[DEEZNUTZ247]

Good morning everyone. I hope everyone had a nice and safe Easter Holiday weekend. This is my first thread on this site, and unfortunately not a positive thread for me. I just bought a Green 1999 5 spd Mustang GT last Monday, March 17th. I was with the family this weekend for Easter and was giving my mom a ride around the block the new stang. I kicked her down pretty good and then POOF!!!! There was "smoke" bellowing out from the rear of the car and from under the hood and I instantly smelt coolant through the vents. So I pulled into my sisters house, popped the hood and noticed coolant sprayed all over the engine and the hood liner was soaked with it. I noticed the coolant dripping from directly behind the alternator. Whenever I opened up the throttle from under the hood, coolant would literally spray out from behind the alternator, and looks like it's coming from the intake. The coolant light is on but no check engine light and all gauges look normal. There's absolutely no loss in power as well as no strange noises, no water/coolant in the oil so that is a good sign I guess. I have never owned a V8 in my life and have been driving the Yamaha V6 Taurus SHO's for a long time now and I know absolutely nothing about this 4.6 engine. Now, only a week since I bought my new car, I have to deal with this! Any help would be greatly appreciated guys. Could I get any ideas of what parts will be most likely needed, prices and if it's something that I can do or should I take it to a local shop to get fixed. I purchased it As Is with no warranty but I wonder if the used car lot I purchased the vehicle from could be held accountable for this and try and get them to fix this? Uggghhhh. I'm just crushed right now and don't know what to do. Thanks for taking the time to read this. All your help is greatly appreciated. :bigthumbsup -C

 

[johnr2001]

if its not a hose you have a cracked intake, its a very common problem on these engines. they are plastic and where not well designed in the early years. they now have an aluminum cross over that gives them extra strength. good luck let us know how you make out. John

 

[RandyStinchcomb]

if its not a hose you have a cracked intake, its a very common problem on these engines. they are plastic and where not well designed in the early years. they now have an aluminum cross over that gives them extra strength. good luck let us know how you make out. John

yup, X'2 on what John said......

 

[DEEZNUTZ247]

Is it possible it could just be a bad intake manifold gasket or highly doubtful?

 

[T-Rev]

No, I bought my car about two weeks ago. A 96 GT 5spd. I got on it and same thing happened. Turned out to be the intake manifold. I decided to take it to Ford and have the certified guys do it and at the same time do diagnostics. I only have 32k on the car and it was the original intake manifold. The new one they put on it has the aluminum cross over that makes it stronger. It ran me right around 1500 for everything, but I also had them do the tune up on it. The manifold it self will run you around 200 dollars and it shouldn't be that hard of an install, but I'd recommend replacing the gaskets and such. But that is exactly what my car did. Poof of smoke (didn't even here any bangs or cracks) coolant all over the engine bay, was like a fountain underneath my intake manifold behind the alternator and I suggest not driving it far to get it fixed (Due to the fact as soon as you get down the street your engine will have flushed out all your coolant into the crook of your engine and then you'll leave a smoke trail on top of risking over heating and warping heads or worst case, cracking your block). I had to baby mine 3 miles back to my house then decided to tow it to a ford stealership. I hoped it was just the gasket, but gaskets don't fail like that. Sorry, but look at it this way, you could go with the PI intake and get some performance out of your loss. :bigthumbsup

 

[RandyStinchcomb]

Is it possible it could just be a bad intake manifold gasket or highly doubtful?

trust me on this, Im 99.9999999% sure its your intake manifold that has cracked or split the seem on the coolant cross-over...if you want to diag-it on your own, go to a parts store and buy a bottle of "coolant system dye" and add it to your coolant and drive it for a day or 2....the coolant dye, which is a High-Vis Green will pin-point your crack, now if its a small crack that you cant sea, hit the intake x-over wth a Black Light, trust me, it'll show up:gringreen


oh and stay-away from parts store re-placement intakes and buy an oem Ford one

 

[DEEZNUTZ247]

Any opinions on that TYPHOON INTAKE???? It looks very tempting.

