# Vehicular neglect at its best, read on. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 12, 2017, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vehicular-neglect-at-its-best-read-on/796157 "2017-09-12T10:40:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2017, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vehicular-neglect-at-its-best-read-on/796157/21 "2017-09-12T15:53:30Z")
> [@gazpacho](#): > > Most of the US does not have personal vehicle safety inspections. I was going to say, probably the US. The only inspections I have to do here in Illinois is emissions every two years. There is no such thing as a roadworthiness inspection, at least with non-commercial vehicles. I’m sometimes amazed at the cars I see on the road here. When I was living in Europe in various places, people found this astounding. To be honest, now that I think about it, I do too. ---
**Author:** ![BeeGee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5a626/32.png) [@BeeGee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeeGee)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2017, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vehicular-neglect-at-its-best-read-on/796157/22 "2017-09-12T17:54:09Z")
“Moved states”, “calibre”, “dodginess”, etc. suggests not the US, though he might be trying to give that impression. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2017, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vehicular-neglect-at-its-best-read-on/796157/23 "2017-09-12T17:59:25Z")
He seems to have an objection to people with more than one computer monitor, as well. What an odd thing to be offended by. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2017, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vehicular-neglect-at-its-best-read-on/796157/24 "2017-09-12T18:17:51Z")
> [@BeeGee](#): > > “Moved states”, “calibre”, “dodginess”, etc. suggests not the US, though he might be trying to give that impression. The OP’s posts read British to me, and the HiAce was sold there until 2012. However, the UK has stringent inspection requirements for older vehicles (“MOT”). I’m guessing Australian, as cars that would be scrapped in Japan are exported there. ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2017, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vehicular-neglect-at-its-best-read-on/796157/25 "2017-09-12T18:19:51Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I was going to say, probably the US. The only inspections I have to do here in Illinois is emissions every two years. There is no such thing as a roadworthiness inspection, at least with non-commercial vehicles. I’m sometimes amazed at the cars I see on the road here. When I was living in Europe in various places, people found this astounding. To be honest, now that I think about it, I do too. I was thinking about this after my post. There are probably laws requiring you to have a roadworthy vehicle. So it is not true to say the OP’s car is legal to drive in the states it is just there is probably no mechanism to enforce it. Even in places that require inspections they tend to be every few years. The trend seems to be that older cars need to be inspected more frequently. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2017, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vehicular-neglect-at-its-best-read-on/796157/26 "2017-09-12T18:20:22Z")
> [@BeeGee](#): > > “Moved states”, “calibre”, “dodginess”, etc. suggests not the US, though he might be trying to give that impression. Also, " wankers." ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2017, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vehicular-neglect-at-its-best-read-on/796157/27 "2017-09-12T18:34:11Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > The OP’s posts read British to me, and the HiAce was sold there until 2012. However, the UK has stringent inspection requirements for older vehicles (“MOT”). I’m guessing Australian, as cars that would be scrapped in Japan are exported there. “Moved states” is a phrase that might occur in Australian use, since they have [states too](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/States_and_territories_of_Australia). (Also, that phrase doesn’t strike me as particularly American; I would have expected “changed states” or “moved to a different state”. But don’t rely too much on that; the US is big and has a lot of idiomatic variability.) ---
**Author:** ![Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blue_blistering_barnacle/32/3386_2.png) [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blue_Blistering_Barnacle)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2017, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vehicular-neglect-at-its-best-read-on/796157/28 "2017-09-12T19:04:46Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > I’m not familiar with the HiAce, but here is some general advice. > > You really need to take better care of your vehicle. Brake pads wear out, and are fairly inexpensive to replace on most vehicles. You’ve completely worn out the brake pads and have been grinding metal on metal, ruining the rotors. You need new brake pads and new rotors. > > Hand brake snapping is just a cable. It’s farly easy to replace on most vehicles, but in general they don’t break very often. Given the state of your brakes, this indicates that the vehicle overall has been neglected and mistreated for many years. Most likely the cable