[s-cars] MA inspection suggestions?

Sat May 30 13:51:36 PDT 2009

Re: NH - Yeah, Harold had to sell his '97 Canadian S6 because of the same
OBD-II testing thing right?

Re: The shop, I'd rather take the high road.  I mean it wouldn't be fair to
call out a certain Mobil station without giving them the opportunity to
respond and have equal time, right?  Yep I'll take the high road on this
one.

By the way, did I mention the weather was beautiful in Andover MA this
morning while I was waiting for the inspection results?  Really nice
weather. Right downtown on Main St.  Right near the cop shop.  Boy that was
nice weather down there.

---- current ----
1995.5 S6 Avant
---- past lives ----
2006 A4 2.0TQA
1998 A6Q 2.8 PES G2
1989 200TQA SJM
1990 CQ
1997 A4 1.8TQ Wett
1987 4kCSQ

John J. Cunningham
jc at j2c3.com
US Mobile +1 (617) 750-5025
Main / Global +1 (978) 633-3510
China Mobile: +86 (0) 136 6080 9560

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Bares, Vittorio [mailto:Vittorio.Bares at nuance.com]
> Sent: Saturday, May 30, 2009 15:27 PM
> To: Douglas Landaeta; JC
> Cc: s-car-list at audifans.com
> Subject: RE: [s-cars] MA inspection suggestions?
>
> Only one way to respond to the Mass mafia.
>
> Publish the address of the Mobil station - then none of us or
> any other car enthusiast EVER gives the SOB ANY business
> forever more. That's one of the things the internet is good for.
>
> Next, you need to make friends with a mechanic that does inspections.
> Not that you should have an unsafe car, but it helps in those
> little things...
>
> BTW, I live in NH, its progressively getting worse here too.
>
> Vittorio -
> -----Original Message-----
> From: s-car-list-bounces at audifans.com
> [mailto:s-car-list-bounces at audifans.com] On Behalf Of Douglas Landaeta
> Sent: Saturday, May 30, 2009 3:21 PM
> To: JC
> Cc: s-car-list at audifans.com
> Subject: Re: [s-cars] MA inspection suggestions?
>
> 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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