Re: Bad Gasmilage... (new) attn Bob Tom

From: Bob Tom (tigers@bserv.com)
Date: Sat Jan 22 2000 - 23:59:21 EST


At 06:51 PM 1/22/00 -0500, you wrote:
>I am due to be air tested in about a month or so and was wondering why
>you changed the thermostat back to 195. I have a 180 stat and have wondered
>if this will make a difference in the test. TIA Chuck Robbins

Chuck

A couple of things (spark plug conditions and puff of black smoke from the
exhaust during WOT shifts at the track) that I noticed during the final
few weeks indicated that I was running rich. I also had an OBD-II scanner
for about 5 days that showed that the coolant temperature was quite a bit
lower than I thought it should be with the 180 tstat (outside temp. was
in the 40s F range). I also noticed that the heater took quite a bit of
time to put out warm air during the days when outside temp. was in the 30s.

Rather than take a chance with the test, I decided to put the stock
195 tstat back in and flushed the rad as well. I did leave F&B Stage 1 tb
in as I was curious if it would pass the test. All my other mods are CARB
approved.

As it turned out, my hydrocarbon reading was a 57 and the max. limit
here is 58. The readings for the other two were quite low i.e. well
below the limit.

I also did about an hour highway driving before the test
to get everything up to operating temp. It's a fact that, if tested
cold or idled for more than 15 minutes (I think that's about the time),
that there is a high probability of failure.

Bob. Southern Ontario, Canada.
'97 Dakota CC Sport, FR, 5.2L, 3.55 SG, auto.



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