My 2011 Smax 'engine warning light' came on yesterday.

Spoke to Ford and the earliest that they can look at it is next Thursday!

They said it was ok drive as it is not flashing but I'm not convinced.

Any help would be great.

Cheers.

It really depends on what the fault is, and how many miles you will run between now & then.

Personally I'd avoid using it if you can - it may not be a "cirtical" fault, but for instance if it's a lambda problem you may damage your CAT if you continue to run the car.

We are not really doing many miles. Just around town and kids school runs.

Why would Ford say it would be ok if there might be a possibility of further damage?

Thanks.

Because 1) the dealer will be the one fixing the damage (but guess who's paying? you!), and 2) you probably spoke to the "bookings" person on the service front desk - they usually have about as much mechanical knowledge as the person who shovels up the fries into cardboard cartons in McDonalds.

How can they know what the problem is (and what the ramifications are of continuing to drive the car) until they've read the fault code?

OK if the light's not flashing it usually rules out the "impending engine death" conditions, but as I say something like a sensor failure would put the light on static, but the consequences are that something is wrong and continuing to drive may exaccerbate the problem.

See what the owners manual says, but I'd be surprised if it says anything other than:

- Check engine light on flashing - stop the car immediately and have your vehicle recovered to a Ford dealer

- Check engine light on static - drive carefully to the nearest Ford dealer to get the vehicle checked

I bet a pound to a penny it doesn't say:

- Check engine light on static - carry on you have nothing to worry about.

Hey it's your car & your money - carry on driving it if you like. You may be fine, but if you land up with a huge repair bill because you carried on driving the car while it had a fault, then you're own your own I'm afraid!