Since my last oil change, about mid-way through the oil change cycle my CEL came on on two different occasions, a few weeks apart. Both times the car drove just fine and the light shut itself off after a couple days. This was probably a couple months ago or so. Car is approaching 25k miles now.

Due to this I figured I'd just wait until I was due for my next oil change and make an appointment to have the car looked at at the time for the code.

I just called the dealer to make an appointment, and she told me that if my CEL isn't on, they probably won't be able to pull any codes. I thought this was absurd, don't all cars store the codes and need to be manually cleared? She said when her CEL came on and then turned off, when they scanned it they saw nothing, so she gave me a heads up I may be wasting my time.

This can't be correct? Otherwise I'll save myself the time waste and hit the quick lane and just do the oil change. I mean if your CEL came on, there's a good chance by the time you could even get in for an appointment it would be off, and then they'd never see the issue if it didn't store the code?

 

Many parts stores will read your codes for free. Just swing by one of those.

 

Right, I thought about that, but figured the Ford dealer should be able to read them too.

Even if they can't, a code read from Autozone means nothing in terms of getting Ford to do a warranty repair if Ford can't see the code.

 

I just figure you can get a quick read from a parts store instead of potentially an hours-long process to have the car checked at the dealer. Any time I have taken a car to a dealer, I knew the codes beforehand.

 

Right but again, knowing the code and telling the service writer means nothing in terms of getting the dealer to repair the car and then getting Ford to reimburse them for repairing the car. If his guy can't see the code, they couldn't care less and won't repair the car as they have nothing but word of mouth that something *might* be wrong with the car. They aren't going to start doing warranty work based on what the guy at Autozone supposedly said.

Ford won't reimburse them for troubleshooting at Autozone.

While I appreciate the help, having Autozone read the code doesn't really matter, what I need to know is does the ECU store codes or not? Ford repairing the car depends solely on this.

 

I guess I can't answer your question specifically, but if Autozone can see a code, I'm sure Ford can too. The AZ code read would be free, so no reimbursement needed.


I know some ECU's will store a code for a period of time even if the light goes back off. Does Ford's ECU do that? I have no idea. I invested in a code reader for myself since none of my cars are under warranty and I do my own work.

 

The Copperhead PCM has a long term memory storage, if a code keeps popping up it will store it.

 

There are two kinds of faults that create codes, ones that show intermittently and hard faults. Your average Autozone reader can't dig deep enough to get codes that aren't setting off a hard fault, iow, a constantly-on engine light. Ford ECMs have done this kind of code storing since the 1980s.

Ford's IDS can definitely see intermittent codes and can also deal with codes created by subsystems of the car like the smart junction box, the instrument panel cluster, etc.

 

^^THIS!!
Great minds think alike David.

 

It helps arm you with some knowledge to keep from being ripped off.

 

Exactly.

 

I smell BS.

Is it the Check engine light? If a light goes off a code will be stored into EEPROM of the ECM module. It should be able to store the last 5 or so codes. Even if the CEL goes off, that would be a fault reset event, and that should also write into the EEPROM.

For example if you have a O2 sensor voltage error and the code for O2 sensor is let's say P0201, and then the voltage returns to normal, you should see 2 codes in EEPROM:
1) Something like P020101 -- Fault setting and
2) Something like P020110 -- Fault re-setting

With the reset event, the P0201 code would go to history, but it's still readable.

 

Go to a different dealer.

 

Thanks guys, I figured there's no way it wouldn't store codes, maybe the girl I talked to to set up the appointment just didn't know what she was talking about.

I'll take it in Saturday morning as planned and see what they say.

 

dumb question... are you SURE it was a CEL you saw? and not just any other light that turns on/stays on when you turn on the car, then turns off as the car gets started?

What if the mysterious CEL was actually NOT a CEL?

 

yeah it was the little engine picture light

so check this out, im at the dealer right now - i was driving literally two minutes away from here going to the grocery store and the front fasteners on a plastic shield underneath (oil pan shield) all popped off, did NOT hit anything, so some freak crap that several fasteners popped off i guess, nobodys been under the car since the last oil change six months ago.

i nearly crapped myself at the sound, it was like i was dragging a plastic jug, thought i really messed something up.

thankfully i was right near the ford dealer so i came right in here and they are going to order a new shield (a chunk got broken off, probably while driving over here since it was basically against the ground like a shovel)

i had an appointment for tomorrow for the CEL and the Works package, but since im here bolting the old shield up they are gonna take care of the works now, as well as replace both the air filter and cabin filter (i know i know but cheap enough and its here and they can do it now so whatever) and flush the injectors. $150 for that which is an unexpected ouch but he said ford recommends this every 15k, not sure if hes blowing smoke or not but better safe than sorry? said the car has no fuel filter? hes also going to plug in to check the CEL and see if anything pops up, he suspected just dirt/debris in the capless filler screen and probably no biggie but we'll see.

so i guess i should be more than good to go after this, car should be like new again

EDIT: the guy actually just came to apologize and say the injectors are actually every 30k, not 15k and asked if i still wanted to do it, so i just went ahead and said yea do it, close enough at 25k miles

 

Your dealer is full of 'crap'.

 

welp back at the dealer, checked the oil level when i woke up and it was nearly a centimeter below the bottom of the crosshatch pattern on the disptick, wtf?

always always ALWAYS check your oil level yourself afterwards kiddies...

 

Here's what the dipstick looked like this morning when checking with a completely cold engine:




Dealer was cool about it though, they had me out of there in about 20 minutes. They said they just added 1.1 quarts, which to me seems like it would take more to get it to the top of that crosshatch, but I don't know. The car is in the garage now and I'll check it again when it's completely cold later this afternoon and see. If I still feel it's low then I'll just go to the dealer and grab another quart and add it myself.