Help!

[MidLifeBird]

I just got home from buying my 'new' 03 T-bird, black, black hardtop, partial red interior and only 17,500 miles. The battery was dead when I arrived because the car had been in storage. We jumped it off and went for a test drive. Everything seemed to work great and after checking everything out as well as possible in the seller's driveway, I bought the car. My grin turned to a frown about twenty miles later, when I noticed the transmission indicator had changed from a 'D5' to an 'E'. Which I understand is a transmission error code. I called the seller, but he had no idea what I was talking about. Anyway, I was about 80 miles from home and didn't know what to do. The car was running and shifting fine, so I limped home at 55 mph. I didn't feel, hear, or smell anything wrong. My question is how bad is this? Is it safe to drive the car? I'm supposed to go out of town this weekend and my other vehicle is a 54 Chevy truck with no AC. Could this be a minor fix, or am I in big trouble? If it is a big deal can I exect any help from Ford since the car has only 17,500 miles? I need some advice.
Thanks,
Trent

[redbirdsal]

Re: Help!

The first thing I'd do is call the Seller back and see if he has a transferable extended warranty.

The good thing is that your '03 displayed the E code, and so it has a code stored. If it's a COP problem, Ford will pick up the tab for replacement.

[MATBird]

Re: Help!

Contact Bird03 (Wes) via PM or email. He knows what to do

[Birdlover]

Re: Help!

Hi Trent,
Don't fret, the problem doesn't seem to cause damage. I drove mine about 1000 miles last year before I got it fixed. By all means contact the seller to find out if there is an extended warranty that can be transferred. If not, plan on spending about $900 for repairs. That's what it cost me and my car only had 8000 miles on it last summer. After that, I've had no problems and have enjoyed the car very much.
Good luck,
Richard

Added 6-19-09
Trent,
The service dept hooked my car up to their diagnostic machine and took the car for a short drive. The error code they got indicated the problem. I was told I could drive the car for awhile without damage and during that time I don't think the tranny ever hit overdrive. It took two days for the parts to arrive and a day in the shop to repair. Even for an 8000 mile car at 5 years of age, Ford would not bend to help with the cost.

[ArgonV]

Re: Help!

Yes, and a lot of the time all that is needed is a computer upgrade for the tranny from a Ford dealer.

[My Raven]

Re: Help!

You have the dreaded E Code which affects 03 Lincoln LS and Thunderbirds built from October 2002 to March 2003: Ford received a batch of defective trannys and it is hit or miss as to whether you got one if your Bird was built within that time span.

If the E Code disappears you are not out of the woods: It will reappear given time and mileage so go ahead and get it repaired as you are putting off the inevitable and it is hard on your tranny (excessive heat) as I was told by my dealer.

You can drive it in limp mode but drive her easy and not over 50 or so mph: I don't recommend driving it for a extended period of time as I said because it is hard on the tranny.

The repair was about $1k if I remember correctly but it was covered by my warranty at the time on my original 03 Raven and on my first 007. Both stayed in the shop for 2 or 3 days waiting on the part. Both ran fine after it was fixed.

Good Luck & Keep Us Posted ...

[MidLifeBird]

Re: Help!

Well, that's just great. The original owner purchased a 5 year/75,000 mile extended warranty, but the five years have expired. I can purchase a new 48 month/48,000 warranty for $1420, but the car has to be inspected first so that doesn't help me with this problem. Thanks for the information. Please keep commenting so I can know as much as possible about this issue.

[MidLifeBird]

Re: Help!

Can I assume from the comments so far that Ford hasn't done anything to help out with the cost of this repair the way they have extended the coil warranty?
Trent

[MidLifeBird]

Re: Help!

I have another question. What RPM does your car run when you're going 55-60 MPH? I'm turning 1700 to 2000 RPM at those speeds, which leads me to think the car is going into overdrive. The serviceman I talked to said that if I was getting the error code but the car was going into OD I probably just need a software update instead of a hardware replacement. He was going to do some research and get back to me.

[bwlewis]

Re: Help!

My car runs those numbers (more or less). I posted on another thread about the E code I got a while back from high pressure water getting into something under the car (had to get the road salt off). It was over a weekend, so the car was parked until later. After drying out, no code, no problems since and that was a couple years ago. I had the computer updates done and it shifts a lot soother now. Good luck and keep us posted.

[rdlinger]

Re: Help!

The exact same thing happened to me. I had no sooner bought my 03 and the dreaded
"E" indicator appeared. The dealer flushed the transmission in accordance with the TSB,
but the indicator stayed on. Next they replaced the valve body. I have no idea what that is. It has something to do with the torque converter sticking or being stuck. Since then, I have had no problems. My Bird had 17,800 when the problem first appeared. I was told that valve was a problem with certain 03 models, and usally happens prior to that milage. Like you, my warrenty had expired. Total cost of my repair 1039.80

[Skip]

Re: Help!

My car developed the dreaded "E" code at 7500 miles. The car was just over 3 years old, so the extended warranty picked up the cost of the repairs. These included replacing the transmission solenoid pack, the torque converter and the valve body. Not certain what the cost was, but was happy it happened while the car was in warranty. I've been dragging my feet about purchasing the extended waaranty now available, but situations like this get me thinking.

Skip

[justjon]

Re: Help!

You have a yellow Tbird with a red partial interior? isn't that a little odd? How many of those were ordered? Could that be a replacement interior? did i hear "water damage"?

[PaBlkBrd]

Re: Help!

Reread his first sentence in his first post.

[Daktari]

Re: Help!

Hi there,

We also have a 2003 black and we also had the'E'code problem. In our case it was ok to drive, all it was doing was not shifting into overdrive. I got mine fixed under warranty which I purchased from the Merc dealers where we bought the car.

Type 'error' code or 'E' code into the search box and my original post should come up with the whole story.

It's been fine since then.

Good luck, Gordon.