Orange spanner light

[isetta]

8 weeks ago I bought a 10 month old fiesta with 9500 miles on from main Ford dealer. Because it only had 8 weeks to go until it needed a service I told them I thought it was a bit cheeky them trying to sell it to me without the service being done. So they agreed to do it. they told me they did the service for me before I collected the car and they stamped the service book. Today the orange spanner came on and it said on the radio display that oil change is due and service is due. the car is 1yr 4 days from date of registration and has 12,400 miles on (4 days over and 100 miles short of first service due for this 1.5 diesel).

So, following what i found using google, I have turned the light off by turning ignition on (not starting engine) holding brake and throttle pedals down for 30 seconds.

My question is,  

A)does what I have done mean it will not say service due until another 1 year / 12,500 miles (which ever is first) comes around?

B) Was the dealer incompetent in allowing the service light to come on at that point or is there no way the dealer can reset this when a service is done early (8 weeks , 3,000 miles early)

[Bobr]

and C) did the dealer actually do the service?

[Ryan_Tango]

It will not let you know until another year has passed, sometimes mechanics do forget and yes they can reset the service light before it even comes on but they do forget, as for knowing if they actually serviced the vehicle unfortunately not unless you pull out a CSI kit and and all that other cool stuff, chances are they didn't service it but rather said yes just to keep you off their back.  

Similar happened to me when I got my Focus I asked them to service it and 20 minutes later I get a phone call saying my car was ready! (I'm not a ***** idiot) I said okay went back and explained I am not a idiot, and this time I want to watch my service get done which I got a apology and £200 cash towards the fuel for my car, which I was happy about but the point is they lied which is why I service my car my self now.

[isetta]

"and C) did the dealer actually do the service? "

well i always wondered that from day 1. This was a 'ford direct' car which has balance of 3yr  60k mile warranty plus a Ford Direct 2 yr unlimited mileage warranty (which has some exclusions in addition to the standard warranty) from a proper ford dealer so i hope they did it.

I drove it 150 miles home and then looked at oil on dipstick. I couldn't really tell, it did not look spotless clean new oil but also was not black but at 9500 miles I am not sure how much it would discolour from remains of old oil in there.  I did look around the oil filter and could not see any sign of oil spilt round there. My previous fiesta had same type of oil filter (black plastic cap you take off and then remove paper element) in same position at an angle. I never managed to change that filter without getting some oil spilt around that area. The area was completely 100% clean and dry. I couldn't see sump plug as car has big cover thing underneath the engine bay and I did not want to mess about with that.

I do my own servicing other than when it has to be done by a business to keep warranty valid.

(actually with my previous Fiesta I only had it serviced at 1yr old and then took my chances after that - servicing myself. Luckily nothing ever went wrong that would have been a warranty item but you never know)

 

[andypsp]

have a quick look at the air filter and see if they have changed that aswell

[GaryPL]

1 hour ago, isetta said:

"and C) did the dealer actually do the service? "

well i always wondered that from day 1. This was a 'ford direct' car which has balance of 3yr  60k mile warranty plus a Ford Direct 2 yr unlimited mileage warranty (which has some exclusions in addition to the standard warranty) from a proper ford dealer so i hope they did it.

I drove it 150 miles home and then looked at oil on dipstick. I couldn't really tell, it did not look spotless clean new oil but also was not black but at 9500 miles I am not sure how much it would discolour from remains of old oil in there.  I did look around the oil filter and could not see any sign of oil spilt round there. My previous fiesta had same type of oil filter (black plastic cap you take off and then remove paper element) in same position at an angle. I never managed to change that filter without getting some oil spilt around that area. The area was completely 100% clean and dry. I couldn't see sump plug as car has big cover thing underneath the engine bay and I did not want to mess about with that.

I do my own servicing other than when it has to be done by a business to keep warranty valid.

(actually with my previous Fiesta I only had it serviced at 1yr old and then took my chances after that - servicing myself. Luckily nothing ever went wrong that would have been a warranty item but you never know)

 

Sorry but I have to laugh out loud. If you were expecting a good buying experience by getting a Ford Direct vehicle, you are going to be disappointed. I've had more drama from them than I can bring myself to recall.

[jbell]

If it's an ecoboost you should barely be able to see the oil on the stick if they used the right stuff in the service. 

From what I've been reading it's important to use fully synthetic with the ecoboost due to wet belt.  You should be able to tell the level by drying the rod with kitchen roll but it'll not have much visible oil on it 

[isetta]

"Sorry but I have to laugh out loud. If you were expecting a good buying experience by getting a Ford Direct vehicle, you are going to be disappointed. I've had more drama from them than I can bring myself to recall."
I didn't buy it because it was a Ford Direct car, it just happened to be one. My criteria for the car was quite specific which meant there is virtually no choice and why I had to go 150 miles to get one.

Criteria was:
Fiesta 1.5 diesel with 94bhp engine, not the 75bhp version
5 door
Black colour
up to about one year old
up to about 15k miles
with quickclear windscreen (which is optional extra on Style and standard on Zetec/Titanium) 

Mine is the Style model which has the optional quickclear windscreen, also has optional DAB/SatNav radio - I have no intention of ever using the satnav, and privacy glass which I hate.  But believe me it was not easy to find one close to the south coast of England.

You take a chance on buying any 2nd hand car and if it was not a Ford Direct car it would not give any more reassurance.

 

[jace1969]

I agree,its hard to get a car that ticks all your boxes you want and its a risk buying a second hand car as you always miss something.

Mine was about 3 years old from ford with 1 keeper but i do what i always do,ring or contact the former keeper and garage they had it serviced.

I have always thought that about do they cut corners with the service as my orange spanner came on a few months after i had it serviced so took it

back and they set it,good old dash cam gave me a good inside view on what they did and even when i couldn't see them the speaking was on there.

 

[Throttleplate]

I know how to turn the service light off but is there anyway to deliberately turn it back on?  

[Jane Kennedy]

Bought a brand new Ford Focus STLine in September.Only a couple of thousand miles on it,and today coming home the orange spanner light has came on.Have looked manual to no avail.Can you tell me what is wrong?

[Tizer]

 

 

1 hour ago, Jane Kennedy said:

Bought a brand new Ford Focus STLine in September.Only a couple of thousand miles on it,and today coming home the orange spanner light has came on.Have looked manual to no avail.Can you tell me what is wrong?

If you have the FordPass  App on your phone open it up and have a look at your messages. It should tell you there.