general problems of the 2003 Ford Crown Victoria

The engine light came on the dash and the car started to slow and sputter as like it was out of gas , when I had my mechanic look he found the intake to the manifold was shattered ( the plastic part that the hoes grips onto . I was coming home from work it was cold and the car just stops working as the loss of the fluid from the intake sprayed all over the motor,belt,hood,eletrical and the motor locked up as I was trying to cost to the pull off as it was a major traffic area . The manifold intake broke !!! in new york ".

Investigated rear end noise. Both axles have extreme ware . Bearing failure. And must be replaced. Ford recalled only police and commercial p70 p71 and p72 by order of NHTSA. Ford new all models experienced this failure as identified in TSB 030505a issued 3-5-03. My Ford cv a p74 model was made 11-05-02. Only a silent recall. And not now honored after normal wrty expires.

I saw similar reports of this failure and decided to add to the # of complaints, as I experienced this, too. Upon acceleration up a hill, air flow through vents (a/c or heat) would stop and go to defrost, then return after car began "cruising" again. Over time, air flow defaulted to always being defrost. (I had heard that this default position upon failure was a safety mandate. ) without a recall, the cost was fully mine, so I considered alternatives. A dealer service for this problem (replace the dashboard's electronic automatic temperature control unit or "eatc") would have been megabucks (I heard $800 for the unit, itself) for parts and labor. A rebuilt eatc by mail order (rebuild mine or swap for mine) would have been $250-400 for the part alone. The problem is failed original o-rings on the vacuum actuators within the eatc; not a dealer-offered repair. I repaired it myself. I ordered 5/52" id x 9/32" od silicone o-rings (4 needed, 1 for each actuator) and replaced them on the nozzle of each vacuum actuator, reassembled and remounted the actuators, reconnected the vacuum hoses and reinstalled the eatc unit into the dashboard. After more than 3 years, the eatc now continues to operate properly. Cost of parts (o-rings, silicone spray and dielectric grease) was about $30 and 1 1/2 hours of my time. It appears to be an extremely common problem with a simple, albeit very expensive, correction, if done by the dealer.