rusted through and broke. > > A brake cable snapping doesn’t cause any lights to come on in most vehicles, except maybe the brake light on the dash. So you have at least three issues here: 1. bad brakes/rotors 2. broken brake cable 3. electrical issue > > Moving on to the electrical issue, this is most likely a bad electrical connection somewhere. Given the bad brakes and snapped brake cable, my first guess (without having any pics of the vehicle or any other info to go on) would be a bad ground. But really the problem could be in a lot of places. It might be one of the connections at the battery. It might be a faulty relay. Someone who is handy with a multimeter needs to check a bunch of things. Start at the battery terminals and work your way out. There was a car talk puzzler once, where a snapping hand-brake cable was associated with an electrical problem. I can’t recall hardly any detail about it, but it seemed to have something to do with the ground (and MAYBE a misconnected ground wire in the first place). ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2017, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vehicular-neglect-at-its-best-read-on/796157/29 "2017-09-12T19:07:34Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I was going to say, probably the US. The only inspections I have to do here in Illinois is emissions every two years. There is no such thing as a roadworthiness inspection, at least with non-commercial vehicles. I’m sometimes amazed at the cars I see on the road here. When I was living in Europe in various places, people found this astounding. To be honest, now that I think about it, I do too. One caveat… If the cops see something clearly wrong that may inhibit your ability to safely drive, they may pull you over. This can lead to anything from a friendly sharing of info, to a warning, to a ticket. If the car can’t be safely operated they’ll probably impound it. Common issues that will lead to being pulled over are lights being or a badly damaged windshield. Sadly it’s probably unlikely that the cops can tell you have no brakes unless you run through a stop sign/red light or crash into something. “Pull over!” “I can’t!” ---
**Author:** ![Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blue_blistering_barnacle/32/3386_2.png) [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blue_Blistering_Barnacle)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2017, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vehicular-neglect-at-its-best-read-on/796157/30 "2017-09-12T19:14:32Z")
Sorry, I was wrong, different problem. It was a clutch cable carrying load from the starter. [http://www.cartalk.com/content/collapsing-clutch](http://www.cartalk.com/content/collapsing-clutch) > [@](#): > > RAY: Well, what had happened was when the original guys put the clutch in, they failed to put in a little tiny piece of wire that goes from the engine block to the body of the car. It’s the conductive path for electricity that goes from the battery to the starter motor, through the block, through the body of the car and ultimately back to the battery. In the absence of this cable, the electricity must find a new conductive path to get from the battery, through the starter and back to the battery. Because this cable is missing and there is no other conductive path, it uses the clutch cable, and it burns it up. It makes it brittle. ---
**Author:** ![Blakeyrat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecd19e/32.png) [@Blakeyrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blakeyrat)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2017, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vehicular-neglect-at-its-best-read-on/796157/31 "2017-09-12T21:10:20Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > What country would allow you to drive something that broken down in the first place? Probably none, but the police aren’t omniscient, and they’re not going to be able to enforce that law until something happens that gives them an opportunity to inspect the car. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2017, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vehicular-neglect-at-its-best-read-on/796157/32 "2017-09-12T22:08:40Z")
> [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](#): > > Sorry, I was wrong, different problem. It was a clutch cable carrying load from the starter. > > [Collapsing Clutch | Car Talk](http://www.cartalk.com/content/collapsing-clutch) Huh. a missing ground strap caused an actuation cable (clutch in this case) to fail? How 'bout the same thing happening and the car depending on the handbrake cable for its desperation starter ground? 😕 And then after the improvised ground strap (brake cable) fails, the electrics go all eccentric because of improper grounding. How’s that for a hypothesis? ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2017, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vehicular-neglect-at-its-best-read-on/796157/33 "2017-09-12T22:18:51Z")
If I remember correctly, it was the clutch that made the ground connection so that the electrical stuff would work properly … thus the solution was adding a ground strap between the engine and body … The hypothesis is a good one … and it sounds like the OP’s rig is due for the cutting torch … perhaps an inspection is in order … [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vehicular-neglect-at-its-best-read-on/796157.md?page=1)