Who knows about NY car safety inspections?

[lakelover]

I discovered yesterday that I somehow missed having my car inspected by the end of December. I'm usually on top of that sort of thing even with 4 vehicles in the family to keep track of.

So I made an appointment to get it inspected on Monday. The trouble is that the "Service Engine Soon" light is on and is on most of the time. Will it pass the emissions test that way? Is there a way to reset it and clear the codes? What about unhooking the battery for a certain amount of time?

I'm in the process of looking for a car right now to replace this one (96 Lumina with 209,000 miles) and only expect to have it a few more weeks or at the most a month or two, so I don't want to put any more money into it. So really the goal is just to keep it on the road until then.

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: Who knows about NY car safety inspections?

I know in VT if the CEL is on .......it will not pass inspection....... being a 1996 it would here (in VT) be necessary to hook up to an OBD machine as part of the inspection.

The other half of the equation is the "who you know" in the inspection business........

FYI we have quite a few dealer's here that go to the CT auctions and sell nice used cars up here fairly cheap.

 

[lakelover]

Re: Who knows about NY car safety inspections?

I've got a couple people with connections keeping an eye out for what I want. I don't think it will pass here with the light on either. My garage man won't monkey around because he got caught doing that several years ago.

I have another car there today for work & will ask him if there's a legal way to get by when I see him.

 

[lakelover]

Re: Who knows about NY car safety inspections?

I guess I really need to know about unhooking the battery. If I can get it to the garage about 4 miles away with the light off, I'm golden.

 

[Summer Fun]

Re: Who knows about NY car safety inspections?

Once you unhook the battery you'll need to drive the car at least 100mi's.

When they plug the car in they'll see that you reset it.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: Who knows about NY car safety inspections?

LL, take the Lumina to an auto parts store. Usually they will read the codes for you. It might be a simple bad sensor or something. The Lumina would be worth a little more when you go to sell it with a recent inspection.

 

[lakelover]

Re: Who knows about NY car safety inspections?

Thanks, I may end up doing that. I won't be selling it, except maybe for scrap.

Usually when I'm done with a car, nobody wants it. I decided it wouldn't be safe for my trips to the lake when I had a flat a few weeks ago and the undercarriage was so rusty, there was no place to put the jack that didn't crush it. I finally got it lifted with a floor jack and a 2x6, and now am carrying a lever jack and 2x6, but it's not worth the trouble any more. It doesn't owe me anything.

 

[hostage]

Re: Who knows about NY car safety inspections?

As someone said go to a place like Advance Auto Parts, they can loan you out the scanner. They also have other tools they loan out, if you have to do any work on the car. If I was you I would look at a new car, NY is not kind on cars. My g/f had a 96 Lumina as well, that sucker liked to blow head gaskets and plug up the EGR Valve. We eventually sold it after she blew another head gasket to some craigslist stoners for a price of $420 lol. Of course we told them what the problem was, part cheap, labor not. If they could do it themselves, then they were good.

 

[lakelover]

Re: Who knows about NY car safety inspections?

Yeah, I know about those infamous intake manifold gaskets. I had mine replaced twice, the last time was several years ago and they used the redesigned gasket, no troubles since then. Overall it's been very reliable & a good performing car. One place I looked online gave a trade-in value on mine of $30! It's worth more as scrap metal!

 

[ezmobee]

Re: Who knows about NY car safety inspections?

Sounds like you don't have much hope of passing inspection CEL light on or not!

 

[timfives]

Re: Who knows about NY car safety inspections?

That won't work, even if the light is off, you it needs to be off for a given amount of miles or time. I had the same thing with my truck, i used an OBDII control unit to reset the light, but it was still throwing the code when they hooked it up to the computer. So i had to have it fixed, then drive it for over a 1000 miles to reset all of the computers internal codes. That being said, it may be worth a shot.
T

I guess I really need to know about unhooking the battery. If I can get it to the garage about 4 miles away with the light off, I'm golden.

 

[Ross72]

Re: Who knows about NY car safety inspections?

I had the check engine light come on in my Jeep. Went to Autozone and had them read the code and reset it. Turned out to be the o2 sensor, my mechanic told me drive it a 100 miles and bring it it. It passed but about 200 miles later the light came back on and I wound up replacing he sensor about a week after that.

My mechanic said there is not a specific number of miles you have to drive to reset everything, and it may or may not work. My advice would be to have an autoparts store scan it and at least find out what's wrong. It could be a cheap fix.

 

[bassman284]

Re: Who knows about NY car safety inspections?

LL, take the Lumina to an auto parts store. Usually they will read the codes for you. It might be a simple bad sensor or something. The Lumina would be worth a little more when you go to sell it with a recent inspection.

You thinking 15 bucks instead of 10?

 

[MTboatguy]

Re: Who knows about NY car safety inspections?

Jeeps are famous for the light coming on, I used to buy the O2 sensor every single time the code threw, now, I just reset it and drive it a few hundred miles and reset it a again..of course I have my own reader...so it is not a problem to reset it.

Wow, I just noticed, I made a new pay grade!

 

[lakelover]

Re: Who knows about NY car safety inspections?

You thinking 15 bucks instead of 10?

HA HA HA HA HA, something like that!

 

[lakelover]

Re: Who knows about NY car safety inspections?

I took it to my garage man and he read the codes & reset it. Said to drive it around over the weekend, my inspection is scheduled for Monday. Hope it stays out, just want to drive it until I find my "new" car. Codes were for multiple misfires and transmission.