On
3/28/00 I took my car to the state
Motor Vehicle station to get the mandatory
annual inspection. There was no
line, which was nice, because the long lines at
New Jersey's
DMV inspection stations were a steady
news item for a while... I had just got an
oil change, and the car was
behaving about as well as I might
wish at 104,000 miles. So, I was kind of
let-down when
they failed the car for an
exhaust leak.
In my mind, that means that the entire exhaust system, including the
catalytic converter, will have to be replaced. Local
mechanics have staked a living on me feeling that way. So, I gave myself a few weeks to get a
raise and deal with
income tax and worry about something other than THE FREAKING CAR FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MONTHS
<*deep breath*>
Today, then, I went to the local
Midas shop and asked them to
pinpoint the leak and give me an
estimate for repairs. I sat reading a
computer magazine from
last September ("look for 700MHz
AMD's by the end of the year!"), and eventually the
manager came back and said, "Couldn't find a
leak, although your catalytic converter is a little rattle-y."
Cars don't heal, so
what happened here?
Could it be a conspiracy to keep people from going to the free, state-run inspection stations?