Turn signal doesn't work...again

[yrbamje]

In feb of this year I reported that the turn signal didn't work. (See my first post for the situation.) Now it's happened again. Ford fixed it the first time and as soon as they order the part, they'll fix it again.
However, I hope this isn't an every-9-months occurrence, since one of these days the warranty will expire. Cost is over 250 dollars, parts and labor.

Anyone else having turn signal problems?
Jim

 

[George]

In 5+ years, yours is the only one I have heard of doing this

 

[yrbamje]

turn signal doesn't work ...again

George,
I guess I'm the lucky one. Also, you may remember the "top won't go down" post.
Well, we finally got a tech to sit inthe car and lawer the top. Well, guess what! It stuck, half way down. And , would you believe, the Ford dealer doesn't fix convertible tops. They gotta send it out.
What do you think about that?
Lastly, still love the red bird.
Jim

 

[George]

Jim:
I couldn't find on a search, "top won't go down" , but here's some info for you:

From a guy in Belgium:
"Sometime my soft top won't react on me pushing the button to put it down. Pretty annoying when I want to benefit from some late season sunshine...
I push the button, and nothing happens (not even the slightest noise of relays or other contact or electric motor). I thought it was a bad contact somewhere, and when fiddeling around on the fuse box, other hood contacts etc it went ok again, until the next day...So I don't know
I have no service point in the area ( I live in europe), anyone has an idea what the problem could be?"
His final response to his own problem was:

"I spent this saturday checking some electrical contacts. I opened (this is not recommended to do if you are not sort of an experienced model builder) and cleaned the softtop up/down button and the connectors . I had the 'door/booth/hood'-open warning light on too on the dashboard, seemed that the booth open/close contact was misaligned. Now everything seems to work normal again. We'll see how it does over time, but it's okay now."

Another guy: "I have had the top not go up on the 2004 but if I push the shifter in Park hard it will then go up. Might just be the way our car is but try it next time."

A final person:
"I had a sensor that controls the top fail. The dealership quickly figured out what the problem was, but it took a while to figure out where on the car the sensor was located. They knew the general area but not the exact location. They were able to get the top back up, where it had to remain until the new sensor came in. Sensor replaced and not another problem."


Just trying to help, unless it's already resolved. If so let us know what was wrong, on your original thread, so others can benefit

 

[yrbamje]

turn signal won't work...again

George and all,
Well, I can't find the post either where I talked about the top not retracting.
To summarize, the top wouldn't retract until my wife pushed on it. Dealer said she wasn't holding the button down hard enough!!!
I couldn't get the top to NOT retract smoothly.
Finally it did, and that's when I took it in a second time. Now the tech can't get it down without pushing it.
So we'll see. the turn signal ad top are both going to be fixed , when I take it in on Monday.
Keep yur fingers crossed.
Jim

 

[yrbamje]

turn signal won't work ...again

Well, success!!!
Hopefully, this will be the last time we'll have this problem, but that's what I said the first time it happened.
To finish the story, my wife took the car to the dealer yesterday (Monday) morning. We had been told that the part was in and the car would be fixed that day. However, the top retracting might take somewhat longer, since they have to send it out.
My wife rented a car, knowing that if they kept the car overnight the warranty would handle that.
At 226 PM on Monday, the service manager called and said the car was ready to go. In addition, he said that because of the hassles we had had, he was going to take care of the rental car bill also. How about that!
So the turn signal problem is solved....forever, I hope.
The top retraction was fixed quite quickly. It seems that there is an extra gadget, in addition to the motors that drive the retraction, that sort of "kicks" the top and helps it retract smoothly. This gadget needing adjusting. This is why we had to "kick" it to complete the retraction.
They adjusted it, oiled (greased?) it and it works perfectly.
So, everyone can add this little episode to their collection of "what to do when it happens to you" file.
Until the next time,
Jim

 

[George]

Thanks for posting about the soft top fix Jim.
Did your service order give any details on the turn signal fix. Like part number replaced or work they had to do??

 

[yrbamje]

I haven't looked at the service tickets yet. My wife picked the car up and I just forgot about it.
I'll post the info when I get it.
Jim

 

[yrbamje]

turn signal won't work...again

Well, it turns out my wife didn't get the report. However, I found the report from the first time it was fixed. (By the way, the turn signal problem has reoccurred. Gotta work that next week.)
Here goes. (Verbatin)
Concern 52 C/S turn signals wont cut off on their own when turn.
Cause internal failure
Correction Mtime to replace multifunction swithch and diag. Verified cust concern. performed diag pinpoint test. pulled multifunction swithch out and verified bad switch. Replaced multifunction switch and retested. ok.
part number FMC 4W4Z 13K359 BA
operation MT13K359 .2 hours

Hope this helps someone else in the future.
Wonder what the dealer is going to say when I call and tell him it's broke again, please order the part and let me know whan I can get it replaced.
Anyway, that's my story.
Jim

 

[George]

Thanks ever so much Jim. A very complete report for others. Now all you need is final resolution when you go back.
If there's a Lincoln dealer close by, you may have better luck there since all these parts are Lincoln LS and they may have had similar issues on the Lincolns. Just a thought.
Now I'm in suspence until you post again

 

[yrbamje]

turn signal won't work

Well, when I lawst posted, I thought that I was going to have to take the vehicle back to the dealer for "correction." However, the problem went away. Why? Beats me.
Now, it has returned. even worse than last time. So, I am going to take it to the dealer this Thursday, tell them what the problem is, tell them to order the part, (since they never have it) and to call me when it gets there. If it fails again, I'm going to the Lincoln dealer (as George suggested).
I'll try to keep all posted. Hope nobody else has the problem, but if they do, I have plenty of information to pass along.
Wish me luck.
Jim

 

[kokomot]

Hey guys, thanks for all the info but my problem is a little different in that my left turn signal works fine but does not blink inside the car! Had this same problem on a 2002 Bird but traded it as is so didn't try to fix it. Now I have a 2003 and am experiencing the same problem! Any suggestions?

 

[Dave Pawlak]

First thing i would do is check the bulbs.Hit your 4 ways and do a walk around.It is a safety feature on most cars to let you know you have a bad bulb.Hope this is it.Happy 4th.

 

[kokomot]

checked all bulbs and you were right---a little tiny bulb in the instrument cluster---$11.00 at my Ford dealer just for the bulb---I changed it myself!