Melted intake manifold !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Jakee]

stilbo - It sucks what happened here but the SOHC is the better engine. This sound's like bent valves. They're not seating so the exhaust is being forced up the manifold the wrong way.

 

[robby001]

One question for you did you contact the dealer about this. Ford was suid in a class action law suit over there plastic intake manifolds and lost the suit. They had to replace a lot of engines and replace the manifolds in question. I believe your year exploder was on the list.

 

[Jakee]

 

[robby001]

since you don't believe me look here. Thanks...

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2005/ford_manifold_suit.html

 

[justchecking]

Didn't you say you bought that on ebay? Don't they have $50K buyer protection?

"The vehicle had undisclosed engine, body, transmission, and/or frame damage at the time of purchase that will cost more than $1,000 to repair."

That's what they had in their ad when I checked.

 

[Jakee]

No, I believe you. What annoys me are people trying to sue others for no good reason. Below is a quote from the link you posted. Notice, there is nothing about "MELTING" in this article. The damage you see in this thread is not related to a crack. There was something bad going on to result in this intake to melt like it did. Like I stated above, this is the first time I've EVER seen this happen so it's not a common thing.

Plaintiffs in the case claimed the intake manifolds are prone to premature cracking, which could lead to coolant leakage and expensive damage to the engine.

 

[robby001]

I had never mentioned that the law suite was dealing with melting manifolds or cracked ones. All I said was that Ford has been ordered to replace them and the damage they have caused so that this gentleman doesn't get the shaft.

Now as for suing for no reason I agree a hundred percent. BUT I also believe if you are going to purchase a vehicle then the automaker should not cut corners as ford did to save money. You sure as hell didn’t see any savings for an engine with a plastic intake manifold over aluminum. It’s the same principle of it. Subaru just released a stop sale order on all of the 2008/2009 Subaru Impreza, Forester and Legacy vehicles equipped with a 2.5L Turbo Engine because a possible knocking in the engine. If a company knows of a problem with one of its products it is there responsibility to warn us as consumers or not to sell the product at all until the problem what ever it is can be repaired or replaced.

It seems that he got exhaust gases through his intake manifold. Now if it was Aluminum his engine most likely would not have been destroyed. Or would have the intake manifold melted he would have got his check engine light and could have got it fixed before serious damage. If ford wants to copy Porsche setup it first introduced in the 911 then they need to use the same standards when it comes to the materials used. Crushed glass reinforcement as they use would have most likely prevented this problem. A plastic intake manifold that is getting hot combustion gases that can reach an excess of 1400F will certainly fail if its melting point is 540F or if it’s cracked and losses its coolant that is protecting it from overheating in the first place.

 

[Cobra Jet]

So, what's the results here - have you determined why the #6 intake runner is extremely hot compared to the other 5 and why the vehicle is not running as it should be?

(I also read that Consumer Affairs article - and it seems it only covers vehicles up to year 2002... Was this Law Suit updated to include any vehicles that still have the plastic intake after 2002 - or did Ford somehow revise the design or materials used in the plastic intakes after 2002 to avoid such issues?)

 

[justchecking]

And I want to know if you tried the EBAY buyer protection?

 

[jayquest33]

I've been chasing a poor running 96 explorer 4.0 with a bad idle for about 2 weeks now with a oem 300 code and 113. mutliple misfire code. I gave it a good tune up and still running poorly. I read on this forum about the MAF and thought that just might do it, because of my staggering idle. I replaced it last night and the truck still ran poorly. This morning I woke up to my truck with a good sized puddle of coolant under it. So I said hell with it and took it up to the ford dealership here in milwaukee and had the diagnostics ran on it. Just got the call That I have a burnt hole in the intake manifold, I'll be damned. Im wondering WHY? they told me over 700 hundred for parts n labor. So I jumped on this forum to see about replacing it myself when I stumbled upon this thread having the same issue and it is a plastic intake. Well now even if i try to replace it will i still have problems

 

[robby001]

Did you get an answer from the shop what exactly caused the problem or was it just the manifold mellting?

