I know several Ford Service Managers and Technicians hang out here from time to time, as do I. My daughters engine started a sqealing noise so I had her take it to a Ford Dealership in So. Nevada where she is in school. This is what transpired:

My daughter was having a noise in her engine which I diagnosed (correctly I might add) as the tensioner pulley. I had her take it to the Ford Dealer in Las Vegas. The Ranger is a 98 XLT 3.0 V6 Auto 4x4 with less than 75,000 miles on it. They charged $175 for labor and $143 for the part. I was wondering how close THAT is to "reality"? Her being 450 miles away I wasn't able to change it my self as I've done on my older F150's. They also told her the spark plugs needed changing and a tuneup was needed, the truck runs fine except for the pulley squeal. They wanted another $400 for that! The manual says the plugs are good to 96,000 miles and the Ford Dealer that did the major service on it last July said it in no way need a tuneup at that time 72,000 miles and should be good to 100,000 miles. I had her refuse the tuneup but let them do the 3 month L-O-F and change the Licence plate light bulbs. They weren't happy, but they did fix the tensioner pulley issue. What is it with these dealerships now? I had to take my Mountaineer to the Ford Dealer in Carson City and they wanted to do all kinds of things over and above the warrenty work needed (about $700), which I only paid had to pay them a $50 deductable.

Oh yes, my 2004 F150 XLT 4x4 Reg cab, is still going good except the gas mileage has gone in the toilet, from Hwy 21-22 mpg (5.4 w 3.55 ) to 17 mpg over the same road and my Parking Brake light keeps coming on, which is odd because we never use the parking brake due to them freezing up in the winter. Once was enough of that fer me!