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[chrome730]

well as u know i have two cars a mx-3 and a sentra se-r! well im on the forums for the sentra and im askin decent questions and there treatin me like S(*&. just cause i wanted all the possibilitys for a high hydrocarbons count. they started trashing me and stuff. much love to the mx-3 community for not being douches.

[Inodoro Pereyra]

Yup. It seems like we Mazda guys are a better bunch. I'm also a member of MX-6.com, and it's pretty much like here: everybody is nice and helpful, and, for what I've seen (I'm not a member) in Probetalk seems to be about the same.

What can I say... they're just envious because you have a Mazda...

[chrome730]

yeah lol my mazda is down right now but i bet it would pass inspection as oppsed to my sentra which is breakin my budget completely. all cause of high hydrocarbons

[Savin]

I think people use denatured alcohol or acetone to lower HC count. Might want to look into that.

As for me, I'm a member of quite a few car forums, seeing how I have a diverse assortment of cars. This is the only one I actively post on. As Inodoro Pereyra said, its just a better atmosphere here; nice people that actually help you without being a-holes about it like on some other forums.

[Inodoro Pereyra]

Yeah, I know what you mean. I'm a member on several other non car forums, and some people just seem to get off on mistreating others. I have stopped posting on most of them because of that.

Chrome: high hydrocarbons are, most times, related to 3 possible causes. In this order: bad spark (you need a tune up, buddy), bad mixture (vacuum leak, clogged injectors-seafoam is your friend-), or bad oxygen sensor(s).

I never heard of adding alcohol, but it may be worth a try. Just so you don't spend a fortune in it, there's a much more common name for denatured alcohol: E85.

[Savin]

there's a much more common name for denatured alcohol: E85.

Oh come ON! He was supposed to learn that by "looking into it." Way to just give it away! Let me guess, next you're going to tell him to start looking into xylene to make poor-man's race fuel, right?!

I've been looking into a lot of things lately since I'll have to get my mustang emissions tested once I get a new driveshaft, haha.

[Inodoro Pereyra]

Oh come ON! He was supposed to learn that by "looking into it." Way to just give it away! Let me guess, next you're going to tell him to start looking into xylene to make poor-man's race fuel, right?!

NEEEEVER!!!

But anyways, my advise would be to fix the problem, instead of finding ways to cover it up. What most people don't seem to realize is that the phrase "high hydrocarbon emissions" is actually a fancy way to say "you're wasting fuel"...

[Savin]

Meh. I suppose you're right. Listen to the smart old guy! He seems to know a thing or two about what he's talking about. Try to fix it first. If that doesn't work, THEN try weird crazy methods.

[Inodoro Pereyra]

HEEEYY...! I'm not "old"... I'm..."seasoned"

But, seriously, the HCs don't just appear. They either come from unburned fuel, or oil going down the tube. And, in the meantime, they're wrecking your catalytic and your oxygen sensors, none of which are cheap to replace. So, at least in my opinion, it makes sense to get the car running properly.

So now that you learnt something, go back to your toys, you brats!

[chrome730]

ino i understand what some of the things needed to be done and u guys helped me more than u shouldve. i have replaced the cat, the spark plugs, the pcv valve, all my hoses, tommorow im takin it through again and if it fails. lol well lets just say the mazda may be gettin fixed sooner than i though after i scrap the hell out of the nissan lol.

[Inodoro Pereyra]

First, do a simple test: start the car, and smell the exhaust. You either gonna have it smell like gas, or you will have a fairly acrid smell.
If it smells like gas, replace your spark plug wires, distributor cap and rotor, check the ignition timing, and try again. If it still smells like gas, take a close look at your vacuum hoses. If it still smell like gas, scrap it and fix the MX-3...
If it's smells sour/rank, you 're burning oil. Get a good oil additive, like Z-Max or ProLong, drive it for a few miles, and see if that fixes it. If it doesn't, you're in for a head rebuild and/or a piston ring replacement...

And you're right: we've helped you too much. We're gonna have to start flaming you for a while...

[Ryan]

after all that exhaust smelling he's gonna be high for a week, or brain dead

[chrome730]

lol no flaming please i passed miraculously so now i just need to keep on the up and up with it while workin on my mx-3 and ryan i havent heard from ya in a bit i was gonna text ya but didnt want to bother you. Ino i appriciate the unintentional help lol those suggestions are gonna be taken anyway because the cars previous owner was very careless about it.

[Daninski]

Your thinking about toluene or acetone? They use that stuff to increase milage but it's been shown to reduce emissions too. There are posts on it on this site. A couple people here add a couple of ounces per fill up. Google this and you'll find a wealth of knowlegde. Your drive clean station should have info pamplets that tell you what causes different fail scenarios.

[Inodoro Pereyra]

Who said the help was unintentional?
I'll be sending you my bill soon...

Google this and you'll find a wealth of knowlegde.

Actually, what he will find is a bunch of rumors. There's no scientific study, up till today, that shows that acetone or toluene do anything to increase the fuel efficiency of an engine. Actually, the closes to a serious test, done on the subject on "Mythbusters" has shown acetone not only doesn't increase gas mileage, but actually decreases it. Same with emissions: no proof whatsoever it works.