2 at 14.9% for both

Thanks in advance,
Daniel

 

Likely doesn't have a CAT

 

Well from what I've been told, the car got a service including plug , coils, wires, and a new cat in March of 11. I asked the guy what kind of cat was on the car, and I guess it was a shop that did everything and didn't know. From my understanding, on these cars(I'm still learning about these ) they aftermarket cats fail pretty early, so maybe that's the issue.
Thanks,
Daniel

 

Look for an OEM cat to use for testing...borrow one if you can

 

take $1300 off the price, that's what a new OEM cat costs, and its the only legal one in CA.

 

Ok. Thanks guys! I'm going to pick it up tomorrow then and maybe run some cataclean(any experience?) through it on the way home with some 91. I guess the guy said he had been running it on 89. Gonna take some fun back roads home, and see if I can find someone who can loan me one to help verify that it is the cat. Should I also do the ignition end too?
Thanks,
Daniel

 

Don't buy that car.
Buy a different one.

BC.

 

won't help. octane has no effect on emissions. i've never tried catclean, but if its an aftermarket cat there is likely nothing in it to clean