2005 jerked & went into limp mode with wrench

[Marianne]

New to the forum, but thought I'd share my recent problem and see if anyone else has had a similar experience. I have an 04 with about 37K miles. Driving on the highway last night, the ABS light came on and the traction control system switched off. Made it home and restarted the car and the ABS light was still on, but the traction control system seemed to have reengaged. Driving the two miles it takes me to get to work this morning, the ABS light was still on, and about halfway to my office the wrench light (electronic throttle light) came on and the car dropped into limp home mode, limiting my RPMs and speed. Made it to the office and called my dealership for an appointment in the morning. If there is any interest I'll let you know what they have to say.

I am having the same problem. I have a 2005 Thunderbird with 34K miles. I was driving and the car jerked and went limp. The wrench light appeared on the dashboard. Is it the ignition coils or ignition throttle? Any info is much appreciated. Thank you.

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[Marianne]

I am having the same problem. I have a 2005 Thunderbird with 34K miles. I was driving and the car jerked and went limp. The wrench light appeared on the dashboard. Is it the ignition coils or ignition throttle? Any info is much appreciated. Thank you.

 

[Bubblehog]

You should have the car scanned. Pep Boys, Auto Zone and other shops will usually scan the car with an OBD II (On-Board Diagnostics) scanner for free. The scanner connects to a plug under the dashboard, and the OBD port is a standard feature required by law. If it isn't driveable, you could buy a scanner yourself and check at home. The scanners aren't expensive.

Your problem doesn't sound like a bad Coil-Over Plug (COP). Usually that only affects one or two cylinders and makes the engine run rough, but doesn't stop the engine dead.

 

[Anthony C]

Rock Auto has throttle bodies in stock ..... from $183.00 on up ..... Dealers like to make money ......... They will rake you over ....

 

[biddle]

You should have the car scanned. Pep Boys, Auto Zone and other shops will usually scan the car with an OBD II (On-Board Diagnostics) scanner for free.

Everyone should have one of these as a standard tool nowadays. It will work on just about any car, so why wouldn't you have one? They are 12.99 and up, even the FixD fancy one is just 59.99- https://amzn.to/2Nwpa9b

 

[RDH]

My 2003 Bird was running great then one day going to a seminar overheated and when in the limp home mode, long story short, bad head gaskets at 45K and only owed it at that time for 3 months, and cost 5K to fix and the dealer would not give me any advice so I used my mechanic that does all my work on this car. Basically a Jaguar in a Ford Body, 3.9 engine and Jag trany, so heads shaved, Bolara exhaust and a few other parts and now 340 HP, and runs great

 

[VolleyballJIM]

Everyone should have one of these as a standard tool nowadays. It will work on just about any car, so why wouldn't you have one? They are 12.99 and up, even the FixD fancy one is just 59.99- https://amzn.to/2Nwpa9b

Thanks for the advice biddle....just ordered it!

 

[tlfmd]

You should have the car scanned. Pep Boys, Auto Zone and other shops will usually scan the car with an OBD II (On-Board Diagnostics) scanner for free. The scanner connects to a plug under the dashboard, and the OBD port is a standard feature required by law. If it isn't driveable, you could buy a scanner yourself and check at home. The scanners aren't expensive.

Your problem doesn't sound like a bad Coil-Over Plug (COP). Usually that only affects one or two cylinders and makes the engine run rough, but doesn't stop the engine dead.

My 2005 did exactly that. It needed all 8 coils it had about 38000 mi.

 

[Marianne]

My 2005 did exactly that. It needed all 8 coils it had about 38000 mi.

Thanks for responding. I am going tomorrow morning to the Dealership. I do have an extended warranty but they have only replaced 1 or 2 coils at a time rather than all 8.
How long ago did you get it fixed?
And has it been running without any problems ever since?

 

[Bubblehog]

I replaced all my COPs too- I have a 2005, bought in October 2018 with about 40K miles. It ran rough occasionally, but had no scan codes. I bought 8 COPs on Amazon, the ones recommended in these forums. I was replacing them myself, but on the second one found the plug tube had oil in it, so at that point I buttoned it up and took it to my mechanic to replace the valve cover gaskets. That's a considerably bigger job than replacing COPs., but new COPs and keeping the oil out of the tubes fixed all the roughness. Over the first few months of ownership I (or my mechanic) replaced all the hoses and belts, the A/C compressor, thermostat housing, cabin air filter (it had a manufacturing date from 2005!), and the original spare tire, long past its safe use date. The car came with the wrong size tires installed on the road wheels (55 series vice 50), so they were replaced too. The headlamps were crazed and yellowed, but they look great now after replacing with good aftermarket replacements from Rock Auto. The biggest job was replacing suspension components because the rubber boots on the ball joints were deteriorated from age. It's too bad the boots aren't replaceable separately!
Later we replaced the convertible top and found a hardtop (the car didn't come with one) through these forums. The car looks and runs great now that the age-related maintenance is complete, and we enjoy it. I think of it like when we owned a boat, but we get more use out of the T-bird

 

[Mach5]

The boots on the suspension can be replaced separately.

