Is It Time To Say Goodbye

My 2004 Hyundai Elantra GT just needed $1200 for a new battery, alternator, and then started over the course of six weeks. Now, the check engine light is on and it’s going to be $185 just to scan the codes, which means another few hundred dollars probably to fix whatever is causing the light to turn on. Is it time to find something new?

All of the problems you have had fixed so far are normal wear items that any car would be subject to. Take the car to Autozone and have them read the codes for you - they’ll do it for free. Then report back here with what the codes are (be sure to get the actual codes, in P1234 format, not Autozone’s interpretation of what the codes mean) and we’ll see if we can help you figure out where to go from here.

$1200 is a little steep for that kind of work. Instead of changing cars, consider changing where you have service done.