Engine Light

So this is how it ends...

You buy a new car and just after the extended factory warranty runs out, the check engine light comes on! I hate this light, they should just print a money symbol beside it that comes on when the damage is over $500.00. My mechanical experience with cars is limited, I commute about 36 miles one way to work, you would be surprised what you see when you travel 72 miles 5 days a week? I find my self saying, "wow! never saw that before?"

For the most part I have maintained my car to the best of my ability, I have the oil changed every 3,000 miles, an ASE certified mechanic performs all the preventive maintenance. This cost a little more than doing it yourself but I don't dare change the oil myself anymore for fear of my neighbors calling in a HAZMAT accident waiting to happen. Can blame them, That's just my luck. Anyway the engine light appeared one day and I got nervous. The car was running fine but the light stayed on for about 2 trips. So I started to look on the Internet for advice and found that the local auto parts store has the computer that will tell me the code so I can know why the engine light is on. However, the code that showed up was what he called a dealer code and that I would have to take it to the dealer, "ca-ching ca-ching", and have them hook up to their computer to fix the problem. I was getting worried because if the parts store could not tell me how to fix it, then I was sure it was a serious problem. So I asked the clerk who checked my car if any code was given. He stated yes but the dealer was the only people who could tell me what the issue was so I asked him for a print out from his test. It showed the dealer code but not the problem. That piece of paper ended up saving me about $45.00 because I used the code number as a search tool on the Internet and found out that I had a Catalytic converter issue regarding unburned vapors. Turned out that a vacuum hose was loose and cost me nothing to fix. So the next time my Engine Light comes on I will be doing the same process. It might be able to save me money in the long run.

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Drive in Balance....