Where can i find a vacuum light?

Some questions about a small vacuum leak in my car?

• 2005 chevy cavalier, standard, two door. So I was getting an oil change a while back and decided to find out why my "Check engine" light had been on for a week. The mechanic informed me that it was just a small vacuum leak. I asked him to explain how this would affect my car and he told me it would simply lower the gas mileage and that it wasn't an urgent problem in the slightest. Now, my car gets pretty damn good MPG, which is great since I'm driving for about an hour on the highway every day getting to and from school, not counting everywhere else I go. So I vowed to get this "vacuum leak", as it is known, fixed very soon. Enough back story; here's where the problem comes in: I have a friend who knows his way around with cars. He informed me that this issue could be fixed VERY easily, and would simply require a small tube not worth more than ten bucks being replaced, and estimated that the repairs shouldn't cost more than forty or fifty bucks. He in fact insisted on doing it for me, to which I declined. So I take the car back to this same shop on the morning of a day where I don't have school or work and ask them to fix this small vacuum leak that they diagnosed. The guy tells me its going to cost 80 dollars AT LEAST, plus additional expenses. The eighty dollars is apparently for some kind of "smoking" or something where he needs to lift up the car. He also informed me that it would be a long process that would take all day and that I would need to drop it off early and basically have a friend carpool me everywhere for a day. Whats most disturbing is that he told me that he "may or may not" throw out the eighty dollar charge, like its just "whatever". Being a skeptical, cycnical, and poor college student I declined on the offer and decided to look into it more before making any purchases and....well, this is me looking into it. Am I being ripped off here, or is this pretty standard pricing for this kind of fix? Also, my "Check engine" light has turned off since then. Im not sure what that means. I really appreciate any answers in advance that are truly helpful to my situation. Thanks

• Answer:

  RECOMMENDATION: Replace all vacuum hoses yourself ($30). DISCUSSION: Mechanics can charge more than $250/hour, so even minor repairs can cost a lot. $80 would be for a 20 minute repair. You should do the work yourself (or hire a cheap friend). The work is simple. You should not locate one bad hose. Instead, you should replace all of the hoses because a 2005 car would have old cracking neoprene (rubber hoses), and expect to pay roughly $30 for the hose material (which you can buy from a car parts store). The hose that you need to replace is likely under the car to the evaporation canister (part of the smog equipment). The smoke test, that the mechanic wants to do, will put smoke in the line, and any leak will show up as a puff of smoke outside the line. This is designed to locate a leak in one cracked hose. You don't need to do that if you are replacing all of the hoses. After you fix the hoses, if the "check engine" light is still on, disconnect the negative (black) battery cable clamp (located on the battery post) for about 10 seconds (to reset the "check engine" system and turn off the light). Why just the black cable? Because you only have to remove one cable to turn off the power and if you short the negative (black) cable to ground (with your wrench while you are working), you won't short it (and cause a spark). Such sparks are potentially dangerous and can cause power spikes that could harm sensitive electronics). A vacuum leak could cause lower manifold pressure, and that could decrease engine power.