David Pitlyuk

We all dread that check engine light flashing on the dash, don’t we? It usually means to get ready and drop some cash and get something fixed. A buddy of mine with a Ford Escape had a check engine light pop up, so he took it to the dealership to see what was wrong. He paid something like $80 just to check it out…not even fixing anything.

Sometimes a check engine light can come on for something as minor as the gas cap needing replacement. Do you really want to pay $80 just to find out you need a new $5 gas cap? Wouldn’t it be nice to find out what the problem is for free before deciding on dropping some cash? I found out that you could when my maintenance light came on my Honda Accord.

I was driving, and all of the sudden a yellow maintenance light came on the dash. I later found out that this was not the check engine light, but a “timed” warning to take the car to get serviced…aka, pay the dealership money…but more on that later.

The reason a check engine light comes on in the first place is because the cars computer is throwing an error code. The computer is known as OBD, or on-board diagnostics. On 1996 and newer cars, they use ODB-II. When you take your car in to see why the check engine light came on (or to turn it off), they simply plug a little device in called an OBD-II scanner, which allows them to do a variety of things, including clearing the CEL (check engine light) and seeing what error(s) was causing it to light up in the first place. The plug is normally located around the steering wheel column.

What you may not know is that going to your local auto parts store like Autozone or Advance Autoparts, they have an OBD-II scanner on hand as a courtesy to customers. Simply walk up to the front counter, and tell them your CEL is on, and you want to find out what codes it’s throwing. This way you can at least know what you may possibly need to fix it. Another benefit is if you don’t trust your mechanic, you can ensure exactly what’s wrong with the car.

So back to my maintenance light. Once I saw it on, I went over to my local Advance Auto Parts and asked them to read for any error codes. After checking, we both found it odd that no errors were being shown in the scanner. Luckily the employee had a Honda Civic and realized that the light was not in fact the CEL, but just the service car light. We popped open the owner’s manual (which I should have just done in the first place probably) and found that you can simply reset or turn off the light by following a couple simple steps. 15 seconds later, problem was solved.

My whole point is, you can either pay $80/hour of labor for the dealership to do the same exact thing that a local auto parts store will do for free in seconds. I didn’t know this until a friend told me, so I would assume some of you may not either.

Good luck with all of your car troubles, and I hope you learned something!

[Check engine light photo sources: crazyscientist_11, music for the eyes]

I just ordered a mothers day gift for my mom, and I think it’s one of the best things you can get out there in terms of perfect for the parents type of gift. What exactly is it you may ask? A Kodak EasyShare WiFi digital picture frame. What makes this so great? For people that don’t live at home with the parents, you can simply upload pictures to a Kodak photo gallery, and they show up on the picture frame. How awesome is that!?

With my brother going to college next year and me living a few states away, this will be a great way to send our mom our latest pictures without her having to do anything. She simply plugs it in, connects it to the network and it’s good to go. It even has an MP3 player and built in speakers so we can also include video!

I can’t see how any other mothers day present can top this! I scoured around the net for the best deal, and ended up purchasing at Buy.com. I paid $138 with free shipping. I got $10 off for using Google Checkout for the first time.

What did you get your mom? I just hope she doesn’t read this post!

For the next four weeks you’ll be able to get these items for free from Walgreens as long as you can wait for a rebate check:

• Garnier Fructis Shampoo or Conditioner 13 oz., Leave-In Conditioner 10.2 oz. or Conditioning Masque 6.8 oz.
• Clear Care Travel 2 Pack, 2 oz. or Convenience Pack 4 Pack
• Gillette Venus Embrace Razor System
• 5-hour Energy Drink 2 Pack, Orange or Caffeine-Free Citrus
• Softsoap Spa Radiant Body Wash, 18 oz.
• Mennen Speed Stick 24/7 Antiperspirant/Deodorant, 2.7 or 3 oz.

Simply fill in the rebate form and mail it or fill in the online form which is probably a lot easier.  Go here to find the closest Walgreens to you.

[Source: WalletPop]

NothingButSoftware.com is offering a free 1GB USB flash drive with any order over $50. They have all kinds of software on the site (Nothing but!), so if you were planning to get something, you may as well pick up the free flash drive. Now is a good time to get something like Turbo Tax so you can do your taxes. Or, get Microsoft Money to manage your personal finances, like I do.

This deal is valid until the 28th of January.

