Intake manifold on my 1997 ford crown victoria cracked allowing coolant to leak into manifold. There was a class action suit in 2005 which I never was told about.
1997 Ford Crown Victoria engine complaints
Page 2 of 4: complaints 11 to 40 of 85, newest first, as owners wrote them.
I own a !997 crown victoria, which overheated due to a crack in the intake manifold. I have owned this vehicle since 4-06-2002, and did not know about the recall until I looked it up on the internet! I had to pay for the repair myself, I think I should have been notified by ford!
Tl*the contact's son owns a 1997 ford crown victoria. The vehicle caught on fire under the hood while parked. The owner of the vehicle noticed smoke filling up inside of the vehicle, then lifted the hood and flames began to rise. The wires to the master cylinder and brakes were damaged. The contact notified ford and they stated that there were no recalls for the vehicle and that it was out of warranty. However, there were recalls for trucks of that line. The vehicle is currently at the ford dealer. The power train and mileage information were unknown.
1997 ford crown vic traveling east of austin tx at posted highway speed when a crack developed in the intake manifold with resulted in loss of coolant , and subsequently motor function. Towed to authorized lincoln mercury dealer in austin, and was informed by tow truck driver that this was very common defect for this model car , and suggested I contact ford people for a recall notice. Was advised by the ford representative at the 800 telephone number provided in the owners manuel that no recall was in effect however, no cost repair was available to those vehicle seven years or under. A further program through the dealers may also be available named customer satisfaction programmability this had restriction of eight years and 80000 miles. My car didn't qualified for either program due to age and mileage even though the car has meticulous being taken care of and was under 82000 miles. Upon completion of a new intake manifold installation at a cost of $1029.98 dollars it was determined the engine was a total loss as the engine must have been damaged due to loss of coolant and resultant overheating. A replacement motor was quoted at $6000 dollars on top of the already incurred $1029.98 dollar expence. The car was junk!!! I find it difficult to understand why no recall was in effect since ford knew there was a problem. The mechanic told me they had many similar repairs in their shop. Also informed all similar police models were repaired without restrictions. If this is so I can't understand why I am discriminated. I would like the ford corporation reimburse my expenses and/or give me a voucher for a substanial discount on a new ford vehicle.
Tl* - the contact stated that the intake manifold cracked and leaked coolant. The vehicle has approximately 89,000. The contact was driving 55-60 MPH on the interstate, and the weather conditions were fair. The contact saw a plume of white smoke following behind him. The contact immediately drove the vehicle to a repair shop. There were no warning signs or signs of overheating. The dealer removed and replaced the intake manifold and added engine coolant. *ak updated 01/26/07.
97 ford crown victoria and 97 mercury grand marquis with 4.6 v8 engines have both had the plastic intake manifold replaced due to cracking and leaking coolant and resulting in considerable expense. This owner joined a class-action suit held in federal court in oakland calif. And on 12-16-05 issued a judgment ruling that ford would reimburse for this problem. A very short three month period was provided for owners to claim this reimbursement. It is not known if the court required notification of the owners of this ruling. If it did this owner did not receive notification. The expense for both cars was $1500. Ford notified fleet owners and offered replacement of the manifold. However, private owners were excluded. In view of this notification and the court ruling, reimbursement of this expense should apply to private owners.
Tl* - the contact states that there was a recall on his 1997 crown victoria. The contact said that 8:20 am on 12/19/06 while attempting to pass another vehicle when he notice a large trail of steam and smoke coming from the rear of his vehicle. The contact pulled to side of road and steam and smoke stopped, at which time he opened hood of vehicle and noticed coolant running on top of the engine. Contact called the ford dealership of kansas. The ford dealership informed contact that the intake radiator had cracked. The representative then asked questions regarding the problem and told him that there was a recall on the intake fuel manifold but, that the recall had expired in 2004. The representative also told the contact that the intake had to have a crack in it in order for them to have repairs done.
The manifold cracked, engine overheated,blew heater core had to tow car miles for replacement. Parts included manifold,gaskets, heater core and hoses. This at 84000 miles and no warranty.
1997 crown victoria technical bulletin 05n04 the federal safety agency 10018959 date of bulletin: dec, 14, 2005 /incident june 12, 2006 this settlement extended the coverage of all composite intake manifold 7 years from the original warranty....where does that leave 1997 owners? The bulletin was released a year after the extended warranty coverage ended!? One year late for 1997 owners. What should we do because it is past the extended warranty? A defect is a defect with or without a time limit. We did not choose to have it break when it did....the defective part did that for us! What can we do to get this part/service covered? Thank you for your time!
