Cops - What you described is typical of COPS (coil on plug) problems. This has been a problem for 2002-2005 Thunderbirds. Ford has a warranty plan to replace COPS on 2003-2005 models, without expense to the owner. However, for whatever reason, the 2002 model is specifically excluded. There are several threads devoted to this problem on www.thunderbirdnest.com.
Car started to miss, sputter, shake etc . The problem just started showing up slowly but became severe within a week. Luckily I had a mechanic that worked on Jaguars and all he had to do was start my car to know the problem. Obviously this is an inherent problem for this engine. After two hours and $210 all seems to be well .
On Tuesday,21st of August, car lost acceleration, symbols came on dash. Had it towed to nearest Ford dealer. They could not do work until the following Monday. Then had it towed to first garage that fixed coils and plugs. (40 miles away)! They phoned to say car needed throttle actuator control module. Would take 5 working days to get. Cost was $866.00. What could I do? Picked up car 7 days later. Mechanic wasn't there. Drove back to condo.
Would not go back to this dealer. Ford Customer Relations Center did nothing except phone the dealer and repeat eleven times that she was very sorry for my problem! Talked to someone at dealer who told me to have the car towed in. I gave up at this point,as I felt that they could not fix it.
I need to to drive the home to Florida, 1250 miles away and would not trust the car to get me there.
I have read a great many complaints about this problem, especially with the poor guys who have the 2002 models and did not get the 100,000 mile warranty. What good is the warranty if you never know when the car is going to go out on you.
I plan to sell this car when it gets to Florida. Am having it shipped there to my home and will take it my old service, Maroone Ford, in Delray Beach where they show some respect for their customers..
car started to lose acceleration and sputter. Lights came on dash showing engine and wrench symbols. Ford garage fixed 3 coils under the Ford extension warranty. There was no cost to me.
In June, 2010, I bought this one owner (local MD) 2005 Ford Thunderbird through local Ford dealership with 90-day warranty. Car has been to service center twice for running rough, missing, sputtering, and loss of acceleration (from 65mph to 20mph) in high speed traffic with no engine response to gas pedal. Very frightening! The result each time was replacing ...one then three ignition coils. I was told this was the problem. I suggested replacing the remaining 4 ignition coils since they appeared to be wearing out! I was told there was nothing wrong with the remaining coils. The answer seemed vague and I wondered if something else was causing the ignition coil failure. So after doing an internet question search I found this site. So far there has been no mention by my service center of warped valve covers and gasket/seal leakage, etc.
Is this a problem they should/would have been familiar since they are a ford dealership? Are they simply waiting out the warranty by not telling me the real problem? Can this warped valve problem be fixed?
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
Car started to miss, sputter, shake etc . The problem just started showing up slowly but became severe within a week. Luckily I had a mechanic that worked on Jaguars and all he had to do was start my car to know the problem. Obviously this is an inherent problem for this engine. After two hours and $210 all seems to be well .
- Stanley K., St Louis, MO, US