Return-Path: Received: from gs58.sp.cs.cmu.edu by K.GP.CS.CMU.EDU id aa28228; 16 Oct 92 14:25:39 EDT From: Michal Prussak Date: Fri, 16 Oct 92 14:25:27 EDT To: bovik@CS.CMU.EDU Subject: Inspection Station Opinion Below is my experience of doing an inspection. Since it also concerns Lifetime Tuneup at Center & Negley, it might go to tuneup section as well. ----------- I needed to have my 1986 Ford Escort inspected. First, I took it to Hi-Tech Auto Care on Butler St (I had a coupon for $10 inspection). They failed me right away, because there was a small section of rear light missing - about 1.5 inches long and half inch wide. That part was on the side of the car and was mostly decorative. Moreover, there was another layer of red plastic below, so there was no way for white light to escape from there. Conclusion: don't go there, if you have a small problem like this. Fortunately, the guy told me about it before they started doing any real work, so I didn't have to pay ofr it. Next, I was looking for another station, and I ended up in Lifetime Tuneup. Yes, I know they got poor reviews in Bovik, so I stayed there and watched them do it. They noticed the broken lamp, but didn't say anything about it. They passed/didn't check struts, which were pretty bad at the front. They didn't check the rear brake cylinders under the rubber caps, so they missed a slightly leaking brake cylinder. (I cleaned the cylinder before - if I hadn't cleaned it, they would easily see that it leaked; if they had checked under the rubber boots, they could have (or not) found that it was leaking). They measured the front rotor thickness (I suppose all places do that?). When they were putting the wheels on, they tightened the lug nuts with an air wrench, not a torque wrench - they should be done with a torque wrench, or else the brake rotors might warp. I failed there as well, but for a real reason - when they plugged the exhaust pipe, the exhaust gases were escaping through a small hole. I also failed emmissions, because of a bad carburator, and because of the hole in the muffler - they got CO and CO2 readings too low, because "air was sucked in through the hold in the muffler". They were really low - CO was some 100 times too low, while C02 didn't even register on the machine. The HC amount was 5 times over the limit ("running too rich"). I asked them about getting a muffler from them - they want $100 for it (lifetime warranty, installed). Thanks, I'll buy and install a muffler myself, for $25. After I told them that I don't need the muffler, they didn't want to talk to me anymore about getting the emmisions fixed. They did say, though, there is a $50 limit to get the emmisions within the specs (I'm not sure if this limit depends in any way on make and age of the car). They charged me $11.99 plus tax for inspection and emmisions. Michal