Manifold/header/muffler/tail Pipe problems of the 1997 Mercury Cougar

My vehicles became totally disabled on a very busy highway with heavy after hours rush hour traffic. The manifold which is made of plastic broke were the coolant temperature sensor was built in, I also noticed that a few sparkplugs were flooded with coolant. I found out that there was a lawsuit on these vehicles but no one knew about it and only fleet vehicles were covered and not civilian vehicles. I wonder if there is any chance for me to seek a dealership and get reimbursed for these damages.

Intake manifold crack and anti-freeze spilling out and a lot of steam smoke while I was driving,car in shop now a it will cost me $600. 00 to fix.

I have a 1997 Mercury Cougar xr7 that has 42,000 miles on it. The intake manifold cracked in my garage and liquids leaked all over garage. My car was one of the excluded vehicles in fords class action and recall of cracked manifolds.

1 . Heavy loss of coolant,spraying all over engine area continuously and would not maintain proper levels. 2. Car overheating and risk of burning up the engine. 3. Replaced "plastic" manifold,coolant,thermostat and gasket. This manifold was a class action lawsuit against Ford motor company that I contacted after the incident and was told my VIN did not fall into the category. I now looked it up and it certainly does. The outcome of the lawsuit had dates involved and my incident happened seven months after the judges decision of seven years after the warranty. After calling Ford and speaking with 3 "customer service" people their script was the legal decision and they (Ford) was not going to do a thing for me. How many people are out there that had this happen and have no idea of this "plastic manifold" that should have never been in the car and paid good money for something that Ford caused and now will not stand by their product.

Consumer's request for reimbursement but was denied reimbursement for the plastic manifold replacement in his 1997 Mercury Cougar . ** answer required***. The consuemr was not reimbursed for the repairs because the repairs were not made at a Ford/Mercury dealer.

The intake manifold cracked, causing the coolant to leak out. Could cause the engine to overheat. Consumer will contact the manufacturer.

The manifold cracked in the same location, overheating the car for the second time. The intake manifold was made of plastic and was recalled. The new manifold was also made of plastic and over time it also failed. The consumer feels the dealer should have installed the new re-designed two piece, half plastic half metal manifold.

Problems with plastic intake manifold. The manifold which was replaced under recall cracked in the same location as the previous faulty manifold which caused the vehicle to overheat.

Consumer complained about a defective part in the intake manifold, which at one time was on recall. No notification was ever received. Manufacturer was contacted, and stated that the warranty expired, and they did not have to honor the recall.

The plastic intake manifold on my 1997 Mercury Cougar failed on 7/13/2004. The coolant leaked into the spark plug socket and grounded the number 2 spark plug, leaked coolant over engine. Left my wife stranded with undriveable car. Subsequent examination of the engine by an ase mechanic revealed a fatigue crack in the intake manifold near the cross-over tube. This is clearly a design flaw. It will cost over $900 to remove and replace the faulty intake manifold. The old part will be available after repairs are affected.

Had catastrophic intake manifold failure while on vacation. Fomoco has a recall on this component (97m91) but refused to provide relief. As I understand the recall of this known problem, Ford will only replace when it fails, but it must fail in a specific time frame. This was a silent recall as Ford never publicized it. I had attempted a preventative replacement as I was aware of the inherent problem -- again my local Mercury dealer (king - gaithersburg, MD) would only replace when the manifold failed. Well it did while I was on vacation hundreds of miles from home. As this was a known manufactor's problem from the date of installation, replace must be done when the problem first comes to Ford's knowledge. Instead, when issuing the recall (March 1999) Ford chose to ignore the problem until the consumer brings it to the dealership's attention. Only then would the dealer acknowledge the recall existed.

Recall regarding problems with plastic intake manifold. The original intake manifold was cracked at the front motor. Ford replaced the defective plastic manifold with another defective plastic manifold. The consumer requested reimbursement.

I have a 1997 Mercury Cougar. After seeing a low coolant light, and stopping the car, I opened the hood and had coolant everywhere! the car was towed to a repair shop and I was told it was a cracked intake manifold. After further research I have found this is a continual problem with Ford produced automobiles.

