? for the Texans: inspections

[Anita]

Being from California, I dont have to go through the vehicle inspection that others do. Smog check, yes but inspection, no. And I am curious about what is going on with a friend and his vehicle. I hope I can explain this right.

Last week, he took it for an inspection. Either during the inspection or just before it, his "check engine" light came on. No apparent reason that he could find. They ran the code and it came up some sensor.

They replaced the sensor. They then told my friend that he had to run his truck 100 miles before being re-inspected, to see if the light would come back on after the computer re-set. At 130 miles the light came back on.

He goes back to them and they check the code. This time it is a transmission sensor - different code, different area of potential problem.

So now he goes to a tranmission place and get quotes for the sensor.. and for a new tranny. His truck performs perfectly well.

So my question is this... to pass inspection, does someone have to replace part by part, by part until he can get his vehicle in and it passes or when he runs out of money? Why do all my red flags just wave frantically when I hear about this?

[colmhd]

Oh you should see the dog and pony show we have to go through in Ireland,
I miss the smog checks,
The wheels get bounced and then it's hoisted onto a programmed shake table and the struts are shifted, the wheels get dragged to the side and spun, the lights are placed on readers, every single thing that should work on it including the cig lighter has to be working.If you have a tow hitch, that's checked, fluids.
Oh yeah if the check engine light comes on you're out(:/
That's how 5 came to change the struts recently.
Seems the front left was 5% less than the right)

Give the California smog test any day!

[etlsport]

not sure how texas works... but in MD you cant get a car through inspection if you have a check engine light or have had your computer cleared within a certain amount of time (10 days maybe?).. mileage is irrelevant iirc... in my old subaru my alternator was freaking out and causing all sorts of malfunctions and lights to come on.. so i of course failed my inspection.. i limped it home, had the light cleared and replaced the alternator, came back a couple weeks later and they passed it, didnt have any idea that id even failed the inspection before, didnt check the alternator or anything to see if it was replaced

[VX crazy]

Tell him to let a female take it in, I have never had any problems with codes, but I do have a huge cracked windshield that they slap the inspection sticker over. But they do hook it up, tell him to get the codes cleared at autozone and take it somewhere else to get inspected at 99 miles.....

[Ldub]

I wanted a native Texan to weigh in on this before I told my slacker inspection story...(none in ND)
I had to get my truck inspected when I lived in HI. (Kona)
I took it to the nearest small town to where I lived. (Kealakekua)
The guy had me pull it in to a stall, when I got out of the truck he said, "does everything work ?" I said "yes."
He said, OK that'll be $ x-amount (can't remembr) & gave me my sticker...
Needless to say, I always went there for inspection.
Gotta love the laid back island life !

[LittleBeast]

Yeah I have had a lot of experience in this department unfortunately. Most big cities monopolize on this kind of BS, and that is all it is BS. Tell your friend to go get it inspected somewhere else. I live in Houston and have my VX insured in Houston, yet I have it inspected on my trips home to see my family in Waco every time I need to why? Because of jerks at repair shops like the one you are talking about. The first time I went to get the VX inspected I had a few cracks in my belt and a check engine light and I went to two different places in Houston one which charged me $40 just to tell me that they could not inspect it, so I knew they were just trained to get as much money out of people as possible and I knew what the code was already and was completely fine to drive with this code, so I drove 20 minutes outside of Houston to Waller, TX and got my VX inspected for $10 and at the end they said oh yeah you know your check engine light is on right? And I said yes and they said ok drive safe! And I was on my way. This is a site by site thing, and I would just suggest trying some other inspectition places especially the ones in small towns with nice everyday mechanics. I know I am grossly summarizing big city inspection places as bad places, but that has been my experience more than just a hand full of times and at $40 for inspection in the city as compared to $10 outside the city I just make the trip personally! Just my 2 cents.

[kobie]

My Texas inspections experience is a little different. At each place that has told me that my car wouldn't pass inspection (not the vx), they didn't charge me. I've been to two that claimed my gas cap didn't hold a sufficient vacuum and tried to charge me for a new one. I've gone to other smaller cities and they claim that they wouldn't give me an inspection as I had to pass inspection in the same city that is listed on my driver's license- due to the smog check. If you can't pass inspection at one place try the next garage down the street. I went almost a year thinking my car wouldn't pass emissions inspection and found out I passed inspection with no work done at a garage a mile a way.