2004 Common Problems after Long-Term Storage?

[Rawah652]

So for background- I bought my 2004 Pacific Coast Roadster before joining the Army, and as luck would have it, I've been stationed overseas continuously for the last 12 years, and the car has been in and out of storage for that period of time. The first 5 years I was able to take her out on at least one long road trip a year, but unfortunately for the last 4 years she's been mostly sitting in a garage. My folks have been starting it every 1-3 months and driving it around the block, but that's about it. I already know the tires need replacing (I last put new tires on in 2011), a new battery was put in a couple months ago, and I've ordered the parts to replace the coils and spark plugs as apparently the vehicle has a bit of a miss. A fuel stabilizer has been used, and I'll of course be changing out the oil.

Any other common problems I should watch out for after getting the vehicle out of storage this week? I plan on driving it to my current duty location (about 800 mile road trip) after getting everything repaired, and there will definitely be areas on the trip I DON'T want to break down- i.e. no cell service.

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[biddle]

Fuel pump issues are very common even after sitting a few months.

 

[Rawah652]

I am not completely certain, but once you replace the COPS you will be fine. Also, there is a small chip which can be updated that helps manage the transmission. Take it to a Ford dealership which seems to know about these transmissions and have the transmission tuned and the fluid replaced. The transmission step is probably only necessary if you find that it has a lag in shifting at low speeds.

I will absolutely be avoiding all dealership maintenance in my area after they couldn't even rotate my tires correctly last time I went in for service. Chip should be okay, no shifting issues going into storage. Will definitely check the fluid out though.

Fuel pump issues are very common even after sitting a few months.

Ugh, I despise working with fuel, mogas is even worse than JetA. Haven't been looking forward to the fuel filter replacement. Are the pumps on both sides failing, or just the passenger side? At least the parts aren't too pricey.

 

[Frankie the Fink]

I would run an ODBC diagnostic before I started "shooting it with the parts cannon" e.g. COPS and plugs, maybe run a tank of gas through it with a little Techron additive.....examine the brake fluid carefully as DOT 3 is hygroscopic and attracts moisture; if it looks like mushroom soups change it - you might want to change it anyway.

 

[Rawah652]

Figured I'd update the thread now that I have the car in working order again!

A couple of issues, and some headaches over the last few days. I did find a little chipmunk nest under the engine cover, which was my worst fear. But other than making a mess on the right side of the engine, amazingly, it did no damage.

Here's a list of the immediate issues I ran into with the car:

1- Engine Overheating intermittently. The Intermittent part turned out to be the fail-safe kicking in after the thermostat failed and getting the pump turning. Car got me down the canyon and back into town in fail-safe mode no issues. I love this thing. I let the car cool down to look at it in the garage, and found a small puddle of coolant on the garage floor. The leak turned out to be from the Dual Coolant Control Valve (DCCV), on the back side of the plastic housing, but seemed to only leak under pressure (i.e. when the engine was at operating temp). A new thermostat (and housing), new DCCV, and coolant replacement later and the overheating issue is resolved.

2- The engine had an obvious miss, but it took 4 drive cycles for it to actually throw a code. #1 cylinder was missing. Replaced all coils and spark plugs. (OMG who hurt the person that designed the engine compartment? I have small hands, and that was an hours-long chore that shouldn't have been that hard!) Engine is now running and sounding amazing.

3- No Air Conditioning. Was blowing HOT air on the trip down the canyon, and immediately after I replaced the DCCV. Was thinking maybe I got a bad part, but played around with the electrical connector a bit (I initially had trouble getting it to lock in), and that fixed the hot air issue. A/C Compressor still wasn't cycling on, found that there was a bit of a loose connection on the compressor itself. Fiddled with that, compressor kicked on blowing cool air. An AC Recharge later, and it's now ice cold 🙂


Tires were a bit old and are now replaced. The windshield has a large crack, so that'll get replaced next week- really hoping the replacement has the neat little thunderbird emblem on the bottom. Now it's just time to finish getting her all cleaned up and shiny for the upcoming road trip!

 

[Jeffb1062]

I will absolutely be avoiding all dealership maintenance in my area after they couldn't even rotate my tires correctly last time I went in for service. Chip should be okay, no shifting issues going into storage. Will definitely check the fluid out though.



Ugh, I despise working with fuel, mogas is even worse than JetA. Haven't been looking forward to the fuel filter replacement. Are the pumps on both sides failing, or just the passenger side? At least the parts aren't too pricey.

The fuel filter isn’t that bad to change it’s in the inner fender behind the driver’s front wheel, the hardest thing was to remove the old filter from the bracket. Remove fuel pump fuse and start the engine to relieve the pressure

 

[1984shovelhead]

Not sure what the mileage figure is for transmission fluid change is but my 04 has no dipstick there’s probably a fluid level plug on the transmission but if it’s like my bmw it needs checked at specific temperature and probably in neutral engine running I’ll look in my Ford shop manual but generally speaking if you got less than 60000 miles and no leaks you good

Moderator note- See this thread on transmission fluid change- https://forums.fordthunderbirdforum.com/threads/transmission-fluid-refresh-2003-thunderbird.10092/ As noted, the temperature to check is 100 degrees at idle.

 

[Rawah652]

Not sure what the mileage figure is for transmission fluid change is but my 04 has no dipstick there’s probably a fluid level plug on the transmission but if it’s like my bmw it needs checked at specific temperature and probably in neutral engine running I’ll look in my Ford shop manual but generally speaking if you got less than 60000 miles and no leaks you good

The 60K miles is exactly when the Ford service schedule calls for the transmission fluid check/change if you're driving in more wearing conditions, otherwise, it's considered "serviced for life" as it doesn't have a dipstick. No issues with the transmission, shifting normally after allowing the proper 'relearning' period after disconnecting the battery. Definitely not going to touch something that ain't broke until I need to. Should be several years yet before I have to tackle that job!