Hi all,

I just got my 2008 Ford Ranger FX4 serviced at a local stealership with 12,980 something miles on it. The shop manager recommended fuel filter service and a battery service for my 15k service. The fuel filter I can understand, but the truck is 1 year old. What does the battery service entail, and why does the stealership want to charge 34.95 for it.

Any help would be grateful.

Thanks,

Mark

 

The only thing I can think of for the battery is cleaning the terminals, and coating them with protector. I don't think that is worth 34.95. Where I work we do it for free during a oil change. Batteries today are maintenance free so that is all that can be done. Look in your owners manual under service intervals and look when it is recommended to change the fuel filter. That seems a little early to me.

 

My battery lasted 7 years with little to no maintenance. Finally the cold weather killed it last week. Save your $34.95

Just like with my dad's truck, he got 3 free oil changes at the dealer,but they wanted to charge him $19.95 to rotate the tires with 7000km on it. Yeah right.

 

Discount tire FTMFW i rotate every 3K miles just cause i can.

 

the $19.95 to rotate the tires at the dealer was to make up for the "free" oil changes.

 

Hi, thanks for the responses. Under the general 15k service neither comes up. Under Special Operating Conditions, Fuel filter can be serviced at 15k or 30k under normal conditions. I will tell the stealership to stick it.

Thanks,

Mark

 

I wouldn't even worry about the fuel filter til 60k miles minimum.

As far as I know, I'm over 250k on the original.

 

^ That sounds about right to me, regarding the battery - and you can do that yourself; BTW the battery should last at least the length of your warranty - they usually last 3 - 5 years in my experience.

Maintenance schedule for '03s specifies fuel filter change every year/20,000 km (about 13,000 miles) so that's not totally out of line, but generally you can go longer than that

FWIW, I change my fuel filter every 50,000 km/30,000 miles, and that's worked OK for me - and people still tell me that's too often.