Herculiner + Heals = Tear!
On Monday, I had my 95 YJ emissioins tested to renew my registration. I thought I was saving time by going to a closer repair shop as opposed to the usual emissions place that I've used in the past which was another 5 mins away. For the first time in it's 8-year life, my YJ failed...and I think the failure is suspect. The $25 dollar test turned into a $500 repair before I could get the registration renewed. Needless to say, I was NOT happy. :evil:
They say it failed the NOX readings and that my cat converter was bad. Three hours, a $95 diagnostic, and a $400 cat converter later they said it failed the test again. But they discovered the test operator was running it in the wrong gear...once they fixed that, it passed. I asked if it would have passed in the first place, but they insisted that it wouldn't have and that the cat converter is bad. Once it fails, you have to have a repair certificate before it can be retested so you can't get a second opinion.
My cat converter was about 100K miles old so I guess its not out of the question that it could have been bad. Still, while there's no way to tell for sure, I have this nagging suspicion that if I took it to the place that I normally have it inspected, it probably would have passed the first time with only a $25 dollar charge. Furthermore, if it did fail, I would have been more trusting of the results. I took my 86 CJ to the other test station that I've used before and it passed the first time...and I think it's even running a bit rich.
Here's my lesson and suggestion: If your state requires emissions inspections, unless you trust the shop, go to one of the places that ONLY does emissions and oil changes. Repair shops have a bit of an incentive when a vehicle fails since they can charge typically high diagnostic fees and repair charges to a semi-captive customer. So given a test that can hinge on operator technique, don't take any chances.
On Monday, I had my 95 YJ emissioins tested to renew my registration. I thought I was saving time by going to a closer repair shop as opposed to the usual emissions place that I've used in the past which was another 5 mins away. For the first time in it's 8-year life, my YJ failed...and I think the failure is suspect. The $25 dollar test turned into a $500 repair before I could get the registration renewed. Needless to say, I was NOT happy. :evil:
They say it failed the NOX readings and that my cat converter was bad. Three hours, a $95 diagnostic, and a $400 cat converter later they said it failed the test again. But they discovered the test operator was running it in the wrong gear...once they fixed that, it passed. I asked if it would have passed in the first place, but they insisted that it wouldn't have and that the cat converter is bad. Once it fails, you have to have a repair certificate before it can be retested so you can't get a second opinion.
My cat converter was about 100K miles old so I guess its not out of the question that it could have been bad. Still, while there's no way to tell for sure, I have this nagging suspicion that if I took it to the place that I normally have it inspected, it probably would have passed the first time with only a $25 dollar charge. Furthermore, if it did fail, I would have been more trusting of the results. I took my 86 CJ to the other test station that I've used before and it passed the first time...and I think it's even running a bit rich.
Here's my lesson and suggestion: If your state requires emissions inspections, unless you trust the shop, go to one of the places that ONLY does emissions and oil changes. Repair shops have a bit of an incentive when a vehicle fails since they can charge typically high diagnostic fees and repair charges to a semi-captive customer. So given a test that can hinge on operator technique, don't take any chances.
