by "Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing." (granfury)
Published 01/26/2017 at 16:23
by "Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing." (granfury)
Published 01/26/2017 at 16:23
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STARS: 0
Had the day off so I decided to take the Mazda5 for an oil change. Nothing wrong with the car at all, just routine maintenance. When I go to pick up the car they tell me that the check engine light is on and it’ll be $75-125 to tell me what is causing the problem.
Excuse me? The CEL wasn’t on when I brought the car in. Their own documentation showed that the light was off when they did the alignment check before they started the oil change. They’re checking it now and I’m quite curious as to what the problem is, assuming that there is a problem...
"VajazzleMcDildertits - read carefully, respond politely" (vajazzlemcdildertits)
01/26/2017 at 16:26, STARS: 4
Sounds like you had to object to the diagnostic fee prior to them going back and checking to see if the CEL had been on when you brought it in.
Nowadays, after a few questionable incidents, I take a photo of my car’s dash including odo and lights before handing over the keys.
"Wacko" (wacko--)
01/26/2017 at 16:28, STARS: 0
good idea
"Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing." (granfury)
01/26/2017 at 16:28, STARS: 2
Their own documentation said the light was off when I brought it in. Whatever is going on happened after I turned the car over to them. I can check CEL codes myself, but it wasn’t on before I gave them the car and their paperwork shows that.
I like you photo idea and will do that from now on. Thanks!
"RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht" (ramblininexile)
01/26/2017 at 16:29, STARS: 0
Check engine light comes on, check engine light goes off, you can’t explain that.
"Ash78, voting early and often" (ash78)
01/26/2017 at 16:30, STARS: 4
Uh, yeah, what is this, 1992? When auto parts stores and $10 scanners will do this for free, this makes no sense to me. I hate to be reactionary, but I consider that a dealbreaker for a dealership. Find somewhere else to go. Diagnostics should be very cheap, or free.
"VajazzleMcDildertits - read carefully, respond politely" (vajazzlemcdildertits)
01/26/2017 at 16:31, STARS: 0
Right, but did they figure that out on their own, or only after they spotted the CEL and tried to charge you for it?
"MR2_FTW - Group J's resident Stig" (MR2_FTW)
01/26/2017 at 16:32, STARS: 0
I hope you don’t have to pay them for it, considering it happened in their care.
"ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn)
01/26/2017 at 16:32, STARS: 0
Gotta pay for that scanner that’s been paid for for years. Seriously, though, scanning the car should be CODB. They’re probably going to leave the car there anyway.
"Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing." (granfury)
01/26/2017 at 16:33, STARS: 0
After I objected, the service advisor looked at and showed me the document that said it was off.
"OpposResidentLexusGuy - USE20, XF20, XU30 and Press Cars" (jakeauern)
01/26/2017 at 16:33, STARS: 1
The problem is diags are not cheap or free to give. We will scan a code for free, but anything past that is full 100 something an hour because we have to pull a tech who gets $15-30 an hour off of another job, use the thousands of dollars in equipment to find the problem, and then take the time to look up or estimate the fix. Diagonstic is not just hooking up an OBD.
"OpposResidentLexusGuy - USE20, XF20, XU30 and Press Cars" (jakeauern)
01/26/2017 at 16:34, STARS: 0
My Lexus fixes itself all the time.
"Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing." (granfury)
01/26/2017 at 16:34, STARS: 0
I certainly won’t pay as I have an app and an adapter that’ll allow me to check it myself.
"deekster_caddy" (deekster_caddy)
01/26/2017 at 16:35, STARS: 1
They probably ran the engine with the oil fill cap off, causing the system to notice a PCV leak. I bet if you pull historical codes you’ll find a PCV code.
"My X-type is too a real Jaguar" (TomSlick)
01/26/2017 at 16:39, STARS: 2
Since my SO can’t seem to tighten her gas cap properly I bought a scan tool to reset the light.
"Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing." (granfury)
01/26/2017 at 16:40, STARS: 3
All is well. They couldn’t find any codes when they scanned it. I’ll check for codes later, but this makes me wonder if it was a sloppy mechanic or an extortion attempt?
"OpposResidentLexusGuy - USE20, XF20, XU30 and Press Cars" (jakeauern)
01/26/2017 at 16:40, STARS: 0
Hahaha that’s great. My SO is learning about cars as she goes. She learned about tires a month ago when she drove with the TPS light on until the tire went flat and I had to go change it at midnight.
"deekster_caddy" (deekster_caddy)
01/26/2017 at 16:42, STARS: 4
CELs usually don’t go away in one cycle. If the light has come on, it’s usually 4-5 drive cycles without a problem for it to clear. Of course, they could have just cleared all codes. Sounds like a quick extortion attempt to me. It probably works on 40-50% of their customers, so why not try it on all of them...
"bobbe17" (rob-runte)
01/26/2017 at 16:43, STARS: 0
The dealers I’ve been to are will either charge you to check it and diagnose or won’t check it. There isn’t a check the codes and tell you what they are option.
