The check engine light came on in the car. It didn't seem to have any driving issues but I decided to take it to the dealership anyway to get it checked out and make sure it was safe to drive. I waited in there for hours. I don't know what they were doing but eventually they came back and basically threw up their hands not knowing what is wrong with it. They said it's probably because the temperature and humidity is high so some kind of "atmospheric condition" is causing a problem in the gas/evap system and causing the light to illuminate. They said it wasn't a safety issue and they erased the light.
Well, it wasn't 2 days later the light was back on. I decided to ignore it since they said it wasn't a safety issue. But then I started noticing the car was using a lot of gas. I used to get 29-32 mpg city driving and now I'm lucky if it gets 20! I started doing research on this problem and narrowed it down to a charcoal canister which is located near the fuel tank underneath the exhaust system. I talked to a mechanic who was kind enough to direct me to another part under the hood. It was very easy to remove and check, but it turned out to be fine. The mechanic then said it's very likely to be that charcoal canister if that part under the hood wasn't bad (I'm sorry I don't remember what that part was called).
Because the car is so old and has many other issues and because I rarely drive, I decided not to do anything about it and just live with the terrible gas millage. The part itself is nearly $400 and since the exhaust system would have to be removed to replace it, I wouldn't be able to do it myself so the labor would probably be as much or more. I can't see sinking that much money into a rusty old car that has other problems as well.
And the car had less than 60k miles on it when this started! This plus the other problems that just seem to happen while my car sits in the garage are very frustrating.
The check engine light came on in the car. It didn't seem to have any driving issues but I decided to take it to the dealership anyway to get it checked out and make sure it was safe to drive. I waited in there for hours. I don't know what they were doing but eventually they came back and basically threw up their hands not knowing what is wrong with it. They said it's probably because the temperature and humidity is high so some kind of "atmospheric condition" is causing a problem in the gas/evap system and causing the light to illuminate. They said it wasn't a safety issue and they erased the light.
Well, it wasn't 2 days later the light was back on. I decided to ignore it since they said it wasn't a safety issue. But then I started noticing the car was using a lot of gas. I used to get 29-32 mpg city driving and now I'm lucky if it gets 20! I started doing research on this problem and narrowed it down to a charcoal canister which is located near the fuel tank underneath the exhaust system. I talked to a mechanic who was kind enough to direct me to another part under the hood. It was very easy to remove and check, but it turned out to be fine. The mechanic then said it's very likely to be that charcoal canister if that part under the hood wasn't bad (I'm sorry I don't remember what that part was called).
Because the car is so old and has many other issues and because I rarely drive, I decided not to do anything about it and just live with the terrible gas millage. The part itself is nearly $400 and since the exhaust system would have to be removed to replace it, I wouldn't be able to do it myself so the labor would probably be as much or more. I can't see sinking that much money into a rusty old car that has other problems as well.
And the car had less than 60k miles on it when this started! This plus the other problems that just seem to happen while my car sits in the garage are very frustrating.
- mjw22, Traverse City, MI, US