On 5/19/2004 I had to have towed and replace defective cracked plastic intake manifold on a 1997 Mercury xr7 Cougar and hadn't been previously informed of any recalls then recently I had to replace yet another defective manifold (2nd car ) this shop informed me of a class action that I should have been informed of previously that should have taken care of the auto above however as the notification program never notified me on either car.

Make: Mercury model: Cougar year: 1997 type: passenger car service bulletin number: 05n04 NHTSA item number: 10018959 summary description: extended coverage program 05n04 - extended coverage for composite intake manifold. This program is being provided as a settlement to a class action lawsuit. The terms of the settlement extend the coverage of the all-composite intake manifold to 7 years from the original warranty start date of the vehicle, with no limit on the number of miles that the vehicle has been driven. On March 2, 2004, I sent a letter to Ford motor company describing how the intake manifold on my 1997 Mercury Cougar had ruptured on Feb. 28, 2004. After waiting a month and receiving no reply, I called their customer complaint line and described the problem. They told me that my vehicle did not qualify for a recall reimbursement, but gave no reason why. Since my daughter also owns a 1997 Mercury Cougar, I told her to have a mechanic check her intake manifold. The mechanic replaced her intake manifold at no charge since it had been recalled as per the above quoted statement. I called Ford back with this information and they gave me the same reply. I wrote them a letter and they did not reply. I visited my local Mercury dealer, from whom I had recently purchased a new vehicle and again was told that my vehicle does not qualify for the recall. I understand that this case went to court and the ruling was that Ford had to pay every owner of vehicles with this defect a sum of $750. I have not been paid anything and Ford refuses to give me any answer other than what they have already given. I still have the defective intake manifold in my possession and the repair bill for $1455. 28.

The contact stated the coolant light illuminated on dashboard . The vehicle was taken to a dealership. The plastic intake manifold cracked causing the loss of antifreeze. No repairs were made. Updated 12/27/2005 - the consumer did some research and found that the manufacturer had recall this part but not for civilian vehicles.

1997 Cougar xr7, 4. 6liter engine. Cracked intake manifod allows cooling fluid to escape. Problem has been present for over three years but has never been located until lately when fluid loss increased significantly/.

While driving, the consumer smelled anti freeze fumes inside the vehicle. Antifreeze fumes were affecting the consumer's breathing. A cracked intake manifold, plug wires and a bad exhaust hose had to be replaced. The maf sensor was cleaned and the was antifreeze replaced.

While driving at 35mph the vehicle intake plastic manifold over heated with no warning and the consumer was forced to pull over.

No warning, driving to work under normal conditions when steam and coolant (which could be smelled) came out from under hood, limiting my vision. I had to stop and low coolant level light came on. I had to have car towed home. Took car to a corner mechanic who informed us the intake manifold had cracked and it would cost us $1,200. We were skeptical because on other vehicles we have, this part is cast so it doesn't break. We then had the car towed again to a reputable mechanic that we have used before and he also said the intake manifold was broken. He then had to order a new Ford part that cost us $589. 17 plus labor of $249. 60 and wrecker run of $38. 40, for a grand total of $923. 12. Upon checking with Ford. Com, we found out that this has happened to several others and upon speaking with someone over the phone we were informed that there was a "customer satisfaction program, service bulletin 97m91" that would have replaced this defective part at no cost to us, if the part would have broken in the month of may, instead of June 19, when it occurred. We were never aware of such a program and are extremely distressed that such a reputable company as Ford would not make this an unlimited warranty knowing that the part will fail and that the replacement part is made of aluminum which is dependable. Why was this not used during manufacturing of the automobile? surely, the cost then would have been minimal to Ford. Could this possibly be reason why it was not made a voluntary recall? we want to be reimbursed for this part, considering we were only 3 weeks out of "97m91. ".

We have numerous complaints with this vehicle. One of which is the brakes. Another is the cooling system. There is a recall on the manifold but our local Ford dealer wlll not replace even though we have asked them to do so. In addition the engine had a problem which no one could figure out.

The consumer examined the engine and noticed coolant had leaked due to a cracked intake manifold.