1996 Ford Crown Victoria Engine Problems

Which parts fail

• Exhaust system › Manifold/header/muffler/tail pipe
  27
• Engine › Gasoline
  16
• Engine
  15
• Cooling system
  11
• Exhaust system › Emission control
  4
• Exhaust system › Emission control › Catalytic convertor
  2

Components named in complaints (engine, cooling system, oil leaks, timing chain, exhaust).

Mileage when the problem started

• Under 25k
  14%
• 25k–50k
  14%
• 50k–75k
  311%
• 75k–100k
  519%
• 100k–150k
  1141%
• 150k+
  622%

Owner reports

Selected complaints filed with NHTSA by 1996 Ford Crown Victoria owners, lightly cleaned up (personal details are redacted by NHTSA).

Tl contact owns a 1996 Ford Crown Victoria which was purchased in 2004. She noticed an orange flame under the vehicle and smoke under the hood. The fire department was notified and the fire quickly engulfed the entire vehicle. The vehicle was destroyed. The failure and current mileages were 196,000. Updated 03/17/09. Updated 03/17/09.

My wife while traveling to visit her son in a distant city, she pulled into a shopping center to call him, he lived nearby. He came to the shopping center in an effort to lead her to his residence. When leaving she noticed smoke and thought the vehicle caught fire. Further investigation proved it was an ant-ifreeze leak. The failure was the intake manifold produced of an inferior material (nylon) a crack developed at 100614 miles causing the antifreeze to leak out and overheat the engine and cause more damage. Within several day the auto went to the repair shop and the intake manifold was replaced a substantial cost. There was no recall present with this event however Ford motor company had a class action suit with this event as its center piece. Unfortunately the failure on my Ford occurred after the class action suit expired. The suit was limited by a time frame. …

Dear sir or madam: I am aware of the Ford campaign 05n04 regarding the composite intake manifold replacement program. My 1996 Crown vic fell to this defect to on 11/20/06 which resulted in a needed replacement using the prescribed Ford repair kit. My local Ford dealer said the repair program had expired with no reimbursement possible. After soliciting fords comments directly (reply can be forwarded) I interpret their response that part failure, while the same as others, did not happen soon enough and therefore ineligible. In your opinion is there any recourse to appeal their denial for claim? Are you still receiving letters/emails that this is an ongoing problem? Might there be another judgment against them to cover others with this same failure? Your help is appreciated. Thank you. Updated 02/15/07.

I have a 1996 Ford Crown Victoria with a 4.6l engine. I bought it March 16th 2005. On March 17th 2005 I drove it for the first time to work. I accelerated to 70 MPH on the us-131. The intake gave out and smoked out the entire highway. It cracked on the front coolant runner of the intake manifold. I was alte to work and had to have the car towed. I am going to be charged about $600 for the replacement intake installled. The mechanic told me that the intakes were recalled, but only on commercial vehicles not private owned. Why is this? Is the private citizen not important enough? I am living from paycheck to paycheck now, I can't afford to have this kind of work done. My income is limited. I can only hope I can scrape up the money, so I can get to work now. Not happy. I will keep the old part.

Intake manifold cracked. Contacted Ford customer service. Advised no recall at this time. Advised to retain receipt if recall issued, Ford would refund expense. Was advised that if I did not have repair made at Ford dealership there was no other way for their engineers to document and investigate the problem. Also aware the escambia county, fl sheriff's dept. Has to replace this same part on a regular basis. After reviewing the numerous complaints I find that a recall has been issued for police and taxi vehicles but not passenger vehicles. The cost of this part with a discount was $501. The replacement manifold has a metal water passage to prevent further cracks. Ford must be held accountable for this and forced to repair, replace or refund this defective major engine part.

While at work performing an alternator test on a 96 Crown Victoria with the 4.6 engine I was running the engine at 2000 RPM. There was a loud pop and then the engine compartment was filled with steam and hot coolant. I was almost scalded, as I was leaning over the engine to access the throttle linkage. The intake had cracked on the coolant runner behind the alternator about 2" wide. Our shop had to replace the customer's intake manifold and could not charge the customer for the parts or labor because the customer blamed us for the damage. I believe that the customer should have been informed of this situation by Ford motor company and the recall should cover more than just the "fleet use" vehicles. This is clearly a product durability/defect issue.

#1 - I constantly have my engine light on and during 2 inspections I received a safety/emissions recall printout, defect # dr-1209 for mass air flow sensors. Both times I have taken it to the local dealer and they claimed there's no recall for it. I just noticed on the NHTSA site, that recalls only go back as far as 1999. They also said that since it's no longer a "police owned" vehicle, they wouldn't fix it. # 2 - I have been getting a constant severe fuel smell that permeates through the car which is exacerbated with warm weather and or when the car warms up. #3 - there's a constant issue of the car vibrating when being driven at 55 - 60 MPH.

Tl contact owns a 1996 Ford Crown Victoria. The contact stated that the air intake manifold on the vehicle was manufactured out of plastic, which caused anti-freeze to leak onto the engine. The anti-freeze leak was noticed due to the burning chemical odor and smoke coming from under the hood. The dealer stated that the repairs would cost over $1,000 at the contact's expense. He was denied repairs under the class action lawsuit. When the heater was activated, the odor from the anti-freeze was overbearing in the passenger compartment of the vehicle. The failure and current mileages were 82,000. Updated 4/16/09 updated 04/20/09.

There were problems with the engine. Manufacturer was contacted and stated the vehicle was not included on the recall even though the vehicle experienced the same problem with the manifold intake. Smoke come from under the hood. There was no water(was all over the engine and the insulation), and no oil. Plastic was used for the intake manifold which Ford changed to metal. The consumer's new engine had come with the new change. Ford instructed the consumer to keep receipts because the were going to issue a recall.

Tl* the contact owns a 1996 Crown Victoria. The contact stated that while driving approximately 55 MPH, the vehicle stalled without warning. The vehicle was maneuvered to the side of the road. The contact stated that the manifold had failed for the second time in ten years. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic. The independent mechanic diagnosed that there was a small fracture in the manifold. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufactured was made aware of the problem. The approximate failure mileage was 150,000.

NHTSA investigations

Engine complaints in other Crown Victoria years