Check engine light on for four months

[forum1167]

So, my check engine light has been on for four months.  I drive a 2005 hyundai sonata. It has 67,000 miles on it. I havent gotten it fixed yet because I was quoted a high price for repairs. I want to know if this is a reasonable price for repairs. I brought my car to Firestone Complete Auto Care and they said:

Recommended Services not authorized by customer:

exhaust $1,114.65
Leaking $999.99
remove and replace catalytic converter $76.50
gaskets $12.99 (x 2)
studs $6.09  (x 2)
engine sensors $189.99
remove and replace oxygen sensors-rear, one or all $51.00
total: 1,455.31

They said my exhaust was leaking so that is why my check engine light has been on for four months. So, my questions are:
Is this price reasonable for this repair?
Is this a much needed repair or is it okay to continue driving my car with the check engine light on?

Thanks. Let me know if you need any more details.

[dug22]

You need to find out what codes are being stored in the ECM.

Some of that work may be a simple fix and something that you can do yourself. You may have the ability to reduce the cost of the repair bill by replacing some of those bad sensors.

The monitors of this forum are great.

[conniecartech]

is this the 4 or 6 cylinder engine? california or federal emisions?

did they tell u the exact code number, or numbers, that came up when they scanned the computer? we need to know that before we can dive into this. if they didnt u can take it to one of the parts stores, most of them will scan for codes for free. autozone for sure does this. let us know the exact code numbers and we can go from there.

have u noticed any other issues since the lite came on, like with starting, idling, accelerating, change in gas mileage, or anything else diffrent?

[conniecartech]

allso, did they tell u exactly where this exhaust leak is, and whats leaking?

[forum1167]

*** UPDATE ***
since then, i have gone to a reputable mechanic and have been very happy.  they said:

#P0139 OXYGEN SENSOR SIGNAL SLOW
FIRST REPLACE OXYGEN SENSOR THEN RECHECK FOR OTHER PROBLEMS. VEHICLE CATALYTIC CONVERTER MAY NEED TO BE REPLACED
1 OXYGEN SENSOR (B1 S1)        $291.44
1 OXYGEN SENSOR (B1 S2)        $189.99

Much better than Firestone, and they explained everything to me. They said if in 6 weeks the check engine light comes on again, then the vehicle catalytic converter may need to be replaced.

[conniecartech]

code p0139 is for the o2 sensor after the converter. not sure id replace the before-converter sensor just based on this code.

usualy a bad converter will set a code p0420 or p0430, so u may be ok there. if p0139 comes back again, id check the wiring to the sensor for any damage. its allso possible that a exhaust leak could set this code, so check that out too.

[forum1167]

Thanks for all your help conniecartech. You're amazing. I bet you are a great car mechanic.

[conniecartech]

your welcome. i think 'great' may be a stretch lol tho i hope to be some day. but thanks for your comments.   good luck!