For anybody that reads my blog, you’ll know that I’m a huge car guy. That’s why I was excited to see Autoblog’s 2007 Gift Guide. The only thing in the guide that really caught my eye was an awesome looking carbon fiber wallet.

I love the look of carbon fiber, and the mixture between it and leather looks really nice as a wallet in my opinion. The Autoblog guide links to a place that sells them for $50, but I found that eBay has them for less. I think I’ll be picking one up for myself

I’m a huge fan of the show The Office. That’s why I would jump on this awesome deal for season 1 and season 2 DVD’s from Target. You can get season 1 for $9.99 and season 2 for $12.99. I noticed that if you use your Amazon login, it doesn’t charge you any tax, so you’re total is $26.95 for both seasons.

Season 1

Season 2

Are you a fan of the show?

I know I’m not the only one with a sweet tooth!  Came across this deal for today only on CVS.com:

• There are 9 pages of different candies that are all 50% off
• If you spend $30, you can get $5 off
• If you spend $30, you also get free shipping

In order to get the $5 off and free shipping, just click the promo banner at the top of their page, and start shopping.  Here’s what the banner looks like:

Now through December 29th, head on over to your local Advance Auto Parts and you can pick up 5 quarts of Mobile 1 synthetic oil as well as a Mobile 1 oil filter for $29.88.

Mobile 1 is my favorite synthetic oil, and I’ve been using it on all of my cars since my 3.5 Altima. Normally I’ll get a big 4 quart jug + 1 quart bottle from Wal Mart. That alone will run about $30. Wal Mart doesn’t carry Mobile 1 filters, so I have to then go all the way to Advance and get a good filter (I used to use K&N Gold because Advance didn’t carry Mobile 1, but they do now). This deal let me get everything in one place, and saved me about $10 or 25%…that’s a free dinner or movie! With synthetic oil I now change my oil every 5,000 miles or so rather than 3,000.

So if you have a nice car that uses synthetic oil, and you change your own oil (or you want to bring the Mobile 1 goods to your favorite shop), make sure to jump on this deal…I  did:

I posted about Brazilian BBQ when I went to dinner at Chima. Apparently if you sign up to be on the mailing list for Texas De Brazil, they give you a 50% off coupon. This is pretty good considering a dinner there is about $50. There are some limitations, so make sure to check and see what they are. Some people are even posting that they send you a coupon for a free dinner on your birthday that is good for a month! I just signed up, so we’ll see if this is all true. Texas De Brazil is currently located in these areas:

• Aruba - Aruba
• CO - Denver
• FL - Miami
• FL - Orlando
• IL - Schaumburg
• TN - Memphis
• TX - Addison
• TX - Dallas
• TX - Ft. Worth
• VA - Fairfax, VA
• VA - Richmond

Update 11/8/07: I received my coupon by e-mail and it was 25% off up to a party of 8, not 50%.  Also, my buddy Alex signed up, and his birthday is in a few days…he got a coupon for a free meal.

So last week I decided to head over to my local Blockbuster to rent a movie. I checked their website, which stated the store closed at 12am…I arrived at about 11:02pm, just to find that the store actually closes at 11pm. Great. I head over to the next closest Blockbuster, hoping that it closes at 12…no luck. Then I remember the Giant grocery store next to it has one of those Redbox things, the DVD rental for $1 box. I never did it before, but hey, Giant is open, so lets give it a shot.

I go to the box, swipe a credit card, enter my e-mail address, and pick my movie. Wow, that was easy. So now I’m a huge Redbox fan, they just need to get one closer to my house.

So in my e-mail today I get a coupon for a free movie rental if you use the coupon code “FREE2“. You simply enter the code when you’re at the “redbox”. The only thing I don’t know is if it would work for anybody, or if it is specifically linked to my e-mail account. So I found a page on Redbox.com which you can just enter your e-mail and get a free rental. Maybe the FREE2 code will just work for you (let me know if it does), but otherwise, play it safe and just sign up for the free rental

On top of this, they are also having a promotion this month where every Monday you can get a free rental. Just go to the same above page and enter your cell, they will text you the code.

Update: More codes were just posted on Fat Wallet that you can try as well!

Redbox at your Stop & Shop - 4 free codes

10/15-10/24/07 - REDBOX5

10/25-10/31/07 - REDBOX6

11/01-11/07/07 - REDBOX7

11/08-11/14/07 - REDBOX8

Also a code that is good for one rental is BREAKROOM exp? You get it when you sign up for their emails.

Another one to try for your first rental is DVDONME (got this in today’s email but there is no exp)