"Ash78, voting early and often" (ash78)
01/26/2017 at 16:44, STARS: 0
Trust me, I’m totally sympathetic to dealerships (and businesses in general). However, a brand-loyal customer who’s already in the shop for something? Definitely a case for a free scan, IMHO. Someone who comes in off the street and wants a code read and explained? Charge them a nominal fee for the time, sure. The goal is to get them in for service, just like AutoZone’s goal is to sell you some parts.
"OpposResidentLexusGuy - USE20, XF20, XU30 and Press Cars" (jakeauern)
01/26/2017 at 16:45, STARS: 0
Yeah codes are a service writer checks and advises, anything else(like vibration or stalling, etc) is set up an appointment and pay the diag fee. If the car is tore apart and you do the fix, we discount the diag fee and just charge the rate to fix it.
"Tazio, Count Fouroff" (tazio0625)
01/26/2017 at 16:45, STARS: 0
iirc when you pull codes it also tells exactly when the code appeared. At least the service writer was candid about it, but then, the OBC probably would show it came on during their watch so s/he had little choice haha
"OpposResidentLexusGuy - USE20, XF20, XU30 and Press Cars" (jakeauern)
01/26/2017 at 16:47, STARS: 0
Yeah totally agree on that one. Having stuff break in your position is a PITA too. It always happens to the customer that doesnt understand that the window could break at anytime and it just happened to be while we had it in the shop. We didn’t do anything to break it.
"Ash78, voting early and often" (ash78)
01/26/2017 at 16:59, STARS: 0
As a longtime VW owner, I learned a long time ago that the car always comes back with something else broken, or askew, and it’s just part of the deal. A lot of stuff assembled at the factory is “serviceable” only in the loosest sense of the word. Once something is put together once, it doesn’t like being redone (apart from regular maintenance stuff, that is).
"OpposResidentLexusGuy - USE20, XF20, XU30 and Press Cars" (jakeauern)
01/26/2017 at 17:00, STARS: 0
We once replaced the entire cooling system on a E39. Started with the Upper Hose and ended with everything plastic or rubber under the hood and I mean everything including the radiator.
"Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing." (granfury)
01/26/2017 at 17:02, STARS: 0
And when I got the car back I found dirt and grease all over the interior - armrest, door panel, seat. Not nice...
"mazda616" (mazda616)
01/26/2017 at 17:05, STARS: 1
My former car, an ‘08 Mazda3, had its cabin air filter in the dumbest spot. Way, way deep under the dash and stupid hard to access. Unplugging and physically moving the ECM out of the way was required to get to it, so I had it done at the dealer.
They give the car back to me with the CEL on and when I said something, they “offered” to scan it for free. The code? Something about the ECM’s communication being interrupted. A.K.A. When they had it unplugged.
Ay yi yi.
"Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing." (granfury)
01/26/2017 at 17:08, STARS: 0
My cabin air filter is in a similarly crazy location and comes in two parts in order to make it fit. I don’t have to disconnect anything to get to it, but it’s a gigantic PITA to swap. I understand why people pay to have it done, but I’m sure it’s not cheap.
"mazda616" (mazda616)
01/26/2017 at 17:12, STARS: 0
I think it was $50.00 or so for me. Either way, I didn’t want to do it so I was glad to pay. Haha. Thankfully, my wife’s CX-5 has the filter directly under the glove box, which just slides out. Took me 3 minutes to change it!
"Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing." (granfury)
01/26/2017 at 17:15, STARS: 1
Changing the filter in the Windstar could be done under the hood and finished in seconds. I never thought I would pay a compliment to that PoS, but I just did...
"Takuro Spirit" (takurospirit)
01/26/2017 at 17:28, STARS: 1
Just changed both of ours this weekend.
Mine? Half an hour, two nuts, four screws, and a bunch of swearing.
Hers? 10 seconds, it doesn’t even have a DOOR to take off.
"LongbowMkII" (longbowmkii)
01/26/2017 at 18:02, STARS: 0
I just changed the oil on my 5 a couple weeks ago and got a CEL- P050B.
Checked PCV and cleaned the MAF sensor (first google suggestions). Didn’t help (I thought) but it went away yesterday so... great success!
Could be the same situation on yours.
"LongbowMkII" (longbowmkii)
01/26/2017 at 18:04, STARS: 0
People change those? I’m certain they are a myth so dealers can charge $100 to clueless customers.
"Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing." (granfury)
01/26/2017 at 18:15, STARS: 0
I’ll have to run a scan and see if any historical codes show up. The car is now approaching 5 years old so the possibility of problems cropping up increases every day.
"ateamfan42" (ateamfan42)
01/27/2017 at 09:41, STARS: 0
They don’t call them “stealerships” for nothing. Time to find a less dishonest dealer.
"ateamfan42" (ateamfan42)
01/27/2017 at 09:44, STARS: 0
My first gen Mazda 6 had a stupid easy cabin filter. Pop out the glovebox, pop out the filter door, slide out the filter, slide in a new one, pop on the door and reinstall the glovebox.
It could be done in less than a minute and require no tools. Yet, I still heard of dealerships charging people a full hour labor to do the job.