 

[T-Rev]

Hmm I have the K&N FIPK II. I am so far pretty happy with it.

 

[johnr2001]

unless you planning on some serious power just put the new improved pi intake on it. do it yourself its not hard. I am running 10lbs of boost and mine has not went boom yet. probably just jinxed myself.

 

[quiksilver225]

hey man, i actually just had a similar problem on my 99 GT. Luckily for me it was a slow leak on the driver side, probably a gasket, and i was able to fix it with 4$ worth of coolant system stop-leak. I think randy has the right idea here. Your best bet it to identify where the hell the leak is coming from before you do anything else. Some dye and a black light is definatley the best way to go about it. If your manifold is indeed cracked you will definatley see it under the black light. If you cant find a crack it still is possible that its a gasket,, but it doubt it. Regardless, a $4 trip to the auto parts store for some "stop-leak" cant hurt. Make sure to get the tablets, not the liquid, and crush them be4 you put them into your resorvoir. If it is a cracked manifold, which id be willing to bet my life that it is, dont get the OEM replacment aluminum. Thats rediculous! Hell, if your gonna do all that work and spend big coin on an intake it better be an upgrade! As far as that goes Trick Flow currently makes that best set-up, but if you can hold off for another couple of months BBK has been in the testing stages of a new 4.6 manifold that looks extremely promising. Ive been in contact with the guy who is the lead for the design, testing, and production on the new manifold and he promised me dyno numbers as soon as he can test it on a built 4.6 which they r in the process of doing now. So if you can hang out for a while it would definatley be worth the wait, even if you just get another plastic monifold for the time being. Also, theres a good chance that coolant has worked its way under your coil packs. This has the potential to cause miss firing and do damage to both the coil packs and the spark plugs. The last thing you need is to dig your hole any deeper by having to replace 8 plugs and 8 coils totalling as much as $400-$500. Be sure to pull off eack coil and check for coolant on the plugs. Soak up as much of the coolant as you can before removing the plugs or else the coolant will run straight into the cylinder. After removing both the coil packs and the plugs inspect both for damage or corrosion. If wet, allow the coils at least a day to dry our before running electricity through them again(similar too getting a cell phone wet). If any coolant does make its way into the cylinder just leave the plugs and coils out, get into the car, and turn the motor over(try to start it). This should blast any coolant right out of the cylinders. Hope i helped. Let me know how it works out.

 

[johnr2001]

no offense man but I would NEVER put stop leak in my baby. that leads to clogged heater cores etc. you think the manifold is hard to replace try a heater core on one of these cars. total pain in the a$$

 

[quiksilver225]

i would agree with you entirely had i said to use liquid stop leak. Stop-leak tablets are for 3 gallons of coolant. If you run them through a 99 GT which has a 5 gallon cooling system there is absolutley nothing to worry about. You just have to get good ****. Non the less, i think we all can agree that the issue at hand is a crack in the manifold and stop-leak will be useless for that. But, if its a small problem like a gasket or a slow leak anywhere stop-leak IS the way to go. Ive used it on several 4.6L motors including cadillacs, crown vics, and mustangs and it has always done the job and never cause clogging. You just cant use 2 cycles of it. If 1 cycles isnt fixing your problem then your leak is too big for stop-leak.

 

[MUSTANGJOE1981]

Its the intake manifold crossover near the thermostat housing. The intake is abouts 200.00 and it should cost no more than 6-7 hrs of labor at a shop. You can do it yourself in a day. Its a common issue on pre 02 4.6's. You could probably get it done cheaper at an independent shop just make sure they use ford parts or buy them yourself and pay a shop to install

 

[DEEZNUTZ247]

Hey guys, I just wanted to quick say thanks for all your help and suggestions! :bigthumbsup Ok, so I rip her apart last night to get the Intake out. VERY, VERY EASY TO DO!!!! I have just the basic Garage Logic (Brakes, Alternators, plugs, etc.) and I had the Intake out in about a half hour! Upon pulling the intake out, I noticed a extremely fine, hairline fracture on the coolant crossover tube, just below the main seam that runs across the crossover tube. It is barely noticable from the naked eye but that little crack blew coolant EVERYWHERE!!!! Now I'm waiting of the Intake to arrive from Ebay. So I have cleaned up the manifolds and smooth them up for the gaskets. Do I need any gasket sealer? I am also considering throwing in a new thermostat. Any recommendations on a brand of gaskets and thermostat and what temperature rating thermostat should I stick with? Note: The car will be in storage in the winter. So a pair of intake manifold gaskets, thermostat and gasket, am I missing anything else? I'm sure I am!!! I would appreciate any recommendations and/or advice prior to installing the new intake.

