E Warning

[rdlinger]

I am relatively new to the retro world. I purchased an 03 back in November. It had a little over 19,000 miles on it. I have not driven
it much, due to winter weather. I have put around 75 miles on it.
I had it out today, and the (E) warning appeared in the transmission
select indicator. The car seems to operate fine. The book says to contact your dealer. I was wondering if anyone has had the same problem? How serious is it? and how expensive is it to fix. Is it something I need to take to a dealer? Thanks for any and all input.

[Gobird]

Re: E Warning

Roger, This was a problem with the 03's. Here is a link that talks about this back at that time. It's a long thread but worth taking the time to go over it.


http://www.thunderbirdnest.com/forum...readed+problem

[Ray]

Re: E Warning

Roger, definitely have the dealer reprogram the transmission. While you are at it, have them update the computer as well. You'll think you have a brand new car when you get it back.

[Skip]

Re: E Warning

This happened to my '02. It required replacement of the torque converter.

Skip

[007Cruiser]

Re: E Warning

Roger... I'd take it in to the dealer. A variety of things can cause this. My '03 was repaired under warranty so I don't have an idea on cost.

[rdlinger]

Re: E Warning

I found out from the Ford dealer, that there is a TSB concerning that issue. They say to
flush and replace the valve body. They flushed the transmission today, to see if it would
help. With my luck, and being Friday the 13, it did not help. I didn't think it would. They had to order the valve body. It should be in Monday, to be installed on Tuesday.
Total bill for analizing (finding the problem), Flushing, Odering the part, and installation,
only $925.00

[Daktari]

Re: E Warning

Hi Roger,

Please see below. I have attached my first post in a whole thread concerning the'E' that showed up on our car not long after we bought it. Here it is:



" Hi there,

I took our 2003 T-bird in for a service yesterday. The 'E' had come up on the dash and so I took in a copy of the TSB which suggests if all else fails it can be fixed by replacing the main control valve body.

Sure enough, the Ford dealers decided that was the solution but when they contacted 'Easy Care' where I opted for their 'Total Care' plan, they refused to pay out on this particular job.

The first thing I did was to consult my Easy Care contract to see if this should be covered. There it was in black and white," Transmission problems" covered. According to Ford, the 'E' shows up because the car is not shifting into overdrive mode and to me, this is a transmission problem.

I then called Easy Care to ask if my contract covered transmission problems, why they had declined to pay out on this particular job. The guy on the phone said,
' I'm sorry, but if you look under Section 8 it clearly states that the throttle body is not covered by your contract".

Now, that may be so and I'm no expert technician but I do know that the throttle body is a competely different part to the control valve body which Ford had said needed replacing. When I pointed this out to the guy he had to admit that indeed , the control valve body was covered under my agreement and he would get back in touch with Ford to give them the ok to go ahead.

Next thing, I get another call from Ford saying that Easy Care have turned it down for a second time, even though the part is covered. It turns out this time, they are claiming that I knew about the 'E' problem before I purchased the car. This was completely false because if this was the case, I would either have asked the seller to fix it before the sale or I would have walked away and chose another car. It would be pretty stupid to pay $ 21,000.00 for any car if I knew it had a fault!

This is an example of warranty/insurance companies trying there best to wriggle out of making a pay-out. When we enter into a warranty agreement, it is done in good faith and it is a kind of gamble on both sides. I would obviously prefer our T-bird not to have any problems and never have to use the warranty. However, if the warranty is needed, I fully expect Easy Care in this case to honour their side of the deal.

I was so angry yesterday and I apologise if some of that is coming through in this post.

Luckily, I have a friend at work who's son-in-law is a lawyer who specializes in this type of thing and he has offered to help if it comes to that. He says that warranty/insurance companies make a whole lot of money from knowing that most people accept what they are fobbed off with first time and usually back down.

I only wish more people would not accept the first line and actually study the agreement a little more. In this case, the first guy at Easy Care convieniently for them chose a part that he knew was not covered,(the throttle body), and tried to get away with that until I told him I knew it was actually the 'control valve body' that needede replacing and that part was covered.

