The Service Engine Light: Your Mechanics Dirty Little Secret Submitted
> by G.E. Miller on Sunday, 31 May 2009
>
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> If you?re like me you shiver at the thought of paying hundreds of
> dollars for major vehicle repairs. Well, the dreaded ?service engine?
> light came on in our Pontiac Grand Am this past week. Even more, you
> dread paying $100 just to have your mechanic take a peek at your vehicle
> to tell you that nothing is wrong with it ? but that?s what you get for
> being a reponsible auto-owner. Or is it?Â
>
> There is an alternative to those annoying ?take a peek at it? vehicle
> labor expenses. And it costs nothing. The service engine light comes on
> in your vehicle because the computer has diagnosed that something ain?t
> quite right. When the light comes on, a code is stored as the reason for
> triggering the light. When you take your car in to get it checked out,
> the mechanic hooks up a little diagnostic computer to your vehicle?s
> computer. They will then get a code and description that tells them what
> the issue is.
>
> The Mechanics Dirty Little Secret
>
> What your mechanic probably won?t tell you is that you really didn?t
> need to shell out $100 just for them to hook up their little machine.
> You can get that for free at most auto-parts stores. I?ve had this done
> at Napa and Advance Auto Parts. It costs nothing. The auto part stores
> carry these to cater to DIY?ers in hopes that they, in turn, buy the
> auto parts at their store to make the fix on their own. It takes them 1
> minute to do this.
>
> I was relieved to find out that the cause for the light to go on in my
> car was a possible vapor leak coming from my gas cap, caused by a weak
> spring in the cap. The gas cap costs $10. The store can also reset the
> computer so that if the problem persists, the light will come on again.
> If it doesn?t, problem fixed.
>
> There probably are some honest mechanics out there who won?t charge you
> for this. But good luck finding one.
>
> To the Readers:
>
> * What clever techniques have you used to avoid vehicle service > fees?
> * How much were you charged to have your car ?looked at??
To summarize: The OP wants to be able to drive into any mechanic's parking lot, interrupt his/her work, not only find out what the car thinks is wrong but get the benefit of the mechanic's experience with that particular car and trouble code, chat for half an hour about things the mechanic couldn't care less about, then drive off to a cheaper mechanic or the auto parts store -- for free. All the while, the mechanic in question is earning no money, while he has a shop full of equipment that's depreciating or accruing rent, and possibly staff that's sitting idle -- all at just the same speed as it would be as if he were charging billable hours.
"Dirty secret" indeed. I think I'd want $200.