'96 XLT - Check Engine lights ON

[jamespeedy]

I was on my way home when one day last week- suddenly the 'Check Engine' lights lit ON..i don't see nothing wrong with the engine, it was running fine. I brought it to a local dealer for service and they replaced kit dist wire & valve assy- fl vapor..Exactly after a week/Sat, the same problem appears again..Now the dealer said they have to replace 4 more parts (according to the tech) these are all in the fuel tank, one of the parts according to the service dealer is not avail locally and they have to order it from detroit and will take3-4 days??? according to the tech the parts is a transducer (whatever).. I was very upset with the service that with this type of problem, and i assumed they have all have the right test equipment & parts-they cannot immediately pinpoint the failing parts. Now they can only guess/assumed that this transducer parts is the failing one?? The worst thing is they charged me roughtly 450$ for the first service they did (which is obviously a repeat job) and now they are saying that i will be charged again for another 450$ when fix..

And here is the most upsetting thing i have experience with the local service dealer, while waiting on the service counter- i overheard a conversation between a service consultant & a tech- this tech is working on another cust car, the tech said 'he only had to replace the bulb' but the service consultant said ' ok let's do it the again- we'll make it 4-5 hours labor'...???? Which is obviously cheating cust by charging too much for the labor hours just replacing the bulb!!!

Right now -i just need help if you know someone or a car workshop that you can trust and technically realible in fixing Ford explorer other that the local dealer?
Thanks!

 

[mdrut]

Welcome to the boards James, sorry to hear about the dealer problem..Being in Atlanta, you could try another dealer..Ask around, I'm sure someone here can help you or atleast let you know who you can report the dealer to..Good luck.

 

[Bill Kemp]

Go to www.cars.com and look around for their recomended service people in your area. Its not fool proof but it might help. At least you can get a second or third opinion.
One word or more of advice. Don't ever go back to that dealer.
Good Luck......

 

[espnfreak]

02 sensors

my check engine light came on and it is most likely the 02 sensors or the catalytic converter.

 

[96 EddieB]

My check engine light came on as well a couple of weeks ago. This is the weird thing, It was on a few days, then turned off. After it was off for about a week it came back on again. Whats up w/ that?
This happened before as well. About a year ago my check engine light came on and I had it checked out and they replaced something of which I cant remember. A week later it came back on again, then went off again after a few days and stayed off till recently.

I thought the light was supposed to stay on until some one reset it. Is my check engine light screwy?

 

[jamespeedy]

I pull out my XLT'96 from the dealer this am after going through the msg board last night- I found so many helpful tips/hints from this board pertaining to my CEL (Check Engine Light) ON. The dealer told me it will be next week (possible Monday) they expect the parts (solenoid-whatever) to arrived??
From the dealer, I went straight to a local Autozone and get an OBD II tester, plugged to my explorer and found no error codes..Following the tester manual it doesn't show up any codes, so i decided to run the 4 steps Ford manual suggested when you encounter CEL and it works! The CEL disappear!!

Bill Kemp you are absoulutely Right about not taking back to the dealer, they are thieves!

BTW- my XLT'96 is up 109k miles (approx 110k miles) and from some of the common experience i've seen here on this board it looks like the CEL appears every 55k miles- i maybe wrong in my assumption but mine is almost reaching another 55k miles. So this CEL is negligible- when i plugged the OBD II no codes ever registered and the CEL just went away..

I saved another 450$ from the dealer- this is huge amount for me..I only got the tester for 150$ at a local autozone and it's worth it!

I have not replace O2 sensor yet, since it doesn't indicate any codes on the tester- but this will be my next step if CEL appears again or depending on the test code..

Thank you ALL!!!

 

[jzrocket]

I had the same prob, on my 97'
the ford guys told me to "re-seat my gas cap"
The explorer does a pressure check of the system every time you turn on the car. if the gas cap is not on right it kicks the check engine light. So when my ford kicks the light, I turn off the engine and re-seat the cap. Light goes off in about a day. Also if you keep you truck running while you fuel it, or start it with the gas cap off it will do the same thing.

 

[leggo]

Good goin man I am happy to see you guys solving your problems!!!
Can you list those four things to shut off a faulty check engine light? Or is it very lengthy?
All I have to say is that there is alot of things that can trigger this light, so be careful when listening to other peoples "success stories". It can get very costly just replacing parts on a whim and not pulling any engine codes.
Good Luck!

 

[01EB5.0]

109K on origional O2 sensors?!?! I would rteplace those O2 sensors ASAP! Replacing them will help keep the vehicle running good and will help your gas milage.

 

[espnfreak]

ya i agree with travis

you got to replace those 02 sensors, they go bad very quickly. i only have 76k on my car and they went out. buy an OBD II tester and check the engine codes also, that could help a lot.