Cracked the air intake on my 1999 Mercury Grand Marquis. It was made out of cheap plastic. I had to step on the throttle to get out of the way, and my car started steaming. Come to find out, the intake manifold cracked. It's only $300 for the part, not including labor.

- Penn Yan , NY, USA

Fatigue cracking of the coolant crossover passage of the all nylon-composite intake manifold on our 1999 Mercury Grand Marquis. (VIN # [xxx]). component has failed, resulting in replacement, costing $888 component was subject to recall (fordmanifoldsettlement.com/notice.html). contacted Ford customer care phone line. They have refused to compensate us or this repair. Information redacted pursuant to the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).

- Macomb, MI, USA

My 1999 Mercury Grand Marquis has a persistant oil leak from the right rear of the engine head that is exactly as described in Ford Motor Company's technical service bulletin 02-22-07. The dealership, irvine Lincoln Mercury, has had three tries to correct the problem under warranty and have failed to succeed. The warranty expired last month and now they say that I will have to pay to have the problem repaired even though the unresolved complaint condition goes back well into the warranty period.

- Irvine, CA, USA

While driving 55 mph a loud noise was heard coming from the front. Vehicle then stalled. Consumer restarted the vehicle and pull over. Then, consumer noticed that oil leaked underneath. Consumer drove vehicle to the dealer for inspection, and mechanic determined that the cylinder head cracked, and needed to be replaced (20794 miles). Recently the consumer noticed another oil leak which appeared to be the same as that from the first cylinder head. The service manager inspected the vehicle and concluded that oil was leaking from the cylinder head again (59700 miles).

- Charlotte, NC, USA

Problem: The car was diagnosed with a leaking head gasket & defective manifold. Cost to repair $2504.80 (I paid it) I brought the car in on 11/17/03 and got it back 11/20/03. I was told the repair was complete. As I drove it off the lot the car shimmied and stalled. The car was brought right back and they still are working on it as of 11/21/03 9am. History of problem at Ford: Ford has issued the following technical service bulletins for these two problems ( from www.alldata.com ) 03-6-2 Mar 03 engine - oil leak from R/H cylinder head gasket 02-1-4 Jan 02 engine head gasket - approved replacement procedures 01-21-10 Oct 01 engine - oil leaking from head gasket 02-2-2 intake manifold - cross-over channel coolant seepage according to www.lemonaidcars.com ( www.GM-V6lemons.com/mediaattn.htm )the Ford 4.7 liter has had these problems before and caused Ford to extend warranties to 6 yrs./ 75,000 miles on older models (www.autosafety.org/article.php?did=121&scid=59 ). they also know the manifold part used to original make the engine is defective. The repairs are costing me $2504.80 with no help from the dealer or manufacturer.

- Mason, OH, USA