Re: 4.6L Intake Manifolds - replacement

"George Adams" wrote in message news:1202646762 snipped-for-privacy@sp12lax.superfeed.net...

I am considering a pre-emptive intake manifold replacement on my > wife's 1997 G.M. 54,000 miles, looks and runs like new. > > I checked Advance Auto Parts website and found two choices, the > Motormite at $265, and the Dorman at $199. The show a picture of > the > Dorman, and it appears to be all plastic like the original. No > picture > of the Motormite, but it carries a lifetime warranty. Anyone have > any > info on these two items? > > TIA, > George

I am curious why you think you need to replace the manifold at this late date. My Mother owned two Grand Marquis and I owned a Mustang with that engine and none had the manifold problem. And even if the manifold fails, the engine has "fail safe cooling." You would be able to continue driving the vehicle (at reduced speed) to reach a repair location.

You might want to read

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. The Ford replacement manifold (P/N F8AZ-9424-CB) is about $350 (with a discount). I wouldn't worry so much about the manifold being plastic, as I would about how well it was made.

Rock Auto has a picture of the Dorman manifold. The air runners are plastic, but that the water crossover is aluminum (see

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or
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. The Dorman prroduct page is
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. I am not sure why they have a Dorman and a Motormite listing. Motormite is a Dorman trade name. As far as I can tell from the Motormite catalog
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the Motormite manifold is the Dorman manifold. Ed

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Reply to
C. E. White
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Hmm, I didn't fare so well with my 1996 Thunderbird and its 4.6. My intake manifold blew 5 miles from home while I was passing someone and it seemed like I overheated very quickly. I made it home, but from there it had to be towed. This happened in October 1999 with just over

60,000 miles on the car that I had from day 1. Sadly, it was NOT the same after the intake manifold blew so I traded it on a 2000 F150 in December of 1999.

Oddly, about 2 years ago, I saw my old car at a junkyard on a display rack. At least, I thought it was mine because it had the same aftermarket rims and a real true dual exhaust, which were both modifications that I made to the car.

Reply to
DJ NoMore

Uh, didn't the poster ask about a GM intake manifold? If so, I agree that it might be a good idea to replace this intake manifold before it fails. Around 60,000 to 65,000 miles. Mine did, and I know others with the 3.8L V6 that have done so. Pure GM plastic junk!

Reply to
ah

Pure GM plastic junk!

Uh....the subject here is Grand Marquis here isn't it? You weren't referring to General Motors which also has intake manifold problems, were you? Either way, the junky plastic factory manifolds have been redesigned by the aftermarket to eliminate some of the problems that the originals had.

Since I brought up the subject of General Motors, the problem they had was the EGR passages burning a hole in the intake and failing.

FYI, check the replacement manifolds. They are probably made in China.

Reply to
Kruse

Has the manifold been replaced yet under the recall ?

Determine for certain that the intake has a plastic front water passage crossover. If it's a plastic crossover your pre-emptive service is not a bad idea.

I would not replace the intake with any all plastic part. Get the correct upgraded part with the metal coolant crossover. The intake design changed several times, the model year range for your design is 1996-1998.

Same here. The first replacement under the early recall was a similar all plastic part. The second time they put in the upgraded intake with the metal passage.

rd

Reply to
RD Jones

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