Service engine soon help

[Barbs4339]

Just got my stimulus check deposited yesterday so of course my engine light came on. I have a 99 Oldmobile Intrigue with about 72k miles on it. I took it to Midas and they told me that the EGR valve needs to be replaced. The cost would be $494.00. That seems excessive to me but my knowledge of cars is weak. They also suggested a tune-up for about $350.00. So over $800 for a car that I could get about $1200 for. Does anyone know anything about the EGR valve and if the cost seems excessive or not. The only thing I could find on the internet suggested that the car would still be fine without replacing it. Any help is appreciated.

[aracko]

First off a Tuneup should not cost that much. Take your car to Als Service center in South Milwaukee. He is honest and thats all you can ask for. Buy your part on your own and take it to a regular autoshop to have done. Just a corner guy, you know?

 

Autozone has your part for 150.99

So give them the benefit of doubt and mark it up to 225.00 and thats alot of labor! From the limited knowledge I know and a few google searches - its a pretty easy repair and might be fixed by simply spraying some Carb cleaner on it because they do get clogged.

 

 

Places like Midas - I think they give deals on breaks and mufflers but those places for repairs are horrible.

[tristarscoop]

Fazio's Automotive on the East Side and Farkas Auto in Brown Deer are two places I'd absolutely recommend. They won't gouge you.

[Houlie24x]

You could possibly clean the EGR first. It may not end up helping the problem but its worth a try before you spend that much money. If you did it yourself or had a friend who can work on cars, you could just remove two bolts and spray some carb cleaner in the EGR. For now, if the light bothers you, you could also just disconnect your battery cable for a few minutes, reconnect it and that will shut off the light. Theres a small chance it won't come back on but if it did it wouldn't hurt if you wanted to keep driving like that, you would just fail your next emissions test.

[Patrick425]

In the last couple of cars I owned, the service engine light came on at some point. I called the dealer and they told me not to worry about it and it was probably that I just did not tighten the gas cap properly. So, each time it happened I adjusted or tightened the gas cap. Soon after, the light went off.

[Barbs4339]

Excellent advice everyone. I will contact a friend of mine that has some car knowledge to see if he can help me out. I will try just cleaning it before I do anything else. I will also disconnect the battery to get the light to go away. I just had the emmissions done so I should be good for the next 2 years. Midas was actually suggested by my dad who recently had his brakes done. After this, I would agree that they give great deals on brakes to get people to come there for all of there repairs and then gouge them pretty good. As it stands, I have cancelled the repair, but still owe $65.00 for the diagnostic test. What ever happened to a free estimate?

[Teatoe993]

As it stands, I have cancelled the repair, but still owe $65.00 for the diagnostic test. What ever

happened to a free estimate?

 

 

The equipment needed in order to get into the computer systems for the modern day vehicle is crazy expensive. Plus a technician needs to be paid for the time spent diagnosing the vehicle. Many times, it takes way more time to diagnose the problem than it takes to fix it. Gotta charge for it. But the estimates are always free.

If the car just passed emissions, I wouldn't worry about it. Your will probably have much bigger problems in 2 more years. A tune up is not a bad idea though. Replace the plugs, wires, fuel filter, air filter, etc.

 

Edit: By the way, I'd charge around $350 at the most to replace the EGR Valve. $60 Labor, $240-$290 for the part depending on which motor you have. And I'd also charge the $70 for diagnostics. And I always estimate high. So Midas probably isn't the best place to go.

[mothershipconnection]

Best advice is not to go to Midas. Even for my V8, I found a place that'd do the tuneup for $150 - though I said no thanks and did it myself for around $30.

 

 

After this, I would agree that they give great deals on brakes to get people to come there for all of there repairs and then gouge them pretty good.

 

That's all they do. They'll sell you a "cheap" brake job, but try going in there to have them just change the pads and do nothing else - ain't happening. They're gonna tell you your hub assemblies, rotors, and brake calipers all need to be replaced, and that becomes a $1,500 "$60 brake job". We took my ex's car there one time and they said it needed like $1200 worth of work, and I knew enough about cars to call shenanigans. We took it to another shop and they said "of those repairs, the only one that's maybe, possibly necessary is replacing the rotors, and even that's pretty iffy". We went with their advice and still had no problems when she traded the car in about 2 years later. To top it off, they told us she needed a new hub assembly at about $500 because one wheel was wobbly, which we had never noticed until after we left them and the car shook. The other shop found out that the real problem was that Midas didn't tighten the lug nuts and we were lucky the wheel didn't fall of because of their negligence (and NOT a mechanical defect).

[twobrewers]

Autozone has your part for 150.99

So give them the benefit of doubt and mark it up to 225.00 and thats alot of labor!

Mechanics get huge discounts on parts from part dealers. I bet the mechanic would pay about $85 for that part.

[brewerfan0425]

I had the same problem in my 2002 Explorer, go to Autozone and see if they will do a diagnostic test on your car. It may cost a little because its an older car. Chances are that it is just the sensor, mine cost $28 and my uncle put it in and cleared the code out of the computer. Dont even think of going to Al's Garage in South MIlwaukee, he'll just gouge you like he does everybody else. I've lived in South Milwaukee for 20 years and heard maybe 3 good things about him.

[aracko]

The guy just put a new radiator in my Father In Laws 85 Camaro for 100.00. The amount of repairs he has done for me I cant even count. I guess its your opinion, but mine is that he is an honest man who does good work at a very good rate.

[Barbs4339]

A couple things to add about my Midas experience. They told me the wrong part two different times when I asked them what was wrong. It was the EGR valve but the guy kept telling me EZR. Probably didn't want me pricing out the part on the internet. Also, I remembered a friend of a friend's dad has been a mechanic for 40 years so I called him and he agreed to help me out. He wanted me to get the diagnostic code from Midas and they proceeded to tell me P400. That is not an actual code. When I went to pick up my car last night I asked for the code again and he first told me P400, and when I said that is not a real code, he told me the correct one which is P0401. Anyways, the diagnostic equipment may cost a ton on money, but I just paid $70.00 for the same thing that AutoZone charged me ZERO dollars for. I took it across the street from Midas and had them pull the code for me, they do it for free for anyone that doesn't know that, and they got the same code that Midas got.

 

Anyways, this is all a lesson learned and after all of this, I do not care how good of a deal they give on brakes, I will never take my car back to a Midas. Fist step is to replace the gasket($1.69) and clean the EGR valve. If that doesn't work, then I can get a new valve at the GM dealer cost. .

[Chio151]

I consider Midas the nightmare of all car places.

 

I now go to Tuffy in Waukesha, who is very honest and fair.

[1992casey]

Anyways, the diagnostic equipment may cost a ton on money, but I just paid $70.00 for the same thing that AutoZone charged me ZERO dollars for.

The free diagnostic thingers at places like AutoZone will work if the "Service engine soon" light is lit. If the problem is intermittent and the light is off, then you have to use one of the paid thingers that Midas or a car dealer would have. From what I understand, cars with OnStar can be diagnosed for free without visiting a mechanic.

[mothershipconnection]

A lot of cars can actually diagnose themselves. There's often a series of button presses you can perform that brings up a menu that will give you the history of trouble codes the system has reported.