 

[Bubblehog]

All of them? Ford had no boots separately available for the ball joints, some of which are part of larger components and don't come out.

 

[Hatter]

I am basically going through same problems with my 2003 . What did it cost you for updating your t-bird?

 

[Bond007]

Haven’t had to do this but it’s pricey. A good number just leave it alone until it gets noisy. Waiting is not going to cause further damage.

 

[Bubblehog]

I am basically going through same problems with my 2003 . What did it cost you for updating your t-bird?

My suspension work cost $2400 at my independent mechanic. They used a mix of OEM and aftermarket parts and followed the shop manual procedures for using new nuts and bolts for some fasteners. The valve cover gaskets with replacement of COPs and plugs was $560. The thermostat housing and replacing all belts and hoses was about $950. The spare tire (only available from Maxxis) was about $200. The headlamps were about $150 and they are easy to replace so I did that myself. The A/C compressor was warranty work and I don’t know the cost. However, the cheapskate dealer (not a Ford dealer) didn’t replace the filter-drier along with the compressor, so that cost about $150 at my mechanic. The correct tires were about $800 at Costco. The new convertible top in a very close match to the original blue (the factory fabric isn’t available) was about $1650. The Performance White hardtop, which looks great with the Medium Steel Blue car, was $1000 and an overnight road trip. The car was only available with a body-color hardtop originally, and I don’t know whether it had one. The car came from a deceased owner with very little information, and the dealer wasn’t helpful. They were the source of the new but wrong size tires.
Like I said, it’s kind of like owning a boat. But with that slug of maintenance done, I think we will get a lot of enjoyment from the car. We moved home to the Tampa Bay Area after 30 years near Washington, DC, and it’s been great fun tooling around with the top down in January.

 

[Bubblehog]

Haven’t had to do this but it’s pricey. A good number just leave it alone until it gets noisy. Waiting is not going to cause further damage.

True- the bad boots in themselves can wait till the ball joints wear enough to replace. I had the suspension work done “early” so I could get it done by a trusted and reasonably priced mechanic before I retired and moved away.

 

[edward301]

One thing I discovered when replacing the suspension on both of my 2002 T Birds was that since the
ball joint boots were rotted out, that the fluid bushings in the control arms were either already bad
or were going bad very soon. I also discovered that the ball joints were loose, but not rattling, so
all of this told me better to replace all the parts now, and have everything cured all at one time.

Been a year and a half or more on one car, and about ten months on the other car, and both
drive like new.

 

[Marianne]

Has anyone had similar problem with your Tbird?
Will replacing throttle body fix problem?

Yikes

Just got off the phone with the dealership, and just in time for the holidays I am looking at a huge repair bill. The electronic throttle body needs to be replaced to the tune of $840, and they recommend induction service at a cost of $120 to clean everything out. I asked if this would also solve whatever issues were occuring with the ABS and I got a "I'll have to call you back on that" so I'm not sure what the final damage may be.

Hi,
I have experienced similar problems with my 2005 Tbird. Right now, it is at the dealership and they tell me the code says Throttle body needs replacement. I dont want to go through that and continue to have coil problems and the car go limp again.

So what happened with your Tbird?
You replaced all the coils? No more problems? No need to replace the throttle body?
If you can tell me exactly what you had done and if it solved your problems, I would be extremely appreciative. Thank you.

 

[Hatter]

Thanks for the reply, I agree with you about boats (a hole in the water where you throw money) your in Tampa , were in the Villages (Lady Lake)

 

[Steve Bower]

I am having the same problem. I have a 2005 Thunderbird with 34K miles. I was driving and the car jerked and went limp. The wrench light appeared on the dashboard. Is it the ignition coils or ignition throttle? Any info is much appreciated. Thank you.

I keep a OBD ll tool in my car at all times. When I experienced the same symptoms I plugged it in, cleared the code and all is ok. My case happened after leaving the car at idle for a extended period of time but once I cleared the code all was ok.