MichiganBird
Click here to upgrade
- Last seen
- Joined
- Oct 24, 2023
- Thunderbird Year
- 2002
Hello all,
I am a new retro-T-bird owner and hoping someone can point me in the right direction on this issue...
I bought a 2002 red T-bird with 75K miles a few weeks ago from a friend. The car had belonged to his sister's late husband, and sat in a garage in Tennessee for 6 years after he passed away. When I purchased the vehicle it was running pretty rough, but otherwise in fantastic shape. My friend stated he put a new battery in it, as well as a new fuel pump and fuel filters. After doing some quick research, I replaced the COP's, spark plugs, and valve cover gaskets. The battery was disconnected when I performed this tune-up and all replacement parts were OEM Motorcraft. The car started right up and ran fantastic during the post-repair test drive (about 20 miles).
When I tried to drive the car yesterday, the engine would not crank initially. I turned the key about 10 times and it finally turned over and started right up. Suspicious of the battery, I put a charger on it and it showed 30%. I charged the battery overnight to 100%, and today it will not crank at all. You can hear the fuel pump energize with the key in the "on" position, and there are no flashing lights on the dash or other strange electrical abnormalities. When you turn the key to "start" position, there are no relay clicks whatsoever. I read about a similar experience, and replacing the starter did nothing to fix the issue (of course, there was no resolution in that thread).
I am curious if anyone has experienced a similar problem, and what the fix was? Seems to me like the culprit may be the ignition switch, but I'd like to hear from the community before I order any parts.
Thanks in advance!
I am a new retro-T-bird owner and hoping someone can point me in the right direction on this issue...
I bought a 2002 red T-bird with 75K miles a few weeks ago from a friend. The car had belonged to his sister's late husband, and sat in a garage in Tennessee for 6 years after he passed away. When I purchased the vehicle it was running pretty rough, but otherwise in fantastic shape. My friend stated he put a new battery in it, as well as a new fuel pump and fuel filters. After doing some quick research, I replaced the COP's, spark plugs, and valve cover gaskets. The battery was disconnected when I performed this tune-up and all replacement parts were OEM Motorcraft. The car started right up and ran fantastic during the post-repair test drive (about 20 miles).
When I tried to drive the car yesterday, the engine would not crank initially. I turned the key about 10 times and it finally turned over and started right up. Suspicious of the battery, I put a charger on it and it showed 30%. I charged the battery overnight to 100%, and today it will not crank at all. You can hear the fuel pump energize with the key in the "on" position, and there are no flashing lights on the dash or other strange electrical abnormalities. When you turn the key to "start" position, there are no relay clicks whatsoever. I read about a similar experience, and replacing the starter did nothing to fix the issue (of course, there was no resolution in that thread).
I am curious if anyone has experienced a similar problem, and what the fix was? Seems to me like the culprit may be the ignition switch, but I'd like to hear from the community before I order any parts.
Thanks in advance!
Last edited by a moderator:
