Introduction
The following is a step-by-step guide to removing and replacing a failed intake manifold on 1996 to 2000 model
Ford/Lincoln/Mercury passenger cars equipped with the 4.6L SOHC V8 engine. Although the vehicle used in this
example repair is a 1997 Mercury Grand Marquis, these procedures are applicable to a variety of vehicles including:
Ford Mustang, Ford Crown Victoria, Ford Thunderbird, Mercury Cougar, Mercury Grand Marquis and Lincoln Town Car.
(see applications). The procedures outlined and the accompanying
photographs cover the repair process from start-to-finish. Although not designed to be completely exhaustive
in nature (i.e., idiot-proof), anyone with even modest mechanical skills and some relatively common tools should
be able to readily accomplish the repair described.
If you read through the described procedure before beginning and take your time performing the repair you can save yourself hundred's of dollars in repair labor by doing this one yourself. If you do decide to take on the repair described here please drop us a line and give us some
feedback on the content of this site. We're always trying to improve our content and we love getting feedback from fellow Do-It-Yourselfers
It is assumed at this point that you have clearly determined that your manifold does indeed need to be replaced.
If your car dumped all of it's coolant out on top of the engine in a matter of minutes and then promptly overheated
then you are likely a victim on Ford's flawed plastic manifold design. You should note that Ford recently
settled a class-action
lawsuit regarding this flawed manifold design which may cover the cost of your repair. The settlement essentially
extends your original warranty to 7 years and covers the cost of the repair of the manifold
if it failed within the first seven (7) years of ownership. The Ford settlement proposes the following:
- Reimburse customer with receipts for repairs made to the intake manifold.
- Reimburse customers without receipts $735, provided they verify with a company dealership that the repair was made.
- Extend the length of warranties for customers who have not had a manifold failure (to 7 years).
- Notify all car owners of the settlement.
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By default, many 1996, 1997 and some 1998 models are not covered due to their age (unless they experienced the
manifold failure during the first seven (7) years of ownership). The 1997 Mercury Grand Marquis featured on
this web-site falls into that category. We decided not to let Ford get any of our money to fix this design-flaw
and tackled this task ourselves. This web-site was created to help you do the same. Before going any further,
please review the Terms Of Use page. Use of any or all of the content provided
in these pages implicitly acknowledges your complete consent to all the terms & conditions set out therein.
Let's get started...
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Getting Started
The first thing you will need is a replacement manifold and related components. We don't recommend using an
OEM-type, all-plastic manifold but rather the new, improved aftermarket design which uses an alumunim coolant
crossover. We certainly don't recommend trying to repair the original manifold. J-B Cold-Weld has a lot of
great uses but this shouldn't be one of them. There are a number of companies (Dorman and others) who sell the new,
improved manifold design. They all appear to be selling the same product so we recommend choosing a vendor based
on price, availability and reputation. Most of the replacement manifolds we've seen appear to be manufactured by Dorman Automotive.
Having used Dorman manifolds on several intake repairs we are happy with the quality and would recommend them. A great source for
the manifold kit you'll need is Amazon.com. We buy most of our parts from Amazon when we
can due to great prices and free shipping on most items.
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The kit comes complete with a new manifold, new thermostat & housing and built-in gaskets (O-rings) on the
manifold (no external gaskets are needed). The kit also includes some new brackets that replace some of the
factory parts. Here's a picture of the contents of the kit we received:
Make sure your engine is cool before beginning any work. No need to burn yourself while doing this repair.
We also highly recommend getting a pair of mechanics gloves if you don't already own a pair. They do a great
job of protecting your hands and help keep them clean as well. Set aside 6-8 hours to get the job done.
Experienced folks could do it in less than 4 but if your reading this you're probably a first-timer and
will need to set aside the better part of a day to get the job completed.
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