SO, after all the work I did on the car (plugs, new O2 sensor, knock sensor), I take the car to inspection on my lunch hour. They FAIL the car! WHY? The d@#$ third brake light (spoiler) and cracked wiper blades!!! WTF????? That third brake light hasn't worked in two years AND it passed last year.
Everything else passed- no codes.
I've been asking people in Classifieds and either they want to sell the whole spoiler or they never respond. So I guess I'll be getting one from Spoiler Lights and modify it, since my light has 4 holes and theirs has three. I'll check again in Classifieds, but if anyone has a spoiler brake light that works and they don't need it, please drop me a line.
Thanks.

The update is that after the stuff I replaced, the car feels good. Good power and great mileage. I stretched it to see how far I could go and got 446 miles on a tank, and the light had not come on yet (it works). That's mixed city/highway driving- about 40/60 split. B4 the service I would regularly get about 400-410 miles on a tank.

 

why don't you just go to a pick-a-part dump and get the light piece?

 

yeah, those LED light bars in the spolier are extremely expensive if you buy one brand new. Look for one in a junk yard.

 

Problem is how you can tell if the one in the junk yard works??
Even if they are cheaper, I'd hate to have to go back out there.
The ones on Spoiler Lights aren't too bad (less than the dealer), some have three holes, some have four, etc.

 

i've never had reason to take apart my spoiler so i have no idea how the light fixture is constructed but i would say it is not the common for the thing to break.

why don't you take your fixture out, take it to the junk yard and ask them if you pull it can you test it and if it doesn't work pull another etc.

i would imagine you are gonna pay like $10 or something real cheap at a junk yard. it is probably worth your time to go that route and it would be a direct insert instead of having to modify it.

 

i just looked at my spoiler and it only has three holes. they must have changed that at some point just to give you a heads up.

 

Damn that sucks,check the classifieds to see if anyone has a spoiler light for sale.

 

Yeah. My light has been out for two years and always passed. I started checking things out about a year ago and looked at a couple cars myself. Some have four and some have three. Not sure if it starts with a specific model year or anything.

There are just three bolts that hold it in. I see ones that don't work all the time. Sometimes only a few of the LEDS will crap out as opposed to the whole thing.

I forgot I had taken pics when it first went out:
http://target.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph...nm=52d1re2.jpg

It's just so ironic. Cops will be behind me and not pay any attention to me, and I fail inspection for that AND wiper blades. I think the wiper blades is the one that pisses me off more than anything.

 

So your ranting about 2 very important personal safty issues.
The first being the non functional 3rd brake light so you don't get accidently rear ended and the second being wiper blades that will no longer wipe your windshield clear in the rain.

Am I missing something here?

Me thinks you've got the ID 10 T virus going on inside your head.

 

This is a head-scratcher.

 

Uhmmm, let's see. I have TWO OTHER BRAKE LIGHTS in the back that DO WORK. And people can and do get rear-ended regardless of whether the brake lights work or not.
As far as the wipers go, as far as I'm concerned, they work. I just came back from a long distance trip in the rain with no issues. They may need to be replaced, but it wasn't like they were falling off the blade. The "finger & thumb test" on wiper blades is not what I would consider a reliable method for determining the condition of a wiper blade.
This very same board once almost universally dismissed the idea of FLASHING third brake lights that are now common place on many cars, so WHO's concerned about Safety?

 

Not you?

--------------------

 

apparently it is the state of North Carolina that is concerned about safety.

 

It's like flogging a dead horse on here. As I said in the first post, the light has been OUT for TWO years and has passed before. So, to ask Kingmax his OWN question, based on that, would YOU say NC is concerned about my safety? If anyone can prove (other than using a government study) that the third brake light reduces rear end collisions then fine. I'm not arguing about replacing the light. I had every intention of doing it, but I never thought the car would FAIL because of it, especially AGAIN, since it passed the last two years,with the light out.

 

And to think that in Michigan, we don't ever have emissions or other safety inspection for our vehicles. Actually, only time I've ever needed my car to pass an inspection was when I took my road test to get my driver's license.

 

from my dealings with inspections when I lived in raleigh alot of it depended on where I took it to get inspected, some places are more strict than others. One thing I did learn was to make sure everything on my car was in working order. I wouldn't go up there with anything malfunctioning or worn (i.e. malfunctioning lights, turn signals, worn tires, or wiper blades) it just gives them another excuse to fail you and is a waste of your money and time. The third brake light was made manditory I believe in the late 1980's to help avoid rear end collisions especially at night( somebody riding their brakes could have been mistaken for just having their lights on). Like I said it all depends on where you take the car and who is inspecting it.

 

As the dude gave me the fail cert, he told me that the station had just been fined for an inspection infraction the week b4. It's just my kharma...

 

try and ask around to see about places that tend to be more leiniant

 

can't believe that they failed your car becasue of the spoiler break light...where the hell do you live...