When to perform smoke test. 2001 car with 70000 miles turned up with CEL light on 6/4, last routine service 5/15. Service found gas cap loose, reset and tighten. 6/8 CEL on again, codes showed fauly evap canister assembly, replaced & reset, 7/9 cel light on, replaced gas cap and reset,8/11 cel on, replaced VSV valve reset,8/25, cel on, found hose eaten by mouse and replaced hose oil cooler…reset still ok to date. I have the hose, it is the same age as the car and it is surely worn. My thoughts are that, when there is difficulty interpreting the codes, should the smoke test be done sooner rather than later or does it cost too much? All this cost me a total of $518.00 and a lot of time.
Is your car subject to emissions testing?? If not, you could have simply ignored the light…
No, I find the light annoying. And, it could always be something needing a repair.
Never let a computer tell you what to do…If it’s something serious, you will know about it soon enough. But it’s your $520 bucks…That’s a lot of money for a $3 hose…
The total charge was $518.00 all of which went for the evap canister and replacement of same. This started because I asked the cost of a smoke test. Do you have that information?
http://www.nextag.com/evap-smoke/search-html
The test should take no more than 1/2 hour to perform…I’d say $100-$125 max.
ok, thanks…
A smoke test is just one part of the diagnosis. There are, also, electrical checks and scan tool evaluations. A smoke test is an avenue that the mechanic decides may be fruitful, or may not be. It’s not automatic. As for the proficiency of the mechanic, that’s beyond our purview.
Thanks, I do understand diagnostics and I appreciate your thoughts.