I drive an 08 FEH with about 54,000 miles on it. The car has been wonderful and has given me no trouble thus far. I keep up with regular maintenance. It is out of the manufacturer's warranty, but I purchased an extended warranty that covers it to 75,000 miles.

I took it to a Ford dealership in my town of Middleton, WI recently for an oil change, filter, battery air filter and tire replacement. Everything seemed fine.

Two days later the Powertrain/Throttle Fault warning light came on. I returned the car to the shop to have them investigate. They determined it was the battery blender motor failing and replaced it. They did their usual inspection and gave the car a clean bill of health.

This morning (four days later), the check engine light is now on. I'm now hesitant to take the car back to the same shop. I'm suspicious that they're sabotaging it to get me back in to do more work, or that they're simply incompetent and breaking things while trying to fix them.

I'll admit to being a bit of a conspiracy theorist: I generally assume everyone is out to take me to the cleaners for as much money as possible. Because I acknowledge that, I'm asking all of you:

How would you proceed?

I have options:

Return it to the dealership and hope for the best
Take it to another Ford dealership in town (never dealt with them)
Take it to a Mazda dealership in town (never dealt with them)
Take it to a non-dealership mechanic (can anyone recommend one in this area?)

Thanks for any insight/suggestions you can provide!

 

Do you have a deductible on your extended warranty?

 

Yes. It's $100.

 

I would call the original shop and tell them what is happening. Tell them that you do not feel that the original issue is fully resolved and refuse to pay any additional money (deductible). If they refuse to look into the issue without you paying more, then go to the other Ford dealership.

Best case, they agree to look at it again and fix the issue for free (under the initial warranty claim). Worse case, they decline and you're out another $100 but you're basically getting a second opinion and dealing with a new dealership.

If you go to an independent mechanic, you could be out more than $100 pretty quickly.

 

Get a code reader and see if any codes have been thrown. Some autopart stores will plug in their code readers if you have a check engine light on the dash in an attempt to read the codes.

 

Take it back to Middleton Ford. Tell them your unhappy and that your check engine light is on soon after the repair. They have always tried to keep me happy.
Good Luck,
Cody

 

Don't even consider going to the Mazda dealership.

Take it back to the repairing (?) dealership.

Good luck. (Hope you have real Ford ESP!)