Dali chip and Emissions
Somewhat related to original post................
Thanks for everyone who had input on my Massachusetts emissions failure. After two failed attempts to pass with the Dali chip in place, my car (other mods: CAI, exhaust/headers) finally passed (with flying colors, incidentally) this morning, running the STOCK CHIP. The problem had been with HC's only, and the tailpipes were sooted-up as a result. With the stock chip in place, the HC's dropped from 2.21 to 0.86 (Mass limit 1.20).
In fairness to Dali, my experience seems to be isolated, as I have yet to hear of any other emissions failures with the chip (only Massachusetts would probably be affected, since we're required to run the car under load on a dyno now). Furthermore, MJ at Dali was very supportive thoughout this entire fiasco.
Interestingly, my car threw a Check Engine light last night, so even though I'm legal with the feds now, I still may have an EGR valve issue to figure out. So I can't rule out that the EGR valve had been failing intermittently and coincidentally the car passed emissions when it was working properly. Whatever.
For what its worth, the MA emissions test is performed by accelerating in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd gears and following a trace on the computer screen to put a predetermined load on the engine. The highest RPM I saw was 4000 in 1st. Correct me if I'm wrong, but VTEC is no issue at that engine speed. My guess is that the Dali chip was dumping too much fuel at lower RPMs. I'm not sure of the original programming design (whether it was the intent of the programmer to add fuel only at higher RPM or what), or whether or not my issue was just a fluke.
Anyway, thanks again to all who contributed, including Mark at Dali Racing.
--Scott
PS -- can't wait to get the Dali chip back in the car -- ya don't know what ya got til it's gone........the car is a STONE without it!
