State Inspection

[cherrington17]

I'm being good this year, and actually GETTING my car inspected. (last 1.5 years i wasn't inspected w/o even knowing)

and I had to deal with some punkass prick behind the counter. At no point in time, did I ever feel like I shouldn't be removing his teeth with my fist. He had THAT much of an attitude. And some people on the board know me, and I'm in no way intolerant of people... so thats saying alot. Needless to say, I won't be returning to this shop, that I regularly get serivce I can't handle, or don't have time for.

But my car failed. I have a leaky passanger caliper. I just replaced those, so... sure, maybe its bad from the store. (the more polite mechanic who actually did the work explained it to me) So i gotta redo that, and get wipers when i'm doing it.

but i was also told that "your intake is leaking" WTF does that mean? Capt. 'tude didn't want to elaborate beyond "its a common problem for that year, model" so, i know english isn't his high point either. Maybe he just couldn't be bothered to take the time to properly say "year AND model" or god forbid actually explain what he was talking about.

how/where do i have an intake that could be leaking?? The only intake i really know of, is fuel (i'd notice my mpg dropping and its held a consistant 24mpg) and air... how the eff could my air intake leak?

Someone please fill me in on that.






and just for fun, i'll share some of the convo between me and mr.douche

Douche: You FAILED your inspection
Me: ok.
Douche: WHO DID those calipers?
Me: I did.
Douche: Well you FAILED because of it.
Me: What caused it? (at this point, i'm wondering why he keeps yelling failed)
Douche: The passanger one is leaking. I've had 8 bad calipers from Autozone lately, its why i've stopped going there
Me: Hmm.. maybe just a bad batch from their supplier...
Douche: No, they just use cheap shitty aluminum!
Me: ...uh...ok... (I'm not sure if he knows that particular shop's part supplier is the very same Autozone)
Douche: I'm going to have to fail you... You do understand you FAILED the inspection?
Me: ...? (at this point, i'm seriously questioning his authority over ANYTHING, in the fact that he has to feel superior by trying to make others paranoid and scared) So I'll fix it and get reinspected... no big deal.

....and the conversation continued on as such. I have good reason to believe the yellow vinyled out, parkbench sporting POS in the parking lot was his. not a single body panel w/o a sticker OR rust, and the for sale sign said "Wanted $2,000"

[01OldsAleroGt]

i guess why the guy like it when others fail the inspection cause with his attitude and pos ricer... he fails at life

[whiterider00]

im headed to get mine inspected in a few hours. hopefully i dont encounter anything similar to that. i guess some people just let it go to their head when they have power over something.

[cherrington17]

and let me just reitterate the main question of the post:

I was told my intake was leaking, and that its a common problem? What could he have been possibly referring to??


The main point of the post was to bitch. :lol: but i'd really like to know what intake i have thats leaking...

[FrankTheTank]

i'm gonna guess you have a 3400...so its your lower intake manifold gasket.

[cherrington17]

my oil is always the same oily color, and the coolant hasn't moved its level since i've owned the car...

where do i look to see if its leaking externally?

EDIT: just went out and looked around...

there is some slight discoloration in and around where the heat shield is in the front, but that looks more like dirt then anything. And again, i checked my coolant, which is right where it should be. and my oil isn't discolored at all.

i think he was just making this shit up. I thought the LIMG was fixed in the '03 models....

[lonnie]

So you failed state inspection, and you could still drive the car. Here they give you a slip and after a certain time you can't drive the car with out it being fixed.

[Redog]

Cars don't fail inspection for leaking gaskets, leaking brakes, yes

[cherrington17]

So you failed state inspection, and you could still drive the car. Here they give you a slip and after a certain time you can't drive the car with out it being fixed.

the slip says i have 30 days. i can't see what they can do after that?? report that i didn't fix it, to the police??
EDIT: they report it to the DMV. so yeah... i DO need to fix it soon.

i'll fix it when i have some time to tear it all apart again. but i still fail to see the leaking "intake" if it is infact the manifold, i think i'd see some kind of affect from the leaking.

Cars don't fail inspection for leaking gaskets, leaking brakes, yes

i asked if there was anything else i should look out for. he said "leaking intake" and "your shock" and i thanked him for being specific. :glare: eff, i STILL want to hurt him for being such an ass

[Spilner521]

Cars don't fail inspection for leaking gaskets, leaking brakes, yes
^^Yeah.

Fix the caliper, get new wipers and go somewhere else to get inspected and you should be good to go.

I'm being good this year, and actually GETTING my car inspected. (last 1.5 years i wasn't inspected w/o even knowing)
The inspection sticker on my Alero right now expires in January 2006 :p

[deathwish666]

i drop off my car for inspection tomorrow night...and PA i heard is really strict....in the past i had a gf whos dad worked for the DMV so he just gave me a sticker for $80 and i slapped it on my car haha...and now with this new rigged intake its really making me nervous :(

[01OldsAleroGt]

woot.... no inspections or big time smog regulations here in florida...

[Redog]

It's more strict in the city areas of PA.

Eire, Allengeny, Philadelphia, Mongotmery, Bucks, Chester, and Delaware counties, and I think the county Scranton's in. There are more car in these counties than in the rest of the Commonwealth put together.

[jayson_waltz]

i'm glad i don't need inspections. my dad would be the one to do it so all we'd do is sign and not worry about the car, but still it would be annoying to have the sticker in the window to sit there and look gay.

[NickAlero2000]

can cleared corners fail you in an inspection if the mech wants to be a douche? thats the only thing im nervous about...

[cavaliers60]

Thank goodness Indiana doesn't have state inspections.... the only vehicles that get them here are school buses and semi trucks.

[lonnie]

In Maryland once you get it done once you never have to get it done again, no matter how F'ed up it is, Hell in VA when I lived there all they check are the headlights, brakelights, and wipers, then you are out of there. For 10 bucks!

[cherrington17]

can cleared corners fail you in an inspection if the mech wants to be a douche? thats the only thing im nervous about...

no, as long as you have the right colored bulbs..... to which i do.

[NickAlero2000]

by right colored bulbs you mean not anything crazy or plain wrong?
i have the ones that appear blue but light up amber...those are good right?

[TheEdgeofSanity]

woohoo...michigan - home of the rustbuckets on wheels. seriously, every other car in the detroit metro area is missing its muffler, no brake lights, or spews out smoke.

[sk8rsteve2004]

That sucks that your car failed inspection. Mine did also when I had to have it inspected earlier this year, but it failed because the turn signals being intermittent. I had to have the hazard switch replaced, since thats a common problem with Alero's.

[cherrington17]

by right colored bulbs you mean not anything crazy or plain wrong?
i have the ones that appear blue but light up amber...those are good right?

same that i have. if they light up, work at the right speed, and are the correct color when lighting, your good.