1997 Ford Thunderbird Intake Manifold Defect

[traffic_tom]

So my T-Bird has been overheating and spitting out coolant. Come to find out that the Intake manifold is made with some cheap plastic and is defective. So Ford issued a recall that only lasted 9 months. Well guess what……those 9 months were back in 2005. So now I’m S.O.L. I found a couple of places that sell a new manifold with an aluminum coolant crossover. It’s a complete package with new manifold, brackets, thermostat, gaskets…ect. I bought it for $212 bucks which is a deal since the part from Ford is ridiculous expensive. My question is how much will it cost to have this installed and how long will it take.

[stickysilvertbird]

its actually easier to do it yourself. just remove your air intake which is just 2 bolts and a few screw straps, unbolt your throttle body and your fuel rails thats just 4-6 bolts (make sure to pull straight up on the fuel rail/injector piece since it just pops off) and your intake manifold is only 6-10 bolts depending on wether you have the 3.8 or 4.6. if you take your time and do it right it should only take about 2 hours tops.

[traffic_tom]

Actually I found this site and it seems to be a few more steps like spark plugs and so on.
http://www.autoclinix.com/Manifold.htm#GS

[stickysilvertbird]

lol 6-8 hours... wow.. ok yea.. it took me maybe 3 to do everything listed there when i replaced the intake on my cobra 4.6(and i not a real good mechanic either)... lol anyways thats a great tutorial.. i knew i was forgetting something in there lol

[traffic_tom]

Well maybe I will just man up and do it myself. Cause I dont want to get taken to the cleaners by paying a shop to do it.

[rhandwor]

Call some independents and get a price. Price the gaskets and you will know if you want to do it yourself.

[traffic_tom]

Ok so I took it to the shop. I bought the part and all that goes with it in a package....it was $225. Then the labor was $365. And after all that the check engine light came on. The mechanic said a bad coil and the car was running lean. Now what?

[rhandwor]

If you trust the shop replace the coil yourself. Both Advance and Autozone will pull the codes for free. Afterthis is done tell us what they are.

[jaguaroc]

Have them replace the coil. It was most likely damaged due to the water intrusion from the broken intake manifold. Remeber a miss fire can cause more damages than necc. It can damage your cat converters, etc. Bit the bullet, replace the coil and the plug in that cyl and run a scan test for other poss codes. You are not wasting your money, but let it damage other components, then you are screwed.

[97Bird]

Welcome to the forum jaguaroc. Thanks for your input. This thread is a year old so I hope he has fixed it by now!

[miksgirl]

Hi
I just found out about this problem because I am having trouble with my 1997. My dealer said this would cost me 1200 to fix and my car doesn't fall under the recall because it was not manufactured in a certain plant. My neighbor got this recall, but I didn't. I called Ford and was told the same thing. If you don't know about the website "FlamingFords.com" take a look. There is information where to write and who to contact. I am one upset person. I am going to contact my local TV station and let them know about this because obviously, this is not just a "plant" problem, but a Ford problem.

[miksgirl]

I don't know if anyone is still out here on this forum, but I found out that according to this class action lawsuit, any 1997 Thunderbirds made after 6/24/97 were supposed to be recalled and fixed. Just incase anyone was intereseted

[miksgirl]

I emailed our local station here in my area, which is Channel 3 and I received this response:

"Of you have experienced a coolant leak from a cracked intake manifold, please contact Ford Service Programs. There is a campaign for complete recall. They have to receive over 250 specific complaints. Call claims in at 1-800 423-8851 or Recall question to 1-800-325-45621. Please make sure to have them direct you to the specific person to file a complaint. You will need your vin number."

Everyone, please contact these numbers to we can make Ford take care of this problem

Miksgirl

[97Bird]

Hi miksgirl and welcome to the forum. Thank you for digging into this problem and coming up with the telephone #'s for people to call to report a complaint. Hopefully this will help other people in your position. How about you copying your last post and put it into the Tech help thread at the top of the main page. More people might see it in there. Let us know how you make out getting your car repaired by Ford.