Ok, so I call Ford because I heard about for class action lawsuit or recall on these junky intakes. He looked up for any recalls on my VIN and did find this recall. So I got pretty excited and then he said BUT it was only good for 7 years from the date the vehicle was manufactured and said mine expired in 2006! WTF???? Why would it matter whether it was 7 years or 20??? You guys made a ****** ass part, that you no longer produce because they are defective, and I am stuck with a recalled part on my car because I missed the cut-off date! I would be happy just exchanging my defective intake for the new, updated one, even swap. I'll deal with the labor. But of course not! Thanks guys!!!!
Sorry, but I just had to get that off my chest! Lol. :gringreen -C

 

[DEEZNUTZ247]

Hey guys, I just wanted to quick say thanks for all your help and suggestions! :bigthumbsup Ok, so I ripped her apart last night to get the Intake out. VERY, VERY EASY TO DO!!!! I have just the basic Garage Logic (Brakes, Alternators, plugs, etc.) and I had the Intake out in about a half hour! Upon pulling the intake out, I noticed an extremely fine, hairline fracture on the coolant crossover tube, just below the main seam that runs across the crossover tube. It is barely noticable from the naked eye but that little crack blew coolant EVERYWHERE!!!! Now I'm just waiting for the Intake to arrive from Ebay.

So I have cleaned up the manifolds and got them nice and smooth for the gaskets. Do I need any gasket sealer? I am also considering throwing in a new thermostat. Any recommendations on a brand of gaskets and thermostat? And what temperature rating thermostat should I stick with? Note: The car will be in storage in the winter. So a pair of intake manifold gaskets, thermostat and gasket. Am I missing anything else? I'm sure I am!!! I would appreciate any recommendations and/or advice prior to installing the new intake.

Ok, so I call Ford because I heard about for class action lawsuit or recall on these junky intakes. He looked up for any recalls on my VIN and did find this recall. So I got pretty excited and then he said BUT it was only good for 7 years from the date the vehicle was manufactured and said mine expired in 2006! WTF???? Why would it matter whether it was 7 years or 20??? You guys made a ****** ass part, that you no longer produce because they are defective, and I am stuck with a recalled part on my car because I missed the cut-off date! I would be happy if Ford just exchanged my defective intake for the new, updated one, even swap. I'll deal with the labor. But of course not! Thanks guys!!!!
Sorry, but I just had to get that off my chest! Lol. :gringreen -C

 

[RandyStinchcomb]

get new gaskets from a Ford/linc-Merc dealer, part # YL3Z-9439-BA and @$12.00 each...also the intake you bought on e-bay, was it an oem Ford part or aftermarket? depending on which one, you may also need a different alt brkt...for a thermostat, get a 180* from your local dealer, part # XL3Z-8575-AA and if you have any trouble getting the oem Ford parts, lmk as we have plenty...........

 

[DEEZNUTZ247]

THANKS!!! Ya, the intake's stock and off of a 2004 Mustang GT. Isn't there a gasket that I should get where the throttle body sets on the intake? I didn't really notice a gasket there when I took the throttle body off.

 

[RandyStinchcomb]

there is a reusable o-ring on the plenum and upper intake

 

[A-TrainsGt]

Like Randy said there is just an o'ring that sits in a groove, mine was blue.

 

[Burntrose2]

may want to make sure the outlet tube that runs under the intake from the back of the water pump is in good condition...i've seen those leak before. they're fairly cheap at ford. intake was more like 260 and the labor was more like 4 hours. but if properly equiped you could do it in less than 3 if you know what you're doing.