Destructive charities (was: STAPLES STORES...)

From: Mike Ford <mikeford_at_socal.rr.com>
Date: Fri Feb 15 07:00:12 2002

>>The car that can't pass emissions is like the computer that won't run. It's
>>of no real use, except maybe for parts.
>
>Um... WRONG... the $4,000 Toyota just needs a new cat ($100 in parts and
>$80 in labor). The guy just felt like buying a new car. But since he

Short answer, my Lincoln dealer wanted a $1000 authorization to even look
at my smog test failing Mark VII, and if it did prove to have bad cats
would only replace them with Ford parts which were over a grand. Charity
looked pretty good, but I EVENTUALLY found a cheapo muffler shop that
replaced both cats for $187.

Long answer.
Knowledge is power. 4 years ago my 86 Lincoln Mark VII was running a tad
funky at emissions testing time, and by a TINY margin failed one element of
the smog test (HC I think). So I figure bad gas, and run the tank empty and
fillup with premium, then go back for the free retest. Again it fails, but
from the opposite too lean (maybe) and I get the first repair quote of $125
to "clean" the injectors. Well this roasted my chicken, since I was at the
Mobil station getting the test where I bought all my gas, that was supposed
to be keeping my engine clean. Anyway I do it, but the pretest still shows
me failing and now its worse, which the mechanic says means the O2 sensors
are bad and need $250 of replacing, and much more expensive it could need
cats for $700.

Gotta be someplace cheaper, so I hunt up a gas station that buys just Mark
VII cars and fixes and parts them out. For $200 he agrees on the phone to
sell me the whole front end of the exhaust system, but when I arrive that
doesn't include the O2 sensors, or a gaurantee they work (ie will pass the
test). Eventually the guy talks me into $30 worth of trying some
"adjustments", but he actually runs a "real" smog test to check his
results, which failed miserably, and due to the hook up of his test rig to
the DMV my car is permanently classified as a GROSS POLLUTER requiring
special testing on all future smog tests. <surprizingly the fellow is still
alive> (mostly due to me not knowing how screwed I was until later)

Finally, after I have well passed the license renewal date and have a
whopper penalty, I go to a better mechanic and he assures me the next step
are O2 sensors, then cats, and I pop for the O2, and after that fails to
fix, I hunt down some cheap cats and ouila, everything is perfect, except
its a gross polluter on the license for life even though it measures like
new. The ticket my wife got for expired tags was a real thrill too.
Received on Fri Feb 15 2002 - 07:00:12 GMT