. . "Had an issue years ago with my vehicle. 8 prior mechanics and shops had all failed to properly diagnose it, ADS's tech got it right with a five minute test drive - although they still charged for a full hour. This time she failed emissions due to a \"not ready\" monitor status, then threw an EVAP code. I did not have time to sort it myself, so I brought it in again. I asked if diagnosis was flat rate (my Porsche shop charges $125, but they inspect the entire vehicle for that), and was told it was hourly. O.K. Get a call that afternoon - stated there were two fault codes, found a lose hose they reconnected, and tested the charcoal canister and found a blockage. The quote at that time was $85 for the diagnosis, and $500 to install a new canister. Now, I have my own code reader, and I was only getting one fault code with no pending codes, so I was a little suspicious. I also found a new OEM canister on-line for $250, and its only 30 minutes of labor to install, so $500 seemed a little pricey. They seemed a little shocked and upset when I showed up to pay my bill and pick it up without them doing any more work. The amount due then went from $85 to $104 - bush league kind of stuff there, but I paid the extra $20 anyway. \n\nThey had reset the fault code or codes (also a little suspicious), and I asked what I needed to do to complete a drive cycle to get the monitors to a ready status (and see if the code I had pulled came back, and/or if the alleged second code came up). I was told I just needed to drive it 50 to 100 miles, with mixed city/highway driving. Well, that was a complete load. Wasted a day, put 120 miles on it, and it still failed emissions for \"not ready\" monitor status. Turns out every vehicle has very specific drive cycles for its monitors. You can drive the thing for months and hundreds of miles and if you don't hit those requirements by chance, the monitors will never take a reading. Searched on-line and found the exact requirements for my vehicle - allow to sit overnight for 8 hours, remove and replace gas cap, start vehicle and race engine to 3000 RPM for ten seconds in park, then turn on A/C and allow to idle for 20 min, then drive 45 mph for 5 min, then 25 mph for 15 min with a minimum of 2 stops for at least 30 seconds, then 45 mph for 3-5 min, idle in park for 3-5 min, 45 mph for 3-5, idle for 3-5. Got up at 3 am to get that cycle done without traffic and what do you know - all three of my EVAP monitors show ready status, no fault codes. No need to replace canister, and she passed emissions. Now maybe the canister was clogged and testing cleared it out, but all things considered, I can't say they did a great job. I could have wasted weeks randomly driving around trying to get the monitors to ready status based on their advice, and the alleged second code and need to replace the canister are a bit suspect. I can't say I know a better shop (well I do, but they only work on high end vehicles - Porsche, BMW, Audi, etc.), but I would also hesitate to take ADS's advice and/or recommendation to replace parts at face value. That said, most other shops I have ever taken a vehicle to have just plain gotten it wrong."^^ . "0"^^ . "2014-10-17T00:00:00"^^ . "0"^^ . . "2"^^ . "0"^^ .