4 down 4 to go

[GrayGator72]

Well I just had my 4th COP replaced at 36K. 4 more for a complete set and I believe Ford will give me a free set of steak knives?!?
Know there has been a lot written on COPS. Glad Ford is standing up to its extended warranty at $200+ per COP. But a shame Ford will not fix the inherent design flaw that is causing the problem.
I guess the bean counters at Ford (is Robert McNamara back from the dead?) figure it is cheaper to pay off a couple thousand owners for a few COPS rather than fix 50,000 T Birds that are out there. Lee Iacocca explained this as "building in quality after the fact".
I'll keep the Bird to the 10 yr mark when the warranty runs out then move on to a BMW Z4 or Porsche 911. It’s a fun car, just one major flaw.

[timothy]

Re: 4 down 4 to go

Well I just had my 4th COP replaced at 36K. 4 more for a complete set and I believe Ford will give me a free set of steak knives?!?
Know there has been a lot written on COPS. Glad Ford is standing up to its extended warranty at $200+ per COP. But a shame Ford will not fix the inherent design flaw that is causing the problem.
I guess the bean counters at Ford (is Robert McNamara back from the dead?) figure it is cheaper to pay off a couple thousand owners for a few COPS rather than fix 50,000 T Birds that are out there. Lee Iacocca explained this as "building in quality after the fact".
I'll keep the Bird to the 10 yr mark when the warranty runs out then move on to a BMW Z4 or Porsche 911. It’s a fun car, just one major flaw.

Be careful- I was told golf clubs won't fit in a Z4!

[BirdsAndBugs]

Re: 4 down 4 to go

I'll keep my 2 Thunderbirds. Replacing COPS is much less expensive than payments on a new car. I'm happy with them and there really isn't much else out there that I really want right now.

Well maybe a nice used Mercury Marauder.
But that is "in addition to"; not "in place of".

[phantomf4]

Re: 4 down 4 to go

Do you know if the failures were related to moisture/oil intrusion?

[HKS]

Re: 4 down 4 to go

Do you know if the failures were related to moisture/oil intrusion?

No one believes me, but I think failures are due to heat since the coils are covered up inside the engine. Look under the hood of any new car and you will see the coils in plain sight outside the engine. I think Ford and every one else figured it out a long time ago.

But this is a Jaguar/English engine and they must have covered the coils to reduce radio interference in England. I have considered taking the covers off for cooler operation. Not sure what is involved.

HKS

[dcrichards]

Re: 4 down 4 to go

ArgonV operates his car without the cover.

[DavidA]

Re: 4 down 4 to go

I too believe it is heat related. We looked at a new Taurus and the cops were exposed on top of the engine. It seems there was a new design and the replacement cops seem more stable than the original ones.

If you look at the new ones they are smooth on top whereas on the old ones you can see the pattern of the coil under the epoxy. Why sell the car after 10 years? Even if you have to replace a cops, it is much less exoensive than 1 car payment. Have you ever paid for a repair on a Bimmer? There is nothing that can be done for less than $200.00.

[Gobird]

Re: 4 down 4 to go

Well, eight years and 67,000 + miles and so far no cops problem with my 02. If I ever do have a problem I'll replace these myself. Not much more involved then changing plugs and I have done those all my life myself. I'd never sell the car because of this.

[AZTB]

Re: 4 down 4 to go

...I'll keep the Bird to the 10 yr mark when the warranty runs out then move on to a BMW Z4 or Porsche 911. It’s a fun car, just one major flaw.

Instead of the 911, look at the Cayman S...do some research and I think you'll find there's NO comparison (even Motor Trend, which leans towards the 911, said the Cayman was a much better driver's car).

[ArgonV]

Re: 4 down 4 to go

Indeed, I live in Texas and drive A LOT (It gets HOT on these Texas roads). Since I fixed the windshield cowl water leak problem, I leave the COP covers off. No problems due to water and heat, although I did notice oil in one of the wells last week. I've since cleaned the oil out and have not seen any back. Probably leaked from a spark plug gasket over the winter when it got really cold here. (Below freezing)

[Bill Brown]

Re: 4 down 4 to go

Someone at Savannah put small SS spacers (sleeves) under the cover that lifted the top about a 1/4", They had bolt holes and the bolt was run through to keep in place. Had to say they looked OK the SS gave a little bling under the hood. This made for easy inspection and cleaning.

[Peterfurlan]

Re: 4 down 4 to go

Good idea dump the Thunderbird and go for a Porsche 911. I'm looking at 911 Turbo
base price $133,750 as tested $158,085. At the base price you could change out 668
cops on the ford. If you don't have two left hands Gobird (post 8) has the right idea.

[MerlotBlue]

Re: 4 down 4 to go

Well I just had my 4th COP replaced at 36K. 4 more for a complete set and I believe Ford will give me a free set of steak knives?!?
Know there has been a lot written on COPS. Glad Ford is standing up to its extended warranty at $200+ per COP. But a shame Ford will not fix the inherent design flaw that is causing the problem.
I guess the bean counters at Ford (is Robert McNamara back from the dead?) figure it is cheaper to pay off a couple thousand owners for a few COPS rather than fix 50,000 T Birds that are out there. Lee Iacocca explained this as "building in quality after the fact".
I'll keep the Bird to the 10 yr mark when the warranty runs out then move on to a BMW Z4 or Porsche 911. It’s a fun car, just one major flaw.

.

COP failure is NOT a major flaw!

Yes, it sucks when you develop that tell tale "skip" but as you said Ford is standing behind the car to 100,000 miles.

After that and for the 2002 owners, left out in the cold, buying a full set for a shelf in the garage is not going to cost anything close to "$200 per cop".

I have an '04 that is still covered but we also own an '02 that isn't. (KNOCK ON WOOD) we've had no COP issues on the '02 as of yet but I'm ready for when and if. Rock Auto supplied me with a full set of 8 Motorcraft COPS for just over $300. They live on a self in my garage.

You don't have to be a Ford trained tech to do the job.

Owning a Retro-bird will pretty much require anyone outside the warranty to get to know this repair. On the bright side there is no crawling around under the car required. If you can work a socket wrench and remove and electrical connection you can do this yourself.

It really isn't much of a reason to feel you have to "ditch" the car.

As far as "car problems" go these days.......this one is neither difficult nor expensive once you recognize this is a "fix" that most shade-tree mechanics can handle themselves.

[MerlotBlue]

Re: 4 down 4 to go

Well, eight years and 67,000 + miles and so far no cops problem with my 02. If I ever do have a problem I'll replace these myself. Not much more involved then changing plugs and I have done those all my life myself. I'd never sell the car because of this.

........EXACTLY........we have 59,000 on our '02 and no problems yet here either. (can't help but feel just saying it is tempting fate though)

[Steak]

Re: 4 down 4 to go

I had no issues on my 03 until 59K- now at 68K 6 out of 8 replaced in the past year. On the last two failures- went into limp mode numerous times after the car had sat for a few hours after a 20-30 mile ride. Running great now after the repair.