Car

[chhotii]

Today I am dealing with Rich's car. No, not selling it, yet; I wish, but, I'm still not allowed to do that. Just getting it back on the road. sensesurfer sweetly rushed up here and replaced the dead battery when I was worried about it. But there was still a lot to do. I filled the gas tank. I then peered at the oil-change sticker, and based on that, went straight to Jiffy Lube. Jiffy Lube sold me on getting not just an oil change, but also new filters (they showed me the old ones and they were impressively filthy), top-off of the antifreeze, and a couple hundred dollars' worth of something on the front brakes.

This is expensive, and all for a car that I am probably just going to trade in. Really I just need it to a) pass inspection (on the theory that a car with a valid up-to-date inspection sticker is worth a lot more in trade-in than one without); and b) make it to the inspection place, and two or three local car dealers as I search for a good trade-in deal, without stranding me along the way.

So, here I am at Jiffy Lube, watching daytime tv and posting to LJ from my phone, while I wait for the car. Quick, everyone, post something, I'm bored!

Comments

[sensesurfer.livejournal.com]

It won't pass inspection until it has been driven long enough for the computer to go through all of its engine checks..... 40 miles or so....... If you get a check engine light, get the code scanned (free at most auto part stores)...... As I recall rich had the same check engine lights on that I got recently which is why I think you are going to need to do this. I needed a catalytic converter . Scion part alone is over $900.. I went to Lou's custom exhaust and after a bit of haggling talked him down to $175 for him to cut out the old cat and weld in a new one.

[chhotii.livejournal.com]

Lou's Custom Exhaust is awesome! I have a similar tale to tell with the VW. Lou's saved me thousands.

[chhotii.livejournal.com]

Oh and thanks for the info about having to drive it 40 miles before trying to get it inspected... Good to know, I don't have time to drive it 40 miles before getting it inspected. So that will have to wait for another day...

Now to put on to-do list: "drive Scion 40 miles with expired inspection sticker". I hope I don't get into too much trouble for this.

[sensesurfer.livejournal.com]

Getting caught driving with an expired sticker is a moving violation so you may want to pay for an inspection and fail. Retesting is free.

[frobzwiththingz.livejournal.com]

It's not "40 miles" It's more complicated than that. The engine computer needs to see a cycle where the engine is driven at both in-town and highway speeds, each of which need to occur for continuous intervals of time (I think 10 minutes) at a minimum. The EVAP system needs to have two of these cycles, with a period of time of *at least* 8 hours between these cycles in which the temperature of the gas tank drops below 70 degrees (no problem with that now...)

The silly Scion engineers decided that making the VSC and TRAC OFF lights light up whenever *any* engine codes were flagged. The P0138 error code that you, and me, and Rich, and literally half of people with OBD2 compliant systems eventually start seeing can be caused by tons of different things; sometimes it is indeed a bad catalytic, but many time it is also caused by insulation breakdown on the rear oxygen sensor, which appears as a voltage problem when the system gets wet, and goes away when things dry out. I was one of the lucky ones whose catalytic is just fine, and at some point I'll replace the rear oxygen sensor.

In any case, if you just go to the inspection place, if there are any EEC codes flagged, or any of the diagnostic systems come up as "not ready" (the EVAP takes the longest to go through the self test cycle), they'll just give you an "R" sticker which is good for 60 days, and you can go back for a free retest when you've got the rest dealt with.