Arrrgggghh. I have to remember that cars won’t just go forever without some drama. It seems like just yesterday that we put roughly $900+ in to our Honda for a new timing belt, water pump and seals. It was an easy decision to make because we fully intend to drive that car for as many miles as we can. It’s great not having a car payment and I definitely don’t want one in this economic environment.
Unfortunately, the downside to driving an older car (It’s a 2000 Honda Accord V6) is that occasionally it will break. This morning when my wife drove to work, the check engine light came on. She was only a couple blocks away when it happened so she came back home so that I could check for any obvious issues. I checked the oil, water levels and any signs that the alternator or battery were having trouble and didn’t see anything. I suspect that the oxygen sensor or some other sensor has decided to quit working and that’s what’s tripping the light on the dash. Unfortunately I can’t troubleshoot that myself so we are going to have to take it in to the shop where they’ll charge us a minimum fee just to tell us what’s wrong. Arrrgghhh.
It’s funny. Now that we are really focusing on saving money, things seem to just keep breaking. Thank goodness for emergency funds.
If you have an Auto Zone nearby you should give them a call first to see if they’ll pull the code for you. I believe most of them nationwide will do it for free.
Actually, I just commented about this very same issue over here: http://www.mymoneyblog.com/archives/2009/01/bought-a-obd-ii-code-reader-for-check-engine-light.html
While I’m not a mechanic. The check engine light will typically come on if 1) your gas cap is off 2) the oxygen sensor is bad 3) There actually is an emissions issue.
I’ve been “lucky” enough to have my check engine light go off enough times that every time it happens, I get charged the diagnostic fee and end up replacing sensor [and nothing is “wrong” with the car] YMMV
Take your car to your local Autozone or other small car parts place. Many will hook your car up for free to a diagnostic machine and tell you why your Check Engine light comes on. That COULD save you the $90 charge.
JonnyV,
THANKS FOR THE TIP. I had no idea. I’m going to take it over there tonight!!!
Hazzard
If somewhere is going to charge you 90 bucks to hook up an OBD-II reader and tell you what’s wrong, why not just buy one yourself and google the codes or find an accord forum and ask there?
This is one of the many reasons I love this blog. When I’m being a moron, there are plenty of people to help pick me up and send me in the right direction.
I’m going to Autozone tonight and if that doesn’t work, I’ll seriously look at a reader. There is a cool one out there called “Scangauge” that I’d like to get anyway because it reads error codes and also gives you real time speed, gas mileage etc.
Do you still follow any maintenance schedule?
Not really. The car has 100,000 miles on it. We are really due for a tune up so it will be interesting to see what the error codes show up as tonight when I go to Autozone.
I drove a 1991 Acura Integra for over 14 years. Periodically, I had to throw some money into it. Overall, once I had paid for it, the maintenance on it was never more than the payments on a new one would have cost me. Most of the time it was down around 30-35% of the payments. It just came in bursts.
I bet you have already tried this: sometimes reseating the gas cap tightly will cause light to go off. Odd, isn’t it?
Well, thanks to JonnyV’s advice, I went down to Autozone last night. They ran the ODB II diagnostic and it came back with a P1491 error code. After a bit of googling, it appears that is caused by a faulty EGR valve. Further investigation online shows it’s probably going to cost upwards of $400 to have it fixed. Apparently Honda had a recall on this if up to 80,000 miles. Of course our car has more than that so we are stuck with the bill.
Since it’s only an EGR valve, I may stall for awhile before getting it fixed.
I am glad I could help you out. I didn’t know about the Autozone thing until about a year+ ago when a “car guy” friend of mine told me about it. Pretty sweet deal!
Glad I could be of help. I enjoy the website.
Look at it this way – it’s only 1-2 months of a car payment to fix it…that’s the way I track these repairs. So with the $900 + $400 – $1300 that’s still only 3-4 car payments you’re making, as opposed to, um, 60+. It’s when the car costs you $400 a month to keep on the road that it’s time to get another one…
We have a 2000 Passat that I LOVE but have had to drop some bucks on – new clutch ($2100!!! but I got the timing belt, water pump, brakes & inspections done at the same time – you have to take the front end off to get to the clutch and, well the belt, water pump are right there and the belt had 75K miles on it), new heater unit, spent $2700 in the past year but I spent 0 for the past 3 years in payments so I’m still ahead.
If you are in fact going to get it repaired, I would recommend a Honda dealership. I use to dread the idea and the wait to get it from them. Though they are usually the best priced. I even thought my friend was kidding to check them out, they are inexpensive as I mentioned your on your timing belt. I paid $300 for the timing belt change with all the other items you mentioned.