Vehicle Inspection Dilemma, and how screwed I feel in the commie state of NJ

Factual Questions
1

My daily commuter, a 1997 VW Jetta, is hovering around 115,000 miles and the check engine light has been on. It is overdue for an emissions inspection in NJ, and a check engine light means ‘‘don’t even bother bringing it in’’, as they do not inspect cars with the engine light on.

The verdict is that it needs a new throttle body, which might cause the check engine light to go off. It could also go off and come on five hours later. Joy of joys: the damage is getting close to a thousand bucks. (the check engine light needs to be off for a few hundred miles and several days before they inspect it).

Now, to me, a 115k is chump change…plus the car runs like it did when it had 1k on it. I get 25-28 mpg in mixed driving, it doesn’t burn oil, runs good hot/cold and shows me no reason I couldn’t keep changing the oil and enjoy no car payments for years to come. The paint is still Ferrari red for cripes sake! It has ONE ding in it. ONE!!

But no, the commie state of NJ doesn’t care that it runs clean and fine…they just care that the engine light is on and thus is a faliure by default.

I am really at the point where a perfectly good (paid for) auto is going to the freakin scrap heap at 115k miles!? The interior doesn’t even show a sign of wear!

::sigh:: Is there some magical insight or other option I am missing?

2

Move to a more reasonable state?

3

Don’t come to NY, we’re pretty stringent.

Let me ask a question - I assume they will check to make sure the “check engine” light works, yes? So there’s no way you could disable the light entirely?

4

Is your gas cap screwed on tightly?

5

I take donations if you scrap it. I call first dibs.

6

Can you elaborate on this? I’m having the same issue where the Check Engine light comes on for a day or two, then disappears for a couple of weeks, then comes back on again. My car (99 Isuzu Rodeo) is at about 122k and in very good condition, like the OP’s; just had the scheduled maintenance taken care of. If it’s the gas cap, I’m going to laugh…

7

Why not take it to the state facility, where it will fail, and then take it to a private reinspection station who will actually inspect it?

8

New Jersey Smog Check and Car Inspection Exemptions & Requirements | DMV.ORG

http://www.carcare.org/Emission_Control/gas_cap.shtml

9

My understanding is that the private facility has to do the same thing, which is make sure it is clear of any check engine codes.

My only recourse is to find somebody who I could ‘take care of’ if he/she could somehow makes sure it passes. Back in the old neighborhood where I grew up in Philadelphia, I had “connections”

I ain’t got no NJ connections, and I don’t even know if the theoretical connection can sneak me through somehow.

10

Couple things.
You may be able to disable the check engine light for a day or so by disconnecting the battery for a couple of hours. Then re-connect it just before you fire it up to go the DMV test station.
Or, you can go to an Autozone and have them connect their computer up to your car to tell you what’s wrong. At least you’ll have a second opinion. Ask the guy kindly to reset the onboard computer while he’s at it. You may get a couple hours/days of NO check-engine light.

Or, you could make sure that just because the check engine light is on you can’t take it in. Actually call the DMV and talk to a technician. You may be able to take the car in anyway because there are a plethora of things that can make the CE light come on that won’t cause you to fail an inspection test.
You might be on the high side of some emmission parameter causing the CE light to come on but still on the PASS side as far as the test is concerned, if you know what I mean.
I just took a car in to have it tested with the CE light on and they couldn’t do the computer portion of the test (where they simply patch their computer into your car’s) so they had to put it on the rollers and drive it for a few minutes. It passed.

11

Just take the bulb out!

12

Gfactor,

Could.
I don’t think they mean to imply that you can’t take you car in to the test if the light is on. Transmission problems can cause the CE light to come on. I had a shift solenoid that went south and that caused the CE light to come on. It otherwise had zero effect on emmissions. Undetectable during their routine testing.

13

Thanks, Gfactor.

14

Disabling the light won’t work. Depending on how the inspection is setup, they’ll likely plug a code reader into the OBD port and it will tell them what fault codes have popped up and when.

So what code is it throwing, anyway?

15

The check engine light is enough for the failure.

16

Won’t work. As soon as they plug it in to the OBD II reader it’ll throw a code and most likely fail the test.

17

Right. Was coming back to post this:

http://www.state.nj.us/mvc/Inspections/FAQ.htm

18

Ok, NOW cite? I’d like to see this as fact from some source. What if there’s merely a disconnected wire somewhere giving the computer cause to display the CE light but in reality you have the cleanest running car on the planet?

Cool, looks like Gfactor beat me. I shall read the linked material. :wink:

19

OK, to be fair, what Gfactor quoted was in this section;

It still does not say that you may not bring in your car if the CE light is on.

20

I want to make sure I’m understanding this:
-The check engine light comes on, most likely because of the throttle body that needs replaced. Repair bill is $1000.
-While the CE light is on (because of this) other faults may develop that would also cause the CE to come on, and may be more likely to cause serious damage to the car you use every day to get back and forth to work.

Why not get the known repair done, and then have it inspected immediately afterwards?