I had a check engine alarm go off on my 2003 225HO Evinrude. My dealer is 300 hundred miles away, so I went to a local authorized service dealer to see if the codes would reveal something simple and save me a long drive.

The local dealer said the code was for the throttle position sensor and it was a repair he could make, so I gave him the ok. He said the sensor was bad and replaced it within a few days and sent me on my way without testing it (they are not on the water, but I believe the engine doesn't even have to started to test this).

I took the boat home and the next day went out to run the engine, the alarm sounded again. I took it back, they checked it out again and told me that it must be my foot throttle causing the problem and they couldn't fix that. So, after several hundred dollars I was where I started.

I decided to drive to my dealer who installed the foot throttle because if that was the problem I wanted someone with expertise to fix it. My dealer took one look at the linkage area of the engine and spotted that a throttle stop on the engine was gone. It had apparently vibrated out. It was pretty obvious for someone who should know how the linkage works (a certified mechanic), the area is painted black and there was a threaded non-painted hole on the engine. It took my dealer less than a minute to find the problem.

Should I return to the first dealership and ask for a return of at least some of the money I paid for their incompetence? Is it reasonable to expect a certified mechanic to be able to diagnose a simple problem like this, or am I obligated to pay him for guessing (incorrectly) and experimenting. Oh and one last thing, I had the second dealer test the so-called bad throttle position sensor that I paid for from the first dealer and it was not bad. So, I also was sold a part I didn't need and had to pay to have it installed.

Thanks in advance for your recommendations and opinions.