I needed to renew the registration for my pickup truck, and an emission test was required. I went to the Kirkland test station on Monday, paid the $15 fee, and failed in all four categories (CO levels and CO2 levels for cruising and idling).
I had to spend at least $150 for repairs to receive a waiver, so I took it to Woodinville Import Auto Repair, which also does work on domestic vehicles. My dad had a positive experience with them, and they were listed as having an “Ecology Specialist” by the information given to me from the testing station. The repair shop charged me $280 for two and a half hours of labor and a new oxygen sensor. The oxygen sensor was $70, which seemed a bit high, considering I found it for half that on-line.
I had the pickup retested on Wednesday (for free) and it failed again. It passed the idle tests, but not the cruise. They gave me a waiver, so at least I can register it. Unfortunately, they said I would need to fix it or spend at least another $150 trying when I next registered it and needed emissions testing, in two years. I feel like I've already spent nearly $300, so I should get that waiver for free. I'm all for saving the environment, but I think it's ironic that I've only driven my vehicle for a few hundred miles in the last two years, so the amount of damage it has done to the ecology probably wouldn't buy a bale of hay.
Posted by seander at September 23, 2004 08:59 AM