So this past Monday was fun. I had to take the day off work to go downtown and pay a speeding ticket I got a while back. All that went well and good, although the clerk at the court house was an extremely rude bitch. Anyway, I'm on the interstate making my way home when I look down and my check engine light (CEL) is on. As if I needed another problem. So my first thought it is there is a problem with the CAI (cold air intake). Maybe a hose came lose, or the filter or MAFS (mass air flow sensor) needs to be cleaned. So when I get off the interstate, I stop at walmart and pop the hood. I look around the CAI and everything looks good. Then I remember that Autozone diagnoses CEL. So I go to the autozone right around the corner. I walk in autozone and it's 9:45. The only people working there are two women behind the counter. So, I ask them, "Do you diagnose Check Engine Lights?" They say, "Yeah, but the guy who can do it won't be here until 12." Thanks for nothing, Autozone! So then I'm left with no other choice but to take it to the dealership. Of course, I'm skeptical of my dealership -not that my dealership is different that any other; you should really be skeptical of any car dealership. You see, I had my oil changed there only a week before and now all of a sudden I've got a check engine light? It just seems fishy. So anyway, I go to the dealership and wait. Then I wait some more, and eventually the guy from the service dept comes by and he asks me if I've ever run nitrous on my car because what they're seeing looks like it could have been caused by nitrous. Of course I've never run nitrous on my car. If for no other reasons than I can't afford to and if I did have nitrous I'd probably use it on myself rather than the car. Yea, so I just flat out told the guy "No, the only performance modification I've made to the car is the CAI." Anyway, it turns out the catalytic converter is "burnt up" which actually means it's just reading below spec. and one or two of my O2 sensors will need to be replaced. Then he tells me the "expensive part," the Cat., will be covered under warranty, but the O2 sensors won't and if both O2 sensors have to be replaced it'll be over $500. Yeah... like I've got $500. So, since the car is actually in my mother's name, I call her up and tell her what's going on and I let her speak to the service guy. Well, one temper tantrum later, the service guy talks to his boss and they decide to warranty the O2 sensors. However, I'll still have to pay for labor. So now, if both O2 sensors are bad, we're talking $150 which is a hell of a lot better. Just goes to show that sometimes getting angry pays off. I don't know that I'll ever master that skill -cause i'm just too easy going, but it definitely works. So anyway, the parts are on order and as soon as they come in, I'll probably have to take another day off work to get the repairs made. What's really funny to me, is that since I took the car in and had them look at it, the CEL hasn't come back on. So if the CEL is gone, why should I even bother with the repairs? The car runs fine. I mean, all I really wanted was for the CEL to go away anyway, right? There's a good chance it's all just a big scam, but I'll get the repairs anyway. I just hope they don't fuck something else up in the process.