I have finally cooled down a little and it's good to get it off my chest by writing into TBN to share this bad experience. I will be sure to let you know the outcome.

At the end of the day, if worse comes to worse, I will end up paying $600.00 to Ford and I'll be left feeling stupid for not only paying for the warranty but also paying for the repair that the warranty should have covered.

All the best and bye for now, Gordon."


Hope this might be of some help, Gordon.

[rdlinger]

Re: E Warning

Hi Gordon.
I guess the botton line is that I hope the control valve body fixes our problem.
It's a shame you have to battle the warranty companies to get what you paid
for. I have no warranty on mine, so I know I have to pay. My bird only has a
little over 19000 miles on it. From what I understand, it is a common problem
for a certain run of 03's. You would have thought Ford would have recalled and
fixed the problem long ago. Any good luck, and thanks for the post.
Roger

[Bird03]

Re: E Warning

Gordon,

Sorry for your trouble. Is this a Ford Warranty transfered from the original owner to you, or is it an aftermarket and if it is would you care to say which one?

[Bird03]

Re: E Warning

Total bill for analizing (finding the problem), Flushing, Odering the part, and installation,
only $925.00

Roger,

Consider yourself very very lucky. When our cars were in original warranty, the service people initially threw all sorts of parts at this problem (including the main computer, shifter, dash indicator, and an entire dashboard) when they failed to properly diagnose the problem. Some cars were laid up for weeks until they finally threw the right parts in to fix the problem.

It wasn't until we all started seeing a common problem and the proper fix here on the website that people started taking their cars in with the TSB in hand and the problem was fixed correctly the first time for the rest of the people.

The explanation I got from the transmission guy at my dealer (and he is the main transmission guy for 3 Ford dealers and a Lincoln dealer) is that there is a piston that travels through a cylinder to activate the overdrive. Filing debris left over from the manufacturing process (if it is present) can gum up the piston and cause it to seize. He cleaned it all out, put it back together, and it has worked fine for the last 30,000 miles.

Actually, you are coming to this party late. Most of these failures in the 2003's occurred almost exactly between 2500 and 3000 miles and if you got past the 3000 miles without a failure then you were good to go. Maybe the valve body just failed for some other reason.

Anyway, like I said, if this fixes the problem you should be happy with the bill. Make sure that they update the computer with the latest transmission program (they usually do this when they do a transmission service, but it doesn't heart to ask to make sure they do it).

Wes

[Birdlover]

Re: E Warning

Roger,
We bought our black '03 in April 2008. It only had 7500 miles and was showroom perfect. Drove it about 1000 miles when the "E" appeared. The local Ford dealer had never seen this problem but found the solution. Said I could continue to drive the car, but should seriously consider having it fixed. I learned from others at TBN that they had driven their cars with the "Dreaded E" for months with no ill effects. We had it fixed in August '08 for a cost of $900.00 and no more problems. From what I learned, most E problems occurred by 10,000 miles. I'm surprised you car took so long. Well, get it fixed when you can and you will be ready to enjoy the car all summer. Good Luck!

[Daktari]

Re: E Warning

Hi there,

Just to clarify my earlier post. The 'E' showed up soon after we had bought the car. This was over a year ago and the good news was that the Easy Care plan I took out did eventually pay for the whole thing. I took this warranty out with the Mercedes Dealers where we bought the car. It was a real fight though, they did try two attempts to wriggle out of it. No problems since then, fingers crossed.

Gordon.

[My Raven]

Re: E Warning

Roger, I hate to hear you got the dreaded "E" virus. Mine showed up on my first 03 around 16k. Nearly all the Retros with this problem were built from late October 2002 to March 2003 with a particular lot of trannys being the culprit.

Once you have it fixed I never had another problem nor do I remember any other members having multiple E episodes.

Take Her Out on the Highway for a Roadtrip and Think About Joining Us in Wilmington Next Month for CBT!