 

[gijoecam]

A simple compression check will tell you if it's a valve issue... I suspect the valvetrain is fine myself.

I would question the firing order (I don't have the info in front of me offhand)... There's something more going on there.... Tuning in...

 

[stilbo]

Well... a year late but for conclusion's sake.....

I had to replace the engine.

It probably was not the intake manifold's problem... unless?

The # 6 intake valve dropped.

Broken off in the guide. The keepers were just laying on top of the cylinder head.

Don't understand why the valve/keepers would fail but the exhaust gases were traveling into the intake manifold and cooking it.

I guess that I should have researched "dropped valve" when I found it to see if the problem is endemic and concluded this thread but a LOT of work stuff went down after the engine swap.

If broken valves are a problem on these 4.0's, it'd be nice to continue this thread as I have a 2007 Mustang 4.0 supercharged that is a little more stressed than this engine is in my 'Plory.

Ron S.

 

[stilbo]

re: "ebay buyer protection".

HAH!

That was pretty much their response....

Buyer beware.

Ron S.

 

[klaus1958]

I have 2004

Yeh, I can't believe it either....

As Billy Mayes would scream: "BUT WAIT!!! THERE'S MORE!!!"

Started looking at manifold even closer... It's a miracle this thing ran at all!

The rear two runners (5&6) got so hot inside that they damn near collapsed and with all the molten plastic that made all sorts of psychedelic plastice sculptures in side (from the air being sucked throughthe pinholes and molten plastic) what little was left of the runners, there might be at most a 3/8" x 1" opening through the length of those runners!

AND! I cleaned the engine because it looked like there was a concentrated amount of powdery tan dirt in the area of the throttle body and RH valve cover.. It's fire extinguisher powder! Didn't recognize it because it was tan, not white (and I CAN recognize that stuff because I discharged one onto a company loaner Durango once when my F350 was getting PM'd.. whadda mess!) So they apparently had the MAF and air cleaner hose removed from the throttle body when they saw flames coming out of the throttle body. The weird thing is that the engine had to be running for the vacuum to suck the pinholes and suck the runners down in size.... whadda num nutz!

pulled the injectors since I have the access and I'm going to find a reputable outfit to clean and test them... wish I still had that ultrasonic cleaner.. I cracked one of those little plastic ring shrouds on the end of one injector... Bummer.. now I have to replace ONE lousy injector because I was a klutz and dropped it... I also hate to replace just one without ccING THEM ALL TOGETHER TO MAKE SURE THEY ARE BALANCED...

So... hopefully by next wednesday night I should have the XLS running..... purrfectly... I hope.

Still all in all.. I have $3500 plus Indiana sales tax and a new manifold, fuel filter, plug wires and plugs, air filter and I still bought a clean 2002 xls for about $4300. I think the retail is closer to $9000... It just has to RUN when I get it back together....

Will post a final (hopefully) blog on this problem...

Ford Sport Trac and had black gooey port into the heads but I wiped them out of course it may need the heads removed but I decided to take a chance. I wiped them out the best I could., it started one morning I pick up my mom and when I started up the engine it sounded like it was going to stall but I shut it off and cranked it up again and seemed to run good. Well, that was Wednesday and I had some places to go the next day so I completed my trip and drove home later that day I decided to drive late that night to town and the sport trac wouldn't crank up which It stranded me. I checked out and my Alternator and it was find but the battery showed only 10.7 volts the battery was purchased in 2016 which made it 8 years old which it run its course. I ordered a new intake from Ford. I removed the old one is when I seen the black gooey substance in the ports of the intake and also in the heads. I cleaned them but knew gooey substance in not normal. I will say that article that stated it was melted plastic makes sense but why it did is beyond me. I keep my coolant system up and I change my coolant more than most people as I do with oil, transmission fluid, and brake system flushes, power steering fluid . My truck has never ran hot because I check all the time it runs in the normal range and I test it frequently. It actually shocked me that the black stuff was in the ports. I keep my throttle clean. I seen photos online with a Pontiac that had a melted intake and heard of crown victoria had them also. I figured it would have had to be fairly hot to melt the intake but never seen my truck run over normal running temperatures.