Warranty maintenance advice

[wjtinfwb]

Using the dealer probably eliminates any possible warranty claim issues, but is no guarantee the job will be done properly or quickly. My local Ford dealers are always backed up, want you to schedule an appointment and leave the car. I can do it myself in the same time I’m on hold with those clowns to schedule the appointment. 6 qts of Castrol Syntec and a Motorcraft filter is less than 50 bucks and it gives me the reason to be underneath, look for leaks or damage and under the hood looking at the tangle of wires and hoses Ford hides the engine under. When I lived in Atlanta I had a great Ford dealer with a QuickLane and for 30 bucks I was in and out in 45 minutes with oil and filter by Motorcraft. That car was naturally aspirated and fine on semi-synthetic. If I had access to that dealer again I’d likely let them do it.

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[Canyon Coolers]

My local Mountain dealership is a hot mess. But they don't quibble at all about warranty work and despite wasting my time the quality of the technical work has been great. Did they forget to tighten my spare wheel and could I have killed someone ? yes. I don't know if you can trust an entry level technician anywhere. Going there is a bit of a dance but often worthwhile.

Todays computer driven things are boxing out the neighborhood mechanic unless its an obvious straight forward problem and solution.

 

[indio22]

Yeah, my oil change at my local Ford dealer was $58 out the door (with Chicago tax!). Motorcraft semi-synth, so full synth would be more expensive as one would expect, but for time/effort/nuisance for *my* own situation that's a great deal.

As to OP's question, for all the basic maint you would be doing on your own just keep a basic log of dates, services performed, and materials used. Could be a simple as a Google sheets spreadsheet or whatever works for you.

+1 on Google Sheets, I created one with tabs for each vehicle. Helps an unorganized guy like me keep track of maintenance and have the various torque settings, procedures and recommendations gleaned from this site and others, all in one place per each vehicle.

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