I was wondering what the usual ball park cost for diagnostics on my 2013 Fiesta are?

I had an engine oil service notification come up and took the car in for a service. The mechanic serviced and changed the oil but said he couldn't stop the error, he said only Ford have the right kind of equipment to do so.

As soon as I drove away from the garage, an engine malfunction notification came up with the engine light and the wrench light.

Is it right that only Ford can sort this? I asked my local dealer for a cost and they quoted me just over £100. Is that about right or should I shop around?

The best person to do the diagnostics may be you. That way you know first, you can get information from the net, and be much better informed if you need to take it to a garage.

How much:

Under £20 for a self-contained, basic OBD2 scanner. But this will usually only diagnose engine problems, and not all of these. It will not be able to read the Ford specific data. I have used the U480, works fine within its limitations.

For much better diagnosis, but needs a laptop or notebook computer of some sort to run, Use an ELM327 adapter, which plugs into the COM or USB port on the computer. Lots of good software, I have used Forscan, very simple to install & use, worked really well. The ELM327 I got cost just £10.00, the software is free download. There is lots of info on this forum & elsewhere. So that is £10.00 for a pro level diagnostics & maintenance tool.

This will 99.9% certainly clear the service lamp, and reveal if there are any other error messages.

(The "modified ELM" has a switch so it can also read the 2nd Ford CAN bus, called MS-CAN, will cost a bit more, but covers more modules. All the main driving modules are on the main bus (called HS-CAN), and the switch is not needed for these).

I recommend you give it a go, see what it is like. Even if you are terrified by car electronics, and find terms like CAN bus rather scary, it is worth a try. It is not hard to grasp the basics, & there is lots of help on this forum. Cars are only going to become more electronic, it is not right that garages, especially dealer garages (aka Fraud Stealers), have a monopoly on diagnostics.

Peter.

 

 

Not be helpful but this isn't known to many Fiesta owners.

 

 

8 hours ago, Tdci-Peter said:

The best person to do the diagnostics may be you. That way you know first, you can get information from the net, and be much better informed if you need to take it to a garage.

How much:

Under £20 for a self-contained, basic OBD2 scanner. But this will usually only diagnose engine problems, and not all of these. It will not be able to read the Ford specific data. I have used the U480, works fine within its limitations.

For much better diagnosis, but needs a laptop or notebook computer of some sort to run, Use an ELM327 adapter, which plugs into the COM or USB port on the computer. Lots of good software, I have used Forscan, very simple to install & use, worked really well. The ELM327 I got cost just £10.00, the software is free download. There is lots of info on this forum & elsewhere. So that is £10.00 for a pro level diagnostics & maintenance tool.

This will 99.9% certainly clear the service lamp, and reveal if there are any other error messages.

(The "modified ELM" has a switch so it can also read the 2nd Ford CAN bus, called MS-CAN, will cost a bit more, but covers more modules. All the main driving modules are on the main bus (called HS-CAN), and the switch is not needed for these).

I recommend you give it a go, see what it is like. Even if you are terrified by car electronics, and find terms like CAN bus rather scary, it is worth a try. It is not hard to grasp the basics, & there is lots of help on this forum. Cars are only going to become more electronic, it is not right that garages, especially dealer garages (aka Fraud Stealers), have a monopoly on diagnostics.

Peter.

 

 

If I remember rightly modified elm only works with the focus unfortunately.   Regular elm is great for reading codes though :) 

 

Re original post, it sounds like you might have gone to a dodgy mechanic.  Anyone with a obd2 adapter can clear codes, its not limited to ford.  And your engine light shouldn't have come on after oil service.