When you have work done under a recall, Ford basically pays the dealership to do the work, instead of you paying. The labor allowances listed in the recall are the amounts that Ford will reimburse the dealership for. Apparently, if it takes longer than what is listed, the dealership eats the extra cost.
If your car is not covered by recall, the dealership can charge you whatever they want to charge to do the repair.
Note that at least one CEG'er, btrautman, was successful in getting Ford to pay some percentage of the repair cost past 100k, by first going to the service manager at a friendly dealer, then getting put in touch with a regional rep for Ford.
I however was not successful in doing that, at 115k and 10+ years, but I might have been more persistent if I was looking at a $3000 repair as opposed to the $130 part + DIY.
And P.S., the pdf file linked to in the above post includes step-by-step instructions for all the harness replacements. Any smart mechanic could follow the instructions and get the job done. However they will not have the experience with this repair that your dealer does.
