Ditto. My last state inspection involved honking the horn, operating the turn signals, and hitting the brakes....and I thought to myself...."Geeze, this is taking forever!"

But at least the cost remains steady at $5 per year!!

 

Our State only shoved a meter up our tailpipe and took a reading.
But they quit doing these years ago. No inspection anymore.

It all depends what the items are, if it's all items you expect to wear out.
Then it might be worth doing. Who gave your engine a 2 years remaining-
A car salesman?

 

The shop where it take to car to be serviced. He the one that said about 1+ years for the engine. I agree one part could be the problem. I love the HHR. What is the best way to replace the front bushings. I do not have a lift but have access to a garage with a jack.

 

PA. .. i knew there was a reason i left that state...though there are some 'good" inspection stations still around...

 

Get new control arms for around $89 each, they include bushings and ball joints. The tough part is turning the bolt 180 degrees past 90 ft/lb(I think).

Check your PM, for some help.

 

if the car is paid for, repairing it is a hell of a lot less than a car payment...

 

If you love the car, I say its worth it if the body is still straight and not showing signs of rust :) Remind me not to move to PA or any other inspection state.

 

I don't even have to do that much! Pull up and roll the front windows down if they aren't legal and hand over $20 for a 2 year inspection sticker!

 

donbrew is right - that 180 deg past I believe 85 ft lbs is a tough one - but it can be done with just a jack and some blocks of wood to prop the car up- check the HOW-TO section for the documentation I threw together for replacing the lower control arms, complete with new bushing snd ball joint as per donbrew. Count on 1.5 - 2 hrs per side if you work slow like me.

And if you posted some of the codes received, we might be able to give you some points on fixes for them - and yeah they are often related.

 

I used to always ditch my cars when I got a big replace list from a repair shop. But now that I have to keep 3 soon 4 vehicles running for the family, I can't afford that anymore.

Fix the stuff I can, price out and spread out the repairs as we can afford them. Saftey issues first of course.

Telling someone their engine has a year on it, if it's not using oil or any issues. Is good as a weather forcast for next year.