18 June 2005
Robert Lane

Dearborn, Michigan. Ford has agreed to settle lawsuits filed agaist it due to cracking intake manifolds on certain 1996-2001 4.6L engines. The engines are found in: Crown Victoria, Grand Marquis, Lincoln Town Car, Mustang, Cougar and Thunderbird models. The settlement could impact over 2 million vehicles and cost Ford up to $375 million USD.

The plastic intake manifolds Ford used were plastic and were nortorious for cracking, thus causing coolant leaks.

The terms of the settle include:

• Ford will reimburse customers with receipts for the intake repair.
• Ford will pay $735.00 to those without receipts, provided that they can verify with a dealership that a repair was made.
• Ford will extend the warranty coverage for customers whose intakes have not failed.

Ford lost an appeal earlier in the year to have the case dismissed

 

I had my intake replaced this past July on my 98 Marquis. The dealer told me I don't qualify for refund because my car was bought in May 98 thereby missing being eligible for the refund by two months(the warranty period is7 yrs.). I had the car to the dealer 3-4 times since fall of 04 for over heating problems but the dealer did not detect the crack until July 05. My problem is there is no proof of the crack existing before Jul.05. Just wondering if you or anyone on CMOC would know how firm Ford is on this 7 yr. time frame or if there might be some flexibility.

Al D.

 

Well, this is awesome, at least Ford is going to do SOMETHING. GM had the same issue on the 3.8L V6 and 5.7L V8 engines with the plastic TPI intakes and never did anything about and I don't know if there were ever any lawsuites either.....Nobody gives a if GM ***** up.

 

When will the so called educated engineer's wake up! Plastic is for bags, not for engine parts! Just wait for the plastic rims to start showing up on the market. Stupid people.
Mike.