Re: The Service Engine Light: Your Mechanics Dirty Little Secret

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? > > 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.

Reply to
Tim Wescott
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My very favorite trick is when the service engine light comes on I do this: Hook up my OBD tester to get the code, then fix it. Second favorite is stuff where no light comes on, but something is wrong. Whatever is wrong, I fix it. For tricky stuff I break out the shop manual. Third favorite is I do regular maintenance stuff, like changing fluids, belts, hoses on a schedule, and change brake pads before they wear down to metal cutting the rotors. Same deal with drums.

Last time I did that my mech kept the car almost a week, and his crew used it to run shop errands, with a portable diagnostic machine attached. The problem I took it in for never happened to them. So I told him I wanted my car back. Tired of driving my wife to work in her car, then driving in the opposite direction to get myself to work. When I asked what the charge was, he said, "Nothing. Didn't do nothing. I'll get you later." Had more gas in it than when I dropped it off there too. But he did get me later (-:

--Vic

Reply to
Vic Smith

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The weak dick that wrote this could have googled "check engine light" in much less time than it took to write this crap, and found someplace to check it for free, and shared this with others.

And you are in the same company for pasting the dung here.

But he probably makes $40,000 to write dung for unsuspecting folks, so he wrote this. Sad.

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Reply to
Scott

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