Ford Motor Company ripoff defective plastic intake manifolds Dearborn Michigan

Dear Sir or Madame:
My name is Woodrow Isaacks. I own a 1997 Mercury Grand Marquis with a $600.00 defective plastic intake manifold, that Ford refuses to replace. As you may know Ford and Mercury are virtually the same vehicles. Both makes have models that are almost indistinguishable, other than a few cosmetic details.

Apparently the Ford Motor Company refuses to acknowledge the close relationship that these car companies have. At some point prior to 1996 a brilliant engineer at Ford had the bright idea to make the intake manifolds of the 4.6L engine out of plastic, they claim it was to make the manifold easier to manufacture and easier to place on the engine.

This must have been a radical concept in engine design. I say this because in order to overcome the heat generated by the engine, that would melt the new plastic manifold, the engineers decided to route the coolant system through the manifold. Running the coolant system of a vehicle through the intake manifold is not normally done, but it does not really pose a problem.

Running the coolant system of a vehicle through a plastic intake manifold does pose a problem, especially when the manifold cracks. When the manifold cracks, the compromised coolant system of the car, which normally operates at 15psi, empties its entire contents on the engine. This results in engine overheating and if not monitored closely can cause severe engine damage.

Evidently these manifolds crack, and they crack a lot. They fail so often that Ford issued a recall (Technical Service Bulletin Number 01M02) on certain 1996 2001 Crown Victoria Police Interceptors, certain 1996 2001 Crown Victoria Taxis, certain 1996 2001 Lincoln Town Car Limousine and Livery Vehicles with 4.6L SOHC engines. I also learned online that they recalled the intake manifold on the Thunderbird and Mercury Cougars built in 1997 also.

In November of 2001 I left for a trip in my Mercury, about halfway to my destination, the intake manifold of my car failed, the entire contents of my coolant system evacuated in less than one minute. I nervously watched the temperature gauge on my car as I tried to make it to the next town, but in rural Mississippi the nearest town was miles away. Luckily I had a cell phone and was not stopped in a dead spot, I called some family members, and they towed me to the nearest dealership.

I thought I had ruptured a hose, upon closer inspection; it appeared to me that a hose had blown close to the engine block in a place that I could not see well. A mechanic at the dealership informed me the next day that the intake manifold was plastic and that it had cracked. But, luckily for me he would help me out, he happened to have a spare manifold that he had taken off of another car like mine. Apparently, someone had blown a head gasket in their 97 Grand Marquis and the owners were convinced that it was the intake manifold. So the mechanic replaced their manifold and kept their old one that was still good.

The mechanic was willing to sell me the manifold and replace the broken one on my car for about half the price it was going to cost me to have the dealership replace it. The dealer would have billed me nearly $600.00, so I told him to perform the repairs. He told me that they had some problems with the plastic intakes and had redesigned them. The one he placed on my car was supposedly of the new design. Later, in a momentary lapse of judgment I told him to dispose of the original, which I believe was cracked in the same place as the one in the pictures found at this website http://public.fotki.com/trsi/ford_intake_recall/

Last night as I was running some errands around town, my car started to overheat. I thought nothing of it; I figured I might have a hole in a heater hose, since I recently started using the heater in the car. The car ran hot all the way home no matter what I did or how much air I tried to pass through the radiator. When I pulled into my garage, I noticed a puddle of antifreeze and then I just knew that I had ruptured a heater hose. Well I was in the right area, but I was blaming the wrong engine part.

In the path to or from the radiator from the heater core, the heater hoses go through the intake manifold. The plastic fitting that accepts the heater hose has a hairline crack running its entire length. I am not the only one to have this problem as evidenced by the postings on the aforementioned website.

During my Internet research on this issue I found that website and the recall notice for the Crown Victorias. I contacted Mercury customer assistance and their response was that my car was not a participant in that recall. I told that representative that I found it amusing that Ford knows that these manifolds are defective on the Crown Victorias yet they will not recall the same part on the Grand Marquis.

His response was that since the parts came from different assembly lines (which I am not sure of) that the company knows which parts are defective and which parts are not. I asked him, You are telling me that my Mercurys intake manifold is not defective, even though I have had two of them on that car and they both have failed in the same places that the manifolds on the Fords have, yet mine is not defective? At which point he told me that he would log my complaint in their customer feedback system. I responded, Please do, and hung up the phone.

I think it is deplorable when companies treat customers like this. Ford knows that this is a defective part; they have replaced the exact part on cars that are nearly identical. Mercury customers are calling in and complaining, writing letters, and vowing never to buy another Ford product and they thumb their proverbially noses at their loyal customers.

This is appalling, I am outraged, and this is far from over. Ill write letters to everyone at Ford, any media outlets that will listen, and to any consumer advocacy groups that care. This is absolutely ridiculous, and this is not over for me.

Woodrow
Starkville, Mississippi
U.S.A.

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