So I failed Inspection and Need Some Help

[thefro526]

I went today to get my car inspected, and wouldn't you know it I failed. So I have 3 problems I failed for:

1) My E-Brake Cable is too loose, I have pull it all the way up to hold the car in place. I searched and it said I can just tighten up the 10mm bolt on the brake handle. Is this ok to do? Or should I get new rear pads?

2) My speedometer didn't work, then on the way home it started to work once I got up to about 40-50 in fourth gear and then worked fine the rest of the way home. So I don't know what the problem is. Any help with this one would be greatly appreciated.

3) My exhaust has a leak, I think I'll either patch it with some Pb? weld that my dad got or get a new one.

Thanks a lot for any help, NICO FTW!!!!

[ZX88]

did you pass smog?

[thefro526]

Yeah I passed everything except the things listed. Lol if I would have failed smog I would have killed someone. J/k

[tramp_drift240]

you went to get it inspected, and your e-brake was loose....but your brakes still passed?

you should check the rear pads, if theyre fine, you might want to check the connecting points of the e-brake cable to see whats going on, hopefully youll be able to just tighten the nut and be done with it.

check the wiring to your speedo sensor on the transmission, it might be loose. if it actually worked correctly after you hit 40 or 50, im pretty sure thats what it would be. when was the last time you got your transmission fluid changed?

you could probably just patch the exhaust leak with something along the lines of pb just to pass.

we're still wanting to know if you passed emissions (if you have to do those) and if thats all you failed, inspection-wise

[thefro526]

you went to get it inspected, and your e-brake was loose....but your brakes still passed?

you should check the rear pads, if theyre fine, you might want to check the connecting points of the e-brake cable to see whats going on, hopefully youll be able to just tighten the nut and be done with it.

check the wiring to your speedo sensor on the transmission, it might be loose. if it actually worked correctly after you hit 40 or 50, im pretty sure thats what it would be. when was the last time you got your transmission fluid changed?

you could probably just patch the exhaust leak with something along the lines of pb just to pass.

we're still wanting to know if you passed emissions (if you have to do those) and if thats all you failed, inspection-wise

I think It may be the cable... on the e-brake like you said.

I change my trans fluid like 2 or three months ago, what would that have to do with the speed sensors operation though? Actually the reason I changed it was because I pulled the sensor out and dumped the fluid on my driveway.

And BTW I did pass emissions or smog or whatever you wanna call it.

[tramp_drift240]

yeah, old transmission fluid can mess up the speedo readings, but im not sure about that since you just changed it. i think. haha

maybe you should check the connections and whatnot on the speed sensor, since you pulled it out. something might've jiggled loose. were you having the speedo problems before you did that?

[thefro526]

I've been having speedo problems since I bought my car, and I've changed it to another sensor once and the newer sensor has been working randomly, I seems like it'll almost always start working on the highway around 40-50 and then works fine after that, but once the car sits for a bit it stops. also im running 80-90 in my trans instead of 75-90 if that makes a difference?

[tramp_drift240]

that sounds really odd. i havent had that problem, though, sadly.

not sure what to tell you about that one, haha. id still suggest checking the connections, because if theres a loose wire and it disconnects or grounds occasionally, it'd cause that kind of behavior.

[addisonblck]

you should be able to tyten the 10mm bolt on the brake cable....saw a thread earlier talking about this........ he was talking about makin ur own e brake cover but he said if it goes up too high you shoud be able to adjust it to where ever u want it to by that 10 bolt.

"In the up position. NOTE if you have to pull your E-brake boot all the way up, and into the back seat to get it to engage, look at the front of the e brake while the cover is off, there a little 10MM nut in there that you can adjust the cable, to tighten it up, simply tighten the bolt down, you can set it how you like it, I like mine to only come up about 7 inches from the center council. "as sed by vroom-chirp

zerothread/237484

but ur brakes do work though right?
Modified by addisonblck at 7:57 AM 3/8/2008

[ChuckNC]

About your speedo......mine starting working/not working at random a few months after I got the car. I checked all the connections and the speedo sensor but none fixed it until I got a used cluster from the junkyard and swapped out the speedometer into my cluster. It has worked fine since.

[tramp_drift240]

^ odd, because my single cam speedo was goin all crazy, but ever since i swapped the motor (not the transmission or speed sensor) and got the dohc gauge cluster, its worked fine.

maybe you should just replace the gauge itself?

[thefro526]

Yeah I'm really trying to avoid swapping my cluster but this is what it may be coming to. I think I'm gonna try and test all of the connectors and stuff to try isolate the problem tomorrow. Does anyone know what voltage a good sensor should read at about 10mph-15mph?

[thefro526]

Update!!! - Got most of my E-brake problems resolved today, My dad got me new pads and rotors for the rear and I tightened the E-brake up a bit so it works much much better, and it's within the 6-8 clicks recommended in the owners manual.

Still have the exhaust and speedo problems but, they should be worked out soon too. Thanks for any help so far!!!

[tramp_drift240]

you dont need to replace the whole cluster, you might just need to replace the speedometer with another unit. you can take out the speedo alone from the back of the cluster.

if you can just find someone with one, or if you can pick up just a speedo at a junkyard, itll work.

btw, sohc and dohc speedos are interchangable.

[CRyan]

This is why I love the rednecks down here in the south.

We don't have to do a brake test, exhaust leaks, SMOG, interior checks, none of that what so ever. We just have to have all our lights working. HAHA.

Good luck with it man - Besides, its not TOO big of a ticket if your cars not inspected . . . is it? ha

[thefro526]

It's not a big ticket but I don't like driving my car around with a big red rejected sticker on my brand new front windshield.

[Loki]

Jesus, what kind of place is doing your inspection? When I had mine done the guy basically made sure the lights worked and I had proof of insurance/title and sent me on my way. Haven't done smog yet, even though I need to. Reeeeallly putting that off.

[fourLUG_hero]

I got my car in April of 2007. I failed inspection for emissions about a week later. It is now March of 2008 and that same rejected sticker with the 4 is still there. So far, I've been hassled twice and ticketed once. The fine was only like 80 dollars. My emissions reading was 4087 NoX. The standard is 1376. I wonder if they've ever looked under my car to see that the cat is replaced by a test pipe.

[thefro526]

I got my car in April of 2007. I failed inspection for emissions about a week later. It is now March of 2008 and that same rejected sticker with the 4 is still there. So far, I've been hassled twice and ticketed once. The fine was only like 80 dollars. My emissions reading was 4087 NoX. The standard is 1376. I wonder if they've ever looked under my car to see that the cat is replaced by a test pipe.

Lol I have to get my car to pass inspections because of my parents and because I hate failing anything.

[thefro526]

Bump Time!!! Does anyone know what a speed sensor gives it output in? Is it in DC or AC? I think It's DC but, I wanna make sure I'm reading the sensor right.

[thefro526]

EPIC BUMPAGE!!!!!!!!!! Lol my car passed today and I'm overjoyed!!! Thanks to all of the people who gave advice to me. Should this ever come up in a search I'm going to post what I did to fix my problem.

I fixed the speedo by securing a lose wire and it's been working fine since.

I got a new exhaust off of eBay and It sounds great.

And finally I tightened the E-Brake Cable up and got new rear pads and it works fine.

Once again NICO FTW!!!! I thank you all.