New Festiva Owner Failed Smog

[Big Don]

Hi, I just bought a 93 Festiva that looks and runs great. I've driven her about a hundred miles (she gets thirty eight miles to a gallon) and so far I feel confident I made a good buy at seven hundred bucks. But she failed smog. Failed pretty badly as a matter of fact. It seems I'm deemed a Gross Polluter. The Smog Man said I probably needed a new Catylitic Converter. Any thoughts from the forum?
Thank you all,
Big Don

[TominMO]

Welcome to the site! Check this thread out:

http://www.fordfestiva.com/forums/showthread.php?t=31414

[sasquatch]

whats your location?

[25Horseplay]

It might be helpful to post this in the repair forum. But depending on what you failed for a new converter might be needed.

[WmWatt]

Can you post the results?

The link in the above post was for a car which was over the nitrogen limit. The culprit is almost always a dirty EGR valve although that was not mentioned in the thread. It's simple to remove and clean. When I got a warning on my carb'd '89 I cleaned the EGR valve and it came right back down.

[letdtst99]

easy fix!

Had the same problem with my festy, I failed smog here in California, the Cat converter will be a real fix for that, when you change your Cat, be sure also to replace your oxygen sensor, and run a bottle of "guaranteed to pass" solution that you pour on a tank full of gas, by the time your gas tank is empty your fuel system are clean, I was also labelled as a Gross polluter, but after replacing the cat, oxy sensors, ad a bottle of guaranteed to pass, My NO levels were zero. passed smog with flying colours.

[25Horseplay]

Just an FYI, the FI Festiva's DO NOT have an EGR valve. Most likely its either the cat or timing issues.