Ask the Car People.SM


Ford Crown Victoria and Mercury Grand Marquis

3292 messages,  Last post on Mar 24, 2013 at 8:46 AM

You are in the Ford Crown Victoria/Mercury Grand Marquis Forum.

What is this discussion about? Ford Crown Victoria, Mercury Grand Marquis, Exterior, Sedan

Messages Page 62 of 330

#603 of 3292 Cracked Intake Manifold by sbrown8243

Nov 27, 2000 (7:00 pm)

I have a 1996 Crown Victoria with 85,800 miles on it. Taking a Thanksgiving's Day trip, I'm driving down the interstate and when I went to hit the accelerator to pass, suddenly I've got coolant steaming out from under the hood and pouring out underneath. I parked it in the parking lot of a nearby repair facility and found out on Friday that the intake manifold had cracked near the water/coolant portals. The repairs cost me $714.75. Do I have any complaint/action against Ford since it's obviously not under warranty anymore or am I just "S.O.L."? The engine was never running hot prior to this incident. Shouldn't the manifold (which appears to made of hard plastic) be a "lifetime" part?

#604 of 3292 sbrown8243, Have you ever heard of by kinley

Nov 27, 2000 (7:51 pm)

"secret" extended warranties on certain parts of certain cars? Your situation may command the manufacturer to reimburse you for at least 50% of your expense. Why, because this is a defective part/design/material of questionable quality replacing a metal that has proven to have more strength and longevity. Your situation is not the first occurrence and will not be the last. I recommend your petitioning FOMOCO ASAP and Good Luck. (50% as you have had considerable use of the original part)

#605 of 3292 Plastic resin 4.6L sohc intake by swong1

Nov 27, 2000 (10:51 pm)

sbrown8243! Starting with the 96 model year Ford has a unpublished waranty for the Crown Vics, Town Cars, and Mercury Grand Marquis for the problematic plastic resin 4.6L sohc intake manifold. This is program #97M91 which gives the owners a 70k or 7 year waranty on the intake manifold. Just bring the car in quoting the program number above and they should honor r/r the broken intake. This is a known problem and typically the intake stress cracks directly behind the alternator rendering the vehicle undriveable. This can happen at any time and typically starts appearing around 30k on the odo. The part costs under 200 bucks but the labor involved adds an additional 500 to the cost. To net it out for you, after the intakes experiences so many hot and cold heat cycles the resin becomes very brittle....the intake has gone thru at least two iterations each time Ford having beefed up the casting with a thicker casting. My understanding is starting with the 2001 model year they will reinforce the passageways with aluminum tubing thereby reinforcing the already dismal intake. Count you blessings....the intake could have cracked in the dead of summer stranding you in the desert in 100 degree weather!

#606 of 3292 plastic manifolds by iusecad

Nov 28, 2000 (2:22 am)

are they plastic on the Interceptors also? I can't believe the police would allow a part that might cause them to bow out of a chase! I think that might be a sin for them...


If their's is metal, maybe civilian motors could get one?

#607 of 3292 . by rea98d

Nov 28, 2000 (3:53 am)

Civilian motors prior to 96 had metal (aluminum I beleive) intakes. My 95 T-Bird's intake is metal. If you're wanting a metal one to go in your car, hit up wrecking yards. If you want Ford to start making metal ones again- I'm not sure how to rectify that short of purchasing a controlling interest in the company. (Maybe when I cash my next paycheck, but not this month! I've already spent too much on turkey!)

#608 of 3292 iusecad by mhlii

Nov 28, 2000 (11:16 am)

Yes, they are plastic on the Police Interceptors as well. We have the Contract at out garage to repair the Police cars for our local area. We have had two of the 97 Vics have this problem. We did not do the repair though, because the Police Chief said that there was a recall on them from Ford and they were going to take it back to the Dealer. One the second P/I that failed, it also took out the Alt. because it sprayed coolant directly on it. On another note the Police Department is unhappy that for will not garantee the C/V past 2004!!! They DON'T want to go to Chevys, but they feel that they might have no choice!

#609 of 3292 plastic manifolds by iusecad

Nov 29, 2000 (3:48 am)

how about the manifold of an F-150 with the 4.6?


are they plastic too? would a truck manifold work under the hood of a Vic?


cops being forced to buy the Impala... If that doesn't cause Ford to make the manifold metal again, nothing will... unless they can find a way to sell more Expeditions to them instead!

#610 of 3292 Greetings by torodave

Nov 29, 2000 (3:08 pm)

from the Great White North. I'm writing from Toronto, Ontario Canada (Ontario being the birthplace of the CV/GM! Managed to read through all your postings over the last few days. Picked up a couple of good bits of info, like the manifold issue and the windshield trip noise. I'm pretty much sold on the GM LS with P/H as my next ride, to be purchased next fall. I'm hoping to get an end of season 01 when the 02's come out. I'm not sure from reading the postings whether the manifold has been beefed up for 01 or 02, can anyone confirm? My only reservation about the GM is price. Up here, a loaded GM goes for 42K! Plus 15% tax, for a total of almost 50K. The one I want, even with discount will be over 40K to drive it off the lot! You guys are lucky, as far as price goes. And we haven't been able to buy the CV for a couple of years up here now. They only sell to police and taxi, so it's the more expensive GM or nothing. My wife is thinking more in line with Taurus, budget wise, but I think in the long run we'll be better off, and happier with the GM, based on what I've read here. My current car is a '97 Grand Am, and it's the worst piece of junk I've ever owned, out of the 15 cars I've had. My '77 Corvette is better! For daily transportation, it's Ford for me, from now on. I drove the new Impala with the 3800, and it felt nice, but nowhere near the quality of the GM. Haven't tried the LeSabre yet, but probably won't bother after my recent Gen. Motors experience. I'd love to know where to find Canadian info. on dealer cost. Any ideas? Thanks!

#611 of 3292 traction control switch by heydave_

Nov 29, 2000 (10:25 pm)

I just purchased a cherry 97 CV with the 30K miles, handling & performance package and ABS. During a recent snowfall I discovered, to my surprise, it also has traction control (explains why I can't squeal the tires!!). My owner's manual is very vague, but does seem to indicate I should have a swith for the TC someplace, as it mentions that if the TC is used excessively it will overheat and shut itself off which is indicated by a light in "the switch". I cannot find "the switch" anywhere. Are there CV's out there with TC and no switch?

#612 of 3292 Traction control switch by weltron

Nov 30, 2000 (1:02 am)

Ford did not install a cutoff switch until 98. It is mounted in the glove box, for the 2001 model it was moved to the dash.

Messages Page 62 of 330

To POST a message, please Sign In.

Advertisement

Browse by Category

Browse by Vehicle
   View All Vehicles

Browse by Board
Browse by Topic
View All Topics

Edmunds Community

Advertisement