It may be a factor, yes, because the misfires of a rough idle can hurt emissions. A misfire sends unburnt hydrocarbons and unburnt air out the exhaust ports. The catalytic converter can only oxidize so much of the raw fuel, and the oxygen sensor sees the oxygen in the air and reads it as a lean condition, which in turn makes for a richer air/fuel mixture than is ideal.
If you don't want to (or can't) replace the bad IAC valve, maybe you could pass the test by tightening the cruise control cable until it actually holds the throttle open slightly, raising your idle to 1000 RPM or so. Maybe that would smooth things out.
Wait -- did you fail CO at idle or at 2500 RPM? What were your other readings?
"Just reading vrg3's convoluted, information-packed posts made me feel better all over again." -- subyluvr2212
umm... those are mint emissions readings.... there's nothing you're going to do to make it better save for wrapping the exhaust to get the car to light off faster. At idle there isn't enough exhaust flow to keep the cat hot. This wasn't a design issue in the early 90s and you usualy see cats placed significantly far down the exhaust system. In 96 the requirements got a little stiffer and you start to see lots of heat shields to help light off cats more easily. In 2002 much tougher cold start emissions standards came into affect as well as tougher idle standards. You start seeing cats intergrated in the exhasut manifolds, head shielding that's insulated and double walled primary pipes. all this to light off cats faster and keep them hot.
On your old legacy, your O2 is bearly hot enough to get a good reading and your cat is bearly hot enough to work at idle.... basicaly, it's working exactly as designed.
** edit ** now that the original post has changed my post doesn't make sence in context
Last edited by sammydafish on Wed Mar 29, 2006 9:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.
- Junior
90L Wagon EJ22E on Toyota CT-26 boost -- Crushed!
95L Wagon on T3/T4 boost :)
www.trdsupra.com [b][url=http://trdsupra.com/library/forsale/]Cheap parts![/url][/b][quote="Imprezive"]alright, I give up, I'm going to NASIOC...[/quote]
How long had it been since you had driven it, was the car hot?
I failed C0@ 2500rpm (i think in part because i have a torque chip installed and my exhaust) but my car had been idling for about 10 minutes in the shop before he tested it.
He then told me to go drive it around for a while and he would test it again. So i drove it around at about 4500+ rpm for about 10 mins and then i pass with 0 CO @2500rpm.
-max
94 legacy Silver Touring Wagon now w/ 5spd, Ground Controls, ej20g, rear VLSD, td05, and edms.
95 impreza Rally car. 3.0 H6
88 Toyota fj62 OME lift.