The class action suit that was won regarding 1997 ford crown vic (and other makes) defective manifold part was handled incorrectly. Mine just went and is well past the march 16th, 2006 deadline and over 7 years old which makes recourse exempt. My car is currently in the shop getting a $1300 + engine repair. And I am not the only one that this has happened to. Definitely not fair!!!
I was referred by mr. Michael j. Sacks at [email protected] his response: it sounds like you are getting the run around and I would recommend you contact the federal safety agency in washington dc if the company is not willing to follow through with recalls. Website is problem details: recently I received an estimate for work for $899.14 to fix a cracked manifold along with gaskets, and seals on my 1997 ford crown victoria, that I purchased from a used car dealership in baltimore, md in 2003. This piece was originally recalled by ford company, but never replaced by it's original owner, nor the dealership that I purchased the vehicle from. When this breakdown occurred I contacted the company where I purchased my extended warranty from in september of 2005. The claim was denied because they do not cover items that were recalled. I was then directed by the warranty company to call ford company directly, I followed up and made the call to find that the manifold that was recalled had a seven year warranty from ford company that had expired. I am now stuck with an $899.14 bill out of pocket expense for something I knew nothing about until it occurred. I feel that before selling me the vehicle this should have been investigated and taken care of by the dealership bruns motors. I am yet to be able to repair this problem, because I do not have the funds. Please advise me in anyway that you can, your help is greatly appreciated. If I am not able to answer the phone please don't hesitate to leave a message. Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Dt*: the contact stated while driving the vehicle the heat hand started to rise. The contact drove the vehicle to an independent repair shop. Upon inspection there was water leaking from under the vehicle. The mechanic found the problem to be the intake manifold was broken. Repairs have been made. The manufacturer has not been alerted. Updated 03/22/06.
Dt*: the contact stated while driving 2 MPH slowing to a stop, steam was noticed coming from the vehicle. The vehicle was taken to the dealership for inspection. Upon inspection, the dealership determined the intake manifold was leaking and the intake manifold, thermostat, water pump and hoses needed to be replaced. The manufacturer was notified however, no repairs were made.
I bought a used 1997 crown vic in 2005 and I noticed coolant leakage on jan 16, 2005. The leakage might have happened before I bought the car, but it was not obvious enough for people to notice the problem.
Dt: the vehicle is a 1997 ford crown victoria. On 6-12-05 the consumer was driving on route i40 when he smelled an odor coming from the vehicle. He called the highway patrol which arranged to have him towed to barstow. The vehicle broke down because the plastic intake manifold cracked. The vehicle lost all the coolant which caused the engine to overheat. When the mechanic from castners auto service 214 south bradford avenue, placentia, ca 92870 telephone # 714‑528‑1311 was removing the spark plugs he noticed that there was aluminum flaking on them. There was no compression. He replaced the engine and all the parts that went with it on 6-15-05 through 6-30-05. Mechanic told the consumer that it would cost more to repair the engine than to buy a new one. The replaced engine was ford manufactured. Consumer has not contacted the manufacturer as of now. Vehicle was manufactured in october 1996. *ak
I own a 1997 ford crown victoria and while driving on expressway the car overheated and I immediately pulled of the road. After towing to mechanic he immediately diagnosed the problem as a very common one. That being the plastic engine manifold that has been a part of a fully covered warranty/recall item if your vehicle was a police or fleet vehicle. The fact that it is not covered to the private car owner does not make sense. Who would think such a important component make of plastic would be acceptable to any car owner.
Plastic intake manifold failed causing engine coolant loss and engine overheating. Repair bill was $721.55. Replacement manifold is a re-designed, two component palstic intake manifold/metal cross-over coolant tube. Contacted ford for reimbursement but ford refused. Wrote numerous letters and emails to ford but ford refused to take responsibility for the faulty engineering. I still have the defective manifold and continue to drive this sorry excuse of "ford quality". What a joke.
1997 ford crown victoria w/61,705 miles was making a strange sound. Thinking it might be the brakes, I took it to a service center. While they were testing it smoke started poured out of the hood. The result indicated there was a crack in the plastic' manifold which had to be replaced w/a ford part that was a metal part. I understood there was a recall that only included police or fleet cars. It seemed to me that there should be some recourse toward the ford motor company. This car had only 61,705 miles on it. Who would think a plastic manifold would hold up at all? Not me certainly.
