Manifold/header/muffler/tail Pipe problems of the 2004 Mazda Tribute

2004 Mazda Tribute, 6 cylinder. The engine exploded upon starting, specifically the intake manifold. Upon starting, an extremely loud explosion occurred, the hood was raised about an inch and smoke and flame poured out from under the hood. I exited the vehicle and the smoked subsided and plastic parts where scattered about the parking lot. Towed the Tribute to the dealer where they stated that the intake manifold blew up and it would cost over $1000 to repair with no guarantee that the engine is not damaged. The dealer stated that they had no clue what caused the explosion. I was lucky that the car was parked and that my child was not near the car, otherwise this could have been an deadly incident.

This is basically a design flaw. Our 2004 Mazda Tribute suffered "hydro-lock" after traversing a flooded paved road driving along the road crown. The road conditions were such that the center yellow line was visible through the muddy water and the water level was below the running boards. The vehicle stalled near the end of the flooded condition and was able to restart several times but would stall again. While stalled in the flooded roadway, several other vehicles including passenger cars (chevy malibu, Nissan murano) past by our stalled Tribute on the left side in deeper water. The Tribute finally started up and was able to get to the office. The Mazda dealer where purchased advised it be towed to their shop where it was determined water had entered the intake manifold and caused a "hydro-lock" (damaged piston rod). It needs a new engine (~approx. $5,000). A reasonable person should be able to expect a SUV to handle road obstacles such as water of the condition described above, that were easily managed by smaller vehicles, without this level of damage. Inspection of the air intake reveals it is directed to the front of the engine compartment whereas most other vehicles have it directed to the side under a fender to protect it from weather conditions. In addition the bracket securing the intake entry about mid way down the front grille does not allow much air flow from above. Most of entering air comes from below the entry point exposing it to splash conditions that would not be encountered if the intake was directed to the nearest fender well as with most other vehicles I've seen. This is the same engine and air intake configuration as with a Ford escape which, per this web site, has had at least 8 registered complaints regarding engine stalls. No weather or environment conditions were described with these complaints however.