2006 09 27 You're a Slimebag

Great title for my first blog entry.

Well, it's true. I tried to sneak my car through the NY State Emissions Inspection. And the mechanic called me on it, and he wasn't too happy. Man, when he called you could hear the accusation in his tone. It was like he had dealt with "people like me" before and didn't care for the type.

But here's what I was thinking… I had just spent $500 on maintenance on the other car, and we have no money right now! A different mechanic told me that replacing the gas cap on my van would probably fix the problem, so I bought the gas cap and just had them reset the check engine light. So if the gas cap didn't fix it, the problem would be a faulty sensor which wouldn't hurt anybody anyway (but would cost a few hundred to fix). So the car would pass inspection, and then I would get another year in which to fix the problem. No problem, right?

Wrong. They didn't tell me that clearing the diagnostic computer put the system in a "not ready" state that can't be tested. And the mechanic that was to do the inspection had already scraped the inspection sticker off the window. So now I have to do an insane amount of driving to get the computers to reset, all with a patch-work inspection sticker I tried to reassemble jigsaw-like and tape back onto the window. Great deal. If I hadn't tried to be so crafty, I wouldn't be in this position now.