The 'yota is dying

Well the death watch is on for the Toyota. We've had a mystery engine light on and off for about a month now that only would say there was a generic problem with the emissions system. Today they finally figured out the exact problem, a little charcoal filter buried deep inside the engine compartment. Normally its a $550 repair but the mechanic feels that it could potentially cost more than the car is worth because of how rusted out the bolts are under the car (it was a northern car for the first 9 years of its life and saw a ton of ice, snow and road salt) He's worried that since its so buried in the compartment that when he tries to remove bolts that they're going to snap which means they have to bore out the old ones which is tons of time in labor, and probably requires you to take more items out because you need better access to tap and drill, which could cause a domino effect of broken bolts and the like which is why it could cost so much.
So here's the big issue, while it runs reasonably fine now without repair it won't pass an emissions test and its Rachel's car so the registration expires on August 5th, little more than a month away. No Pass equals no registration which means it wouldn't be legally driveable after August 5th. The $550 alone is a big chunk of change that eats into our already tight budget with me only working part time and anything over that would be even worse. Plus, if the car was in good condition it'd be maybe worth $1,500, so it doesn't make sense to pay more for repairs than its worth, even if we did have the money. We may be down to one car for a while until we can figure this whole thing out. I feel better with Isaiah's car seat in the Mazda anyways.
Isaiah is doing great otherwise. We had a good PT session today working on transitions and improving motor skills and he's nicely napping right now missing out on mom and dad's minor freak out