klutchdust wrote:
Having owned a 1985 Ford Thunderbird I can agree with your comments. It wasn't until many years later Ford Motor Company finally admitted to having a control module failure that reacted to heat that turned off circuitry that shut off the car.
Was the issue traced to a TFI (Thick Film Integrated) Ignition Module? We had an 84 and 86 TBird, both 3.8 V6 TBI, and that was one problem we didn't have. Put transmissions in both of them...
I heard Motorola made some of the TFI Modules and Ford made some. Don't recall if anybody else did, but IIRC, the Ford-made ones had a high failure rate. I'd guess, but again not sure, they all would have been branded Motorcraft.
BTW, we liked the cars. Comfortable ride, decent power, reasonable MPG, and nice options. The 84 was pretty basic but still A/C, power windows, locks, mirrors and driver seat. The 86 had all that plus power recline, auto A/C, both seats powered, digital dash, and overdrive. Really nice, but oddly, the 84 seemed to have more character. Finally donated it with everything working (also everything leaking) at 200,000+ miles. 86 left the family and then lived a life of neglect that I believe killed it below 100,000. A shame. Those cars were much maligned, but I thought they were great.