Dumb question... does my '83 have an EGR?

[feelinraudi]

So I just bought an 83 124, and it failed smog in california for NOx. My first check was for an exhaust leak, but I didn't see anything. Then I went to look at the EGR, and I don't know what to look for. Did they come with EGR valves from the factory? If so, where am I supposed to be looking? Thanks in advance!

[SteinOnkel]

It should have one, I think. It's bolted to the passenger side cylinder head towards the front of the car. It's near the exhaust manifold. There should be a pipe going from the center of the manifold to it and then the pipe continues to the intake.

This is all based on my 1978 Carburettor model, so take it with a grain of salt.

I can't see how they had egr in 1978 but not in 1983 though?

[TX82FIAT]

Actually, I don't think the FI cars have an EGR valve.

[tima01864]

Oxygen sensor bolted in the exhaust manifold, Catalytic converter. Not much else for emissions?

[redcars]

No EGR on fuel injection 124's. You were right to look for exhast leaks. There was a thread on here not long ago on this very same problem. There was an answer by someone more knowledgeable than myself. If you look for it I believe it will answer your questions.
Good luck and enjoy the drive.

[rridge]

EGR's were used with two-way cats. The injected Spiders use a three-way catalytic converter to handles NOx as well as hydrocarbons and CO. The NOx reduction requires close control of the mixture. The Bosch L-Jet system controls mixture with an oxygen sensor. Both the sensor and the cat go with age. The sensor fails first. Both can be tested in place by someone who knows emissions equipment.

[feelinraudi]

Thanks for the replies guys. I was worried I didn't have an egr. That means it's going to be something a little more tricky. I just bought the car, and the engine allegedly has fewer than 2000 miles on it since it was rebuilt.

The weird part is they test it at two different speeds on the Dyno, 15mph and 25mph.
25mph is 1907rpm and has 37ppm NOx,
15mph is 1802rpm, and has 2,499 ppm NOx.
So something is changing drastically in 100rpm. I have a hard time believing that the cat is behaving so differently at such close rpms. I suspect that maybe my distributor got stuck and the timing was too advanced or something. I'm not sure what else what change so drastically right back to back with no real changes...

[18Fiatsandcounting]

That is kinda weird as you mention, because if the high NOx was from one of the more common reasons (exhaust leak, lean mixture), then you shouldn't see that dramatic a change between 1800 and 1900 rpm.

It would be interesting to measure the NOx as you slowly increase the rpm and see if there is a point at which the reading suddenly changes, and if there is any change in the engine sound or behavior when it does. Maybe there is a repair shop that could perform this test?

Another possibility is that the measurement itself is wrong, but I doubt you'll get very far with that argument with either the smog check folks or the DMV.

One question: Is the car an automatic? If so, maybe the car is "hunting" between two gears right at the 15 mph speed, causing high emissions? My Jaguar does this, but the smog technician is supposed to make sure the car is stable in one gear before they take the measurement. No guarantee that all of them do this, of course.

-Bryan