4.6L Intake Manifolds - replacement

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


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"George Adams" > wrote in
message ...
>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
http://www.p71interceptor.com/recall...2/tsb0222.html .

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
http://www.dormanproducts.com/images...0alu%20Top.jpg
or http://tinyurl.com/yprzxk . The Dorman prroduct page is
http://tinyurl.com/2l62bh .

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
https://www.dormanproducts.com/catal...nal.pdf#Page=9
the Motormite manifold is the Dorman manifold.

Ed




..

C. E. White wrote:
>
> "George Adams" > wrote in message
> ...
>> 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
> http://www.p71interceptor.com/recall...2/tsb0222.html .
>
> 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
> http://www.dormanproducts.com/images...0alu%20Top.jpg
> or http://tinyurl.com/yprzxk . The Dorman prroduct page is
> http://tinyurl.com/2l62bh .
>
> 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
> https://www.dormanproducts.com/catal...nal.pdf#Page=9
> the Motormite manifold is the Dorman manifold.
>
> Ed
>
>
>
>
> .
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.

"C. E. White" > wrote in message
news:47b04c8c$1@kcnews01...
>
> "George Adams" > wrote in message
> ...
>>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.
>
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!

On Feb 11, 5:36 pm, "ah" > wrote:

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.

> > "George Adams" > wrote in message
> >> I am considering a pre-emptive intake manifold replacement on my
> >> wife's 1997 G.M. *54,000 miles, looks and runs like new.

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 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?

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.

> Hmm, I didn't fare so well with my 1996 Thunderbird and its 4.6.

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