Car was running normally when I gradually started to smell coolant coming from under the hood. I looked and saw coolant leaking from around the thermostat housing. I went and replaced the gasket for the thermostat and added silicone. The coolant than started to leak even worse. I looked at the manifold and it appeared that there was a small crack on the housing. I found out that via the internet and a public works tech that the plastic manifolds were defective. I called a ford dealership and they said that it was out of their 7 year warranty. They said that I would have to pay for it. A kit costs around $589 and chevron quoted parts and labor at $1,050.
The intake manifold is made of plastic. It splits at the casing seams, which causes anti-freeze to shoot all over the engine.
The following is a well known and well documented design crown victoria 4.6 engine failure, which ford has ignored and claimed it is "investigating" for the ordinary consumer, while providing extended warranties for police cars and taxis. Obviously, they don't want to lose this fleet market. There have even been news stories on this via nbc. The failure relates to a plastic intake manifold cracking prematurely, causing complete loss of coolant fluids, extreme consequent engine overheating, and resultant catastrophic engine failure. They sell the replacement and re-engineered part for nearly 600 dollars and charge almost 500 dollars additional to install it. This is a non-moving part which should not fail under normal use! There is even an entire aftermarket business making these parts as a replacement for less money...although I suspect most folks just pay ford to do the repair. Queries to dealers meet with a reiteration of the above information and a kind "sorry, it's not covered" reply. I believe this is a case of fraud and misrepresentation of fitness, as opposed to the normal risks of wear and tear...their policy regarding lucrative fleet extended repairs speaks to this, in my opinion. This is a safety hazard defect due to engine stalling and power assist loss.
I was driving down the highway when suddenly the passenger compartment began to fill with a white smoke and smoke came from under the hood of my car. I was able to get off the road and let the car cool off. I had the vehicle repaired at a ford dealership to the cost of $1100 for a cracked intake manifold which I was told was a common problem that ford was aware of and would only pay for the repair if my car was a taxi cab or a police car!!!!!
Intake manifold cracked causing plug sockets to fill with water causing vehicle to stall.
Sole owner 1997 ford crown vic lx; intake manifold failed - april 16, 2003; tsb report issued by ford motor company; cost incurred - $1170.00.
Cracked intake manifold discovered when car began to overheat, thermostat was replaced thinking it was a bad seal, only to discover the manifold was cracked. New manifold is on order $285 dollars, still waiting on the repair bill.
While driving the consumer noticed steam coming from the front of the hood. The vehicle was taken to the dealer for inspection. The mechanic informed the consumer that the intake manifold was crack and needed to be replaced.
The composite intake manifolds developed fatigue cracks, resulting in total engine coolant leakage. Complete loss of coolant resulted in engine failure, owner was lucky to be on local street and near to a car repair shop, spent $1100 on repair.
I was heading home from the grocery store when I got three to four miles of my home when I noticed from my rearview mirror, that there was a heavy mist billowing from behind my car. Then I began to smell the coolant fluid soon after. I managed to pull into the next closest grocery to investigate. Heavy stem from the coolant billowed up from the middle of my engine which soaked wires and other electrical instruments. I let it cool down for some time before I could add more water and set for home which was only less than a mile away. The next day I got the car to a mechanic so he could investigate to what the problem was. It was the intake manufold which was made of all things...plastic!!! The mechanic contacted and picked up the replacement that was made of metal. He had discovered that he was told that ford co. Never sent out recall notices to crown victoria owners about the maifolds cracking. I had to pay over $500 for the part. Along with parts and labor costs adding up to over $800. I am apsolutely buggered to put it nicely that they never said anything!!! Knowing that there was a problem with the part! They just lost a steady ford customer not just because of my plight, but because other people were left in the dark about this serious problem! And yes! I have the old manifold and photos!
I was driving along the highway and my car started to overheat very quickly, within 2 minutes. The temperature got so hot smoke poured out, and the car staled. After a couple of minutes it cooled down enough to get it home, and then to the repair shop. Smoke was everywhere. The repair person sighted that the intake manifold assembly was responsible, and that he has seen a lot of such problems in crown victoria's of the same year 1997. The repair was $989.54, and the milage on the vehicle is considerably low for the year. It only has 69, 500 miles. The repair shop has the defective manifold.
Catastophic cooling failure. Intake manifold replaced for $900. Mechanic noted that this was common on ford crown vics with defective plastic intake manifolds (they now use metal). Understand this has been recalled in crown vic taxis and police cars, but not in other crown vics. Why not? Won't buy a ford again. Ford owes me for the cost of the failure of this defective part.
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