Girlfriend's car failed inspection

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Blackmirror

New member
Due to an exhaust leak my gf's 95 corolla, it failed inspection so they couldn't test for emissions. They told her that the exhaust system has a hole in it(hope its not too big!). I was wondering if its ok to use one of those cold weld pastes they sell at auto stores for a temporary fix so she can go through inspection. Or would the car need a new exhaust system to go through inspection?
 
You might oughta find out for sure what's required before you do anything. But I'd wonder about trusting the inspection folks to give you a straight answer.



Can't imagine it needing a whole exhaust system, a "muffler shop" should be able to fix it up on the cheap.
 
My cousin had the same experience last year. He took his Civic to inspection and it failed because of a hole in the exhaust. So my uncle spends like $200 on a new exhaust and when I went with him to get it reinspected some guy holds a piece of paper up covering the exhaust pipe for a couple seconds then says its good. My cousin and I were like :eek: .

Really makes you think twice about NJ inspection stations :rolleyes:
 
NJ inspection..... oh the stories. At least you dont need to take a day off to do it anymore...



Once they failed me for a bald tire, I know how stupid but I was 17 and broke. They can only reinspect the item you failed for, they dont look at anything else. I simply went into a parking lot and moved the tire to another location and came back within the hour, it passed.



If the cold patch holds then you dont have a leak and it should pass. They will use a mirror to look so keep it as neat looking as you can, dont use a coat hangar as its a dead giveaway.
 
Be careful...first of all, as Falcon Guy said, they will ask you what you did to fix it, and then they will look at it. I'm sure that "liquid steel" or whatever exhaust putty will not be an acceptable repair to the state (and really shouldn't be to you, either). Second, they may have given her a book of listed shops where she can have this "emissions service" performed. If so, be very careful about this. My ex-gf had a bad knock sensor, and took her 4-yo car to THE DEALER to be fixed. She then took it back to inspection, where they refused to run it because she hadn't taken it to one of the places in the book (the new-car dealer was not a licensed, certified, whatever "emissions repair facility"). It didn't matter that the car was fixed, no longer coded, they wouldn't test it because the dealer wasn't in the book. She wound up leaving it with the dealer for like 2 weeks while they took it to an inspection station and argued and who knows what (bribed?)before she finally got it back with a sticker on it.



However, based on what happened to another friend, if you tell them YOU did the repair yourself, then that's fine, they'll test it. :rolleyes: These are just my anecdotal experiences, YMMV.
 
I have had friends that failed and simply scraped the failed sticker off and then went through again as if it was the first time, sometimes without doing anything at all. Its a crap shoot.



I think the OP was trying to use the cold weld as a short term solution anyway? If its not leaking they shouldnt have a problem although odds are if its leaking in one place its probably leaking elsewhere too. If its not it probably will be after you work on it.



Might be best to just have it fixed right once since it needs to be done anyway. CO leaks can kill you even though I bet its pretty hard with a clean running 2 liter engine....
 
FalconGuy said:
I have had friends that failed and simply scraped the failed sticker off and then went through again as if it was the first time, sometimes without doing anything at all. Its a crap shoot.
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I think that was the old days...where you could "lose" the failure ticket and they wouldn't know what it had failed for and would just run it through again. Now they have to input the VIN, and all tests and failures, whether at a private or state station, come up on the computer. No VIN, no test--I believe they enter it by barcode from the registration. If I understand it correctly, a private inspection shop (gas station) can't even run it through the test to check if they are making progress with the repair--every run is an "official" test.



When they changed to this new system, there were tons of rumors and fears about it, although I personally have never had any problems.
 
I would urge caution with the use of the patch kit, an exhaust leak into the cab area can pose health threatning results.



Exhaust pipes at times can be very difficult to seperate to make spot repairs/replacement of pipes possible. Normally we quote a complete system replacement as the most cost effective. Maybe from the Cat Converter back or the complete system.



Call all the National Chains for price quotes and be specific with the word "total" cost, everything included.



For PA Emissions test we now scan the barcoded owners card and the "failures" are stored and uploaded to the state database. Normally if the visual inspection had a fault we would call the customer before continuing to the emissions side.
 
Setec Astronomy said:
I think that was the old days...where you could "lose" the failure ticket and they wouldn't know what it had failed for and would just run it through again. Now they have to input the VIN, and all tests and failures, whether at a private or state station, come up on the computer. No VIN, no test--I believe they enter it by barcode from the registration. If I understand it correctly, a private inspection shop (gas station) can't even run it through the test to check if they are making progress with the repair--every run is an "official" test.



When they changed to this new system, there were tons of rumors and fears about it, although I personally have never had any problems.
Click to expand...



My one friend's Explorer failed last month for brakes, so he didn't touch the truck and a couple weeks later brought it to a new inspection station and he magically passed :nixweiss
 
Ok here's the update. My gf went to take her car to the mechanic she usually goes to. They said the car definitely has a leak and its gonna be over a hundred bucks for repair! Isn't that too bogus of a price? I think they are taking advantage of her because she doesn't know a lot about fixing cars. Should I tell here to just get the exhaust replaced?
 
Is the mechanic a reinspection station? Maybe they are just fixing the leak with a pencil....not that that is supposed to happen under the new system :rolleyes:
 
Why don't you take it to a Midas or Meineke that specializes in muffler replacements? I find them to be cheaper and usually have lifetime warranties on their mufflers, compared to your "gas station mechanic". I would just have it fixed at one of those places, the way gas prices are these days shes going to want to get the most gas mileage her car can get. I also believe if you don't take care of the leak, it will only get bigger in time, so it's something I would definately want fixed for the two above reasons, not to mention she will then be able to pass inspection. ;)
 
I cant stress enough how much I would stay away from the Muffler shops like Midas and the rest.



When you see the price of the Muffler it looks tempting but when they nickel and dime you for clamps, pipe etc its just not worth it.



The materials they use are substandard at best and the one size for every application means you wont get a muffler designed for your engine which is very bad. I dont think you would be impressed by the quality of the technicians at those places either



Your local garage is sometimes your best bet, ask around find one your friends/family trusts.



Just my opinion.....
 
There is no cheap way out on exhaust repairs, unless it's a loose clamp or something. Holes are caused by physical damage or corrosion, and the offending metal must be replaced. In the old days of non-stainless exhausts, they would corrode from the back forward (from condensation). If you had a hole somewhere, it was almost never worth NOT replacing everything downstream of that component.



I have a stainless exhaust on my '90 car. Last year I developed a small exhaust leak, and traced it to a hole in the weld at the cat. I didn't feel like doing it, so I brought it to a local gas station where I sorta trust the guy...since the whole system was 14 years old I was worried the muffler was shot too, as it was sorta peeling. When he sawed out the cat and replaced it, he said he poked the muffler (and the rest of the system) with a screwdriver and it was solid. He also remarked he had a 17 yo Suburban with the original exhaust (in fact, he initially didn't believe me that I had a hole in mine). Anyway, that 100 bucks is pretty cheap if they are actually replacing parts.
 
Ehh, just poke out the rust with a screwdriver, put JB weld on a piece of sheetmetal, patch it, and don't run the car too much beforehand. It might not be a 100,000 mile repair, but it should get ya through inspection.
 
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