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Drive a taxi. It's fun. Really.
May 13, 2003
The taxi I've been driving since Sept 2002 developed a case of the shakes over the winter. It would run fine for 10 minutes, then decide to behave like a slug, acceleration-wise. At idle (red lights) it shuddered, as if one of the spark plugs wasn't firing. When pushed, it would send up a gust of rotten egg exhaust you wouldn't believe. In short, it wasn't running quite right. However, drivers who work for my garage realize when difficult problems involving engine emissions get solved: taxi inspection time! Yes, 3 times a year by the Taxi & Limousine Commission. I'll ditch my normal grab-bag of insults for the TLC for the moment.
Inspection for this taxi, 3G15, is due by May 28, 2003. It will fail spectacularly. While driving Mr. 3G15 last night I found myself simultaneously accelerating heavily and glancing into the rear-view mirror (don't ask). I saw a plume of nasty particles following my taxi that could only be described as wicked impressive. It was so cool that I attempted to replicate it. It wasn't difficult. The cab is way messed up, and both the day guy and I's tentative hypothesis about the nature/cause of the original problem is probably correct: the catalytic converter got clogged/fouled, and has now pretty much ceased being any kind of factor, besides applying excessive back-pressure on the engine (thus the shaking, lame acceleration and lousy gas mileage).
I'm hoping that it isn't anything more involved than that. You may be surprised at how decrepit a taxi can get after only 55,000 miles. Beside some electrical problems involving the power-window control console and some initial 'sleepy meter' problems, 3G15 has been more or less excellent. This emissions problem has been annoying, but hopefully they'll finally fix it, since they can't fake a clean-running car. The days of corruption at TLC inspection are long gone.
Inspection for this taxi, 3G15, is due by May 28, 2003. It will fail spectacularly. While driving Mr. 3G15 last night I found myself simultaneously accelerating heavily and glancing into the rear-view mirror (don't ask). I saw a plume of nasty particles following my taxi that could only be described as wicked impressive. It was so cool that I attempted to replicate it. It wasn't difficult. The cab is way messed up, and both the day guy and I's tentative hypothesis about the nature/cause of the original problem is probably correct: the catalytic converter got clogged/fouled, and has now pretty much ceased being any kind of factor, besides applying excessive back-pressure on the engine (thus the shaking, lame acceleration and lousy gas mileage).
I'm hoping that it isn't anything more involved than that. You may be surprised at how decrepit a taxi can get after only 55,000 miles. Beside some electrical problems involving the power-window control console and some initial 'sleepy meter' problems, 3G15 has been more or less excellent. This emissions problem has been annoying, but hopefully they'll finally fix it, since they can't fake a clean-running car. The days of corruption at TLC inspection are long gone.
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