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Ford Plastic Manifolds

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Dale of West Frankfort IL (8/18/04):
I was westbound on I-24 when the intake manifold busted. It dumped all of the antifreeze out and the motor overheated in a matter of minutes. My car is a 1996 Grand Marquis. It has approximately 135,000 miles on it. I have been reading where a lot of people are having the same problem as I. I called the garage where it was repaired and they told me that the new part was made of metal, not plastic. Apparently Ford knew of this problem and that is why they changed it from being entirely plastic.

It cost me exactly $1527.67 to have my car repaired. About $75.00 of that amount was for towing. I complained to Ford/Lincoln Mercury, but without any luck. They told me that they would forward my complaint to their engineers so they could look at it and make any changes that might need to be made.

I am very distressed and upset with Ford for I know in my heart that they know the intake manifold is defective. I am retired and the $1527.67 repair bill is going to be difficult to pay. I am hoping that this complaint will be helpful, if not only to me, but to someone that is having or going to have the same problem as I.

Jim of Palm Harbor FL (6/20/05):
Please advise of any actions against Ford for defective intake manifolds on 1997 Mercury Marquis. My mechanic advised ford was supplying a metallic replacement for the plastic part that has history of failing.

James of Bellingham MA (2/5/05):
While driving my 1996 Mustang GT with about 105K miles I had a catastrophic intake manifold failure while driving in the high speed lane on a local highway. I was able to get off the road and just drive into a local gas station when the car completely siezed. I had my car towed to my mechanic who at the time told me he knew of no recall on the 1996 Mustang GT.

I am the original owner and was sent from Ford a letter (dated February 1998), not a recall, that I should contact the dealer if the intake manifold exhibited certain conditions. I want to be clear I was never given any type of warning of failure or leakage.

They diagnosed the problem initially as a problem with the intake manifold (plastic) and subsequently replaced the manifold and ran the engine only to find that due to severe temperature rise while the intake manifold had failed the upper and possibly lower 1/2 of the engine was in need of major repair.

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