I've heard things about the 1996-1998 4.6 2V intake manifold, that since it's plastic it is very prone to coolant leakage, my 96 GT is that way right now. I have a crack in the rear of the manifold and now the green coolant is leaking out, not very much but enough for the light on the dash to pop up every now and then to tell me to top off. I also knew of some Crown Victoria's that have had the same problem. I have found an aftermarket manifold that does away with the cracking or any other problems and it's not that expensive. Please tell me if you've heard of this or any problems like it.Problems with 96-98 4.6 2V Intake manifolds
- Thread starter TxNiceGuy2002
- Start date
I've heard things about the 1996-1998 4.6 2V intake manifold, that since it's plastic it is very prone to coolant leakage, my 96 GT is that way right now. I have a crack in the rear of the manifold and now the green coolant is leaking out, not very much but enough for the light on the dash to pop up every now and then to tell me to top off. I also knew of some Crown Victoria's that have had the same problem. I have found an aftermarket manifold that does away with the cracking or any other problems and it's not that expensive. Please tell me if you've heard of this or any problems like it.-
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Bubba Z.
New Member
Everything you've heard is right. This is a very common problem with '96-'98 GT plastic manifolds. My '98 GT manifold was diagnosed with the problem at 70K and finally gave up the ghost at 80K where I had to replace it (with the aluminum crossover). The common area crack is around the thermostat housing.
I can't recall if there was a recall on this (mine wasn't), but some were able to replace it on their warranty. You should check into this.
--Bubba Z.
I can't recall if there was a recall on this (mine wasn't), but some were able to replace it on their warranty. You should check into this.
--Bubba Z.
Kronos
New Member
yep extremely common prolem. There was a recal on the manifold. If you can prove it is cracked, ford should raplace it. I dont think that recall has expired yet. (correct me if im wrong) the same thing hapenned to me a few weeks ago, while i was at it i did the PI intake conversion. no leaks and about 15 more HP.....it was what i like to call a "happy accident" lol
The "silent recall" is for 7 years after the build date. You can call Ford to see if they will fix it but I doubt it. I just replaced mine with a PI intake w/ aluminum crossover also. Using adapter plates, it is a better piece than the replacement 96-98 intake performance wise. Some have used RTV to seal the new intake to the old heads with no problems. Do a search for "pi intake swap" and you will find tons of info.
STNG_96
Member
Ford wont fix it. I had that happen last summer. My car is a 96 and only had about 40k on the clock. Ford said that since the recall period had expired, there was nothing that they could do. That was a quick $1000. 
coramprat said:
why do you say it was a silent recall? i was contacted about 5 yrs ago regarding my 96 and took it in for inspection.
how did the adapter plates work out for you? did you take any pics?
twogts4us
15 Year Member
So true...dude, WTF?!?!01SN8K said:
If someone owns a 9 year old Mustang, trying to keep it going, you think they have this kind of money to drop on this high end intake? Be reasonable.
Red mustang Gt 46
Founding Member
mr. jones1
New Member
check out my site www.unitedmajority.com
it has instructions and pic for a manifold swap.
be careful with some of those replacement manifolds.
some are trash. replace it with a Ford manifold with the alum. crossover.
PI manifold will give you an performance improvement.
search e-bay I have seen a real Ford manifold for $160 new.
or www.mustangtuning.com they have them for $192.
If you use a PI manifold you must use PI gaskets and some RTV
or my plates for better port blending and no RTV
it has instructions and pic for a manifold swap.
be careful with some of those replacement manifolds.
some are trash. replace it with a Ford manifold with the alum. crossover.
PI manifold will give you an performance improvement.
search e-bay I have seen a real Ford manifold for $160 new.
or www.mustangtuning.com they have them for $192.
If you use a PI manifold you must use PI gaskets and some RTV
or my plates for better port blending and no RTV
I recieved zero from Ford on this. Just learned thru word of mouth. They all crack after a while and it's inevitable because of poor design but they wouldn't replace it UNTIL it cracked.droptopponynj said:
The plates I used worked out really well. Check out airwolf thread. Lots of good info there. Also www.unitedmajority.com has an excellent write-up on the swap. He goes by the name of mrjones1 here and has made some plates that are alot more reasonably priced than the Livernois plates commercially available. I've made about 15 or 16 passes at the track since I swapped mine with zero problems.
I am fast 
