[s-cars] MA inspection suggestions?

Sat May 30 12:20:38 PDT 2009

Thankfully you got it resolved in one day! In NJ, it's almost a continuous
thing for me with 3 cars due every 2 years. Same stuff with window tint and
emissions, DOT headlamps, 'missing' (or tampered) hose on the wastegate,
copy of insurance card (must have original). Ugh! but at least they're
consistent. In my town, I need to schedule an appointment a few days in
advance and no running it through twice in the same day - they want receipts
that emissions work was done. Right now 1 of 3 cars is okay for the next 16
months.

On Sat, May 30, 2009 at 3:09 PM, JC <jc at j2c3.com> wrote:

> Actually FINALLY some better news & developments... and have the real Mass
> lowdown for any other listers stuck with a similar jerkbag situation...
>
> Spent the day fuming and calling around and driving around... got an answer
> from most shops that this jerk was being extremely conservative with
> interpretation of the rules - not just letter-of-the-law but
> beyond-letter-of-the-law.
>
> Basically yes the guy is allowed to fail me at his discretion based on the
> fact that "he feels it's louder than OEM would be".  That is NOT how he
> described  it and he rather angrily and aggressively told me repeatedly
> "Since October XX of 2008, non-original exhaust is an AUTOMATIC FAIL!!!! NO
> APPEAL, NO ARGUMENT"....
>
> The other shops told me he was just being a dickhead, and other names of
> that sort.
>
> The actual rule however is 'it can't be louder than OEM', which Mr Ayyhole
> interprets as 'it can't be anything BUT OEM'.  Aftermarket exhausts are
> LEGAL (this guy was WRONG) but only if - in the judgement of the inspector
> -
> they are about as quiet as the OEM would be... so lots of room for
> interpretation.  Apparently reasonable shops interpret that as 'should be
> reasonably in the range for a street car as long as it's not leaking or
> malfunctioning or missing cats etc'.
>
> Also what he lied to me about was the fact that I COULD have appealed to a
> state inspector overseer type dude etc. etc. which while it would be
> satisfying to hassle him back, I just don't have time for, but you have
> that
> recourse as well as recourse to just try other shops and see if they'll OK
> it - which is what I did.
>
> The first shop that would re-inspect me right away did do a full inspection
> but then failed me on WINDOW TINT (another PO addition) which Mr. Assbag
> has
> PASSED me for... It was starting to become comically ridiculous, but I ran
> home, fired up the heat gun, peeled the window tint off driver/passenger
> front door windows, and then ran back...  NOW I have a sticker, WITH the
> Stromung exhaust, and no front window aftermarket tint... (it was a bit
> ghetto anyway but when I park in the marina parking lot on hot summer days
> I'll probably miss it...)
>
> What a damn waste of a beautiful day though.  Had to cancel a round of golf
> and a music jam session... that bastard really screwed my day...
>
> Oh yeah, in re: visual driveline inspection - Mass does require a quick
> jack
> and inspect on front suspension although it's pretty cursory less stringent
> than other states that give a tough look at all suspension and brake
> components and cranking on the wheels to see if ball joints / tie rods are
> dangerous (NH for instance looks at brake lines pretty closely IIRC).
>
> Finally with the kind sticky-icky.... JC
>
> John J. Cunningham
>  <mailto:jc at j2c3.com> jc at j2c3.com
> US Mobile +1 (617) 750-5025
> Main / Global +1 (978) 633-3510
> China Mobile: +86 (0) 136 6080 9560
>
>
>
>
>  _____
>
> From: LL - NY [mailto:larrycleung at gmail.com]
> Sent: Saturday, May 30, 2009 11:00 AM
> To: JC
> Subject: Re: [s-cars] MA inspection suggestions?
>
>
> This is bad, since MA and NY are both on the same Cali rules.  I really
> HOPE
> that this is some stupid mis-interpretation. Can you go to a different
> inspection facility (perhaps Lee or Brett know of a "friendlier" facility)?
> I didn't think that NY nor MA had "visual" inspections of
> driveline/emissions equipment like they do in Cali. I do know that the OBD2
> cars just get plugged in to the diag computer. Hell, I don't even know if
> they check the brakes, other than driving the car into the bay. If they
> don't hit the wall at the back of the bay, the brakes are good. I think
> they
> check the Saabaru's wipers though...
>
> Good luck!
>
> LL
>
>
> On Sat, May 30, 2009 at 10:00 AM, JC <jc at j2c3.com> wrote:
>
>
> QW'rs will have to excuse the multiple cross-posting but I'm in a solid jam
> now and all the input I can get is desperately needed... This goes out to
> Mass listers who I hope will have suggestions/solutions... here's the
> story:
>
> So I just trundled the wagon with the sweet stainless (and in perfect
> condition) Stromung exhaust in for state inspection and the aaaayholes at
> the local Mobil (huge mistake) flat failed me for "non factory exhaust is
> an
> automatic fail since October of last year".
>
> System is tight and has a cat and everything works perfectly - obviously it
> would have been completely possible for him to look at it and say "looks
> tight and fine to me" and I'm sure OEM-clone exhaust parts from aftermarket
> are legal but he had to be a complete dickhead and give me the "That's
> aftermarket right? Automatic fail. And it's a 'safety violation' so you are
> not allowed to even drive the car until you get it fixed blah blah blah..."
> And this is NOT an emissions issue (oddly enough I guess we don't have the
> rollers anymore so they took that whole hassle away...) it's just exhaust
> equipment/sound related...
>
> Has anybody else been hit with "non-OEM" exhaust fail in MA and have a
> solution? Any 'exhaust friendly' inspection stations out there?
>
> My bet is that this rule like the expensive and stupid failed
> roller-emissions test it will probably be rolled-back eventually but right
> now it's a friggin' disaster...
>
>
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