Valid ESP Contract but Required Part Obsolete?

[steelblue5505]

Re: Valid ESP Contract but Required Part Obsolete?

Finally, down to the point of the matter. How many PCMs out of the total build of the 60 thousand does the TBM community know about?
Yep the PCM situation is a concern, actually it is only an example one of many similar part situations that will put some owners at their crossroads.
Some I think will take this discussion as fair warning of what may come and continue on with their life while others may think that they can not continue to wonder when failure will happen to their Retro and bid their Bird farewell.
A personal choice for sure, one that will be wrong only if the choice is made to keep the car and then a irreplaceable part fails BUT when will that happen, when will that unknown part fail?
Could this be another one of the secrets of life?

I am concerned, but I just now came back in from the garage after taking a long thought filled lingering look at my medium steel blue. My daily driver with its 90257 miles, well we are going to continue on down the road together until we can't.

[carntz]

Re: Valid ESP Contract but Required Part Obsolete?

Do we love these cars???

Suggestion. Start a centrally located wrecking yard in mid United States. Reserved for MEMBERS ONLY.

PARTS Problems solved.

We just need someone with Time and Money otherwise I would nominate myself, but I don't qualify mainly because I live in Idaho 99 miles from Canada, although I might have a problem with the other two qualifications as well.

LOL

[Guest]

Re: Valid ESP Contract but Required Part Obsolete?

Maybe it's not a problem after all.

If Ron can find any part he needs, can't others do the same?

And if Ron has sources, vendors or a favored dealer that can do what no one else can, I'm sure he'd be happy to share this information with other TBN members in need.

[philj]

Re: Valid ESP Contract but Required Part Obsolete?

Has anyone had experience with SIA ELECTRONICS? Their website offers repair and rebuild on Ford (And Others) ECM and other modules. They also can re flash.
I don't need one (Yet) but this company seems to be an answer to Ford and other car companies obsoleting electronic modules. Their average price is $169.00.

Their website would indicate that they are a reliable company large enough to solve our needs.

[Guest]

Re: Valid ESP Contract but Required Part Obsolete?

Has anyone had experience with SIA ELECTRONICS? Their website offers repair and rebuild on Ford (And Others) ECM and other modules. They also can re flash.
I don't need one (Yet) but this company seems to be an answer to Ford and other car companies obsoleting electronic modules. Their average price is $169.00.
Their website would indicate that they are a reliable company large enough to solve our needs.

Don't have personal experience with them, but here's the refund policy (from their website):

"REFUND, WARRANTY & CORE RETURN POLICY

WE DO NOT ISSUE REFUNDS; this is an industry-wide standard,"

[merlot4]

Re: Valid ESP Contract but Required Part Obsolete?

It might help some to have relevant threads in one spot, including several sources of electronics, and have added this thread to the list. I hope no one has to use it, and if they do, will find it useful. Body parts are something else to be considered, they may end up being in shorter supply than the electronics.
http://www.thunderbirdnest.com/forum...ad.php?t=37034

[BirdsAndBugs]

Re: Valid ESP Contract but Required Part Obsolete?

I can't worry about things I can't control. My Thunderbirds are not daily drivers but I have no problem using them and taking them on road trips anytime; any place. I expect I'll use them for many more years and if a repair issue comes up later, I'll cross that bridge at that time.

[wcoates]

Re: Valid ESP Contract but Required Part Obsolete?

Has anyone had experience with SIA ELECTRONICS? Their website offers repair and rebuild on Ford (And Others) ECM and other modules. They also can re flash.
I don't need one (Yet) but this company seems to be an answer to Ford and other car companies obsoleting electronic modules. Their average price is $169.00.
Their website would indicate that they are a reliable company large enough to solve our needs.

googled them, right after their web-site link was this:
http://www.ripoffreport.com/r/sia-au...e-contr-655669

[merlot4]

Re: Valid ESP Contract but Required Part Obsolete?

Thanks, Bill, this must the briefest time between adding something to my PDF and removing it! I can't understand what goes through their minds, why would you have a business and do things that are totally counter productive? Then again, some of the complaints here against Ford are exactly that.

[Rondor]

Re: Valid ESP Contract but Required Part Obsolete?

I think the people who still own these cars and have for any length of time don't feel like the car " OWES" them anything and for some of those the new interest and challenge is keeping them up and running. Then one day someone offers them a small fortune and We all say WOW. Other retro's will be handed down as memento's and never be worth much but the owners could care less. . If you have owned a retro for 10-15 years and haven't gotten your money's worth by now------ You bought the wrong car.

[jerrym3]

Re: Valid ESP Contract but Required Part Obsolete?

Unfortunately, with today's reliance on electronics, cars that are not used as daily drivers can still experience serious malfunctions.

Granted, mechanical parts that go bad based on mileage/usage will last longer. But, I know from experience, electrical parts can go bad on low mileage cars.

You have to weigh the joy of owning a retro vs the possibility of searching for unavailable parts.

[steelblue5505]

Re: Valid ESP Contract but Required Part Obsolete?

Having worked in a industry that always tried to use the very newest & up to date standards for all the electronics in the equipment they manufacture. Electronics can & do last forever or they can be bad brand new right out of the box. The failure rate on most but of course not all of today's electronics is not a high failure.

This of course doesn't help matters when you are the person experiencing the failure.

[2K2BIRD]

Re: Valid ESP Contract but Required Part Obsolete?

... If you have owned a retro for 10-15 years and haven't gotten your money's worth by now ------ You bought the wrong car.

Amen to that. I've said it before and still believe it. If for whatever reason our car could never go another mile, between the friends we've made and the places we have been in it we've gotten our money's worth many times over.

As far as the ESP thing goes, my advice is always start at the top and let them work their way down. Mark Fields is head of Ford Motor Company these days. I'm sure it wouldn't be impossible to get his email address. If he is anything like Mulally was when he ran the company and you send him an email laying out the problem in a respectful manner indicating that you would like to remain a Ford customer, you'll hear from someone in his office with a short amount of time. Not to long after that your problem will more than likely be solved.

[11TH GEN]

Re: Valid ESP Contract but Required Part Obsolete?

As far as the ESP thing goes, my advice is always start at the top and let them work their way down. Mark Fields is head of Ford Motor Company these days. I'm sure it wouldn't be impossible to get his email address. If he is anything like Mulally was when he ran the company and you send him an email laying out the problem in a respectful manner indicating that you would like to remain a Ford customer, you'll hear from someone in his office with a short amount of time. Not to long after that your problem will more than likely be solved.

Well there ya go ESP contract holders. It only took 73 posts to direct you towards a solution within a short period of time.

[Peterfurlan]

Re: Valid ESP Contract but Required Part Obsolete?

How about a prize to the first person posting Mr. Mark Fields e-mail address.