INTAKE MANIFOLD GASKET FAILURE 2008 Ford F150 Crew cab 4X4 4.6 litre
09-12-2015, 04:00 PM
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INTAKE MANIFOLD GASKET FAILURE 2008 Ford F150 Crew cab 4X4 4.6 litre
Hi fellow Ford Owners I Live in the Windsor,Ontario area. I own a 2008 Ford F150 XLT Super crew 4X4 Pick up Truck with a 4.6 liter engine. It has 153000 kilometers. I bought this Pick up from a used auto dealer with it previously only having one owner from a 2 year Lease with 79000 k.
I have owned Ford products in the past and continue you buy Fords to this very day, as I have been very pleased with the products up "until now". I had an engine warning light appear during normal driving conditions and brought it in to a licensed mechanic that I have dealt with for many years for an assessment.
His findings were that the intake manifold gasket had failed resulting in engine coolant bypassing its normal pathway and now leaking into the engine cylinders. The coarse of action to repair this failure was to remove the intake manifold and replace the gaskets as well as 8 new spark plugs and wire assembly.
As you can imagine i was upset that this kind of failure would occur and in my opinion is rare for a 7 year old Ford product. I authorized the repairs and left the shop. I was relieved that it was a Ford product though, and confident there was a recall or a design change made because of the nature of this failure.
Later that afternoon, I received a call from my mechanic asking me to return his shop because he had more bad news. When I arrived at the service garage, I was escorted to the bay that my vehicle was in. The mechanic explained to me that in order to remove the intake manifold, the steel factory bolts that fasten it down to the aluminum engine block had to be removed. As a result of attempting to remove these bolts after letting them sit with penetrating oil for some time, the very first one broke as he put tension on it to turn it out of the hole.
So not only has the gasket failed, but now the steel bolts are also failing seriously complicating the removal of the intake manifold.The mechanic knows at this point that this bolt could have broken off inside the block and might have to tap it out, but wont know for sure until he can get the manifold off. On further inspection of this broken bolt, you can see from the enclosed pictures where the bolt broke due to heavy corrosion and oxidization.
Why are these bolts rusted in there in the first place? ( I realized why later) The mechanic suggested letting the bolts sit over night with more penetrating oil and they would try to remove them in the morning. Unfortunately, the penetrating oil was not an effective treatment. After overnight application, and as a result more bolts broke attempting to turn them out of their locked in position.
Not being able to tell if the breaks were above or below the aluminum block head now created a whole other problem. The mechanic had to come up with another game plan at this point. In an effort not to break any more bolts off inside the block, he was left with only 1 other option, and that was to put heat to the bolts to try to get them to turn out. Of course the mechanic was well aware that this may damage the manifold because it is constructed of plastic, but had no other choice.
The idea for this course of action was to get the intake manifold off, and hope that the bolts that had already broken off inside the aluminum block head were sticking out enough so they could be gripped and turned out without having to tap them out risking damaging the block.
Luckily after a lengthy process the manifold was removed (but now damaged) and the broken bolts that were still in the aluminum block had enough material sticking out but still had to be heated and ever so carefully turned out with vice grips which took many hours.
After removal, on inspection of the intake manifold gaskets, and the manifold and the bolts , it is clear that this failure is obviously due to corrosion. If you look at the manifold you can see where the bolts pass through the manifold , there is a steel cylinder built in the manifold to add strength and guide the bolts to their position into the block. I believe and im sure the ford engineers will agree too that these steel bolt guides that are built into the intake head ,is were the chain of events originated and lead to this catastrophic failure.
I'm sure unforeseen at the time, this design was doomed from the beginning. Steel intake collars embedded in plastic that over time corrode, reducing the integrity of the steel bolt. In addition to this, the leeching rust traveled from the bolt and collar into the gasket causing it to breakdown leading to failure. As you can see in the attached pictures overtime the corrosion from the steel bolt guides have migrated to the gasket obviously causing the intake gasket to fail.
Interestingly enough, this corrosion is in the exact same area of every intake bolt resulting in the deterioration and failure of every single bolt as you can see in the attached photos. These bolts were never coming out of their tightened position without breaking off, it makes perfect sense.Steel bolt in aluminum hole = oxidization.
I feel this would have never happened if it wasn't for the way these parts and it components were designed. Interestingly enough, the new replacement intake doesn't even have a gasket for each side as the original one did, but in fact has been redesigned to have a built in gasket for each of the 8 cylinder intake ports.
Facing a rather expensive repair bill I talked about this to other friends of mine whom are also Ford owners to get their opinion. I showed them pictures of this catastrophic failure, and they were 100 % in agreement with me that there should be a recall, or some kind of good faith assistance from Ford to help with this repair regardless of the warranty rules.
I take pride and very good care of my truck and strictly service it on a regular basis. I understand that normal wear and tear of vehicle parts require repair and maintenance from time to time. I have had some issues with this truck in the past but realize no part will last forever, and have paid for the repairs even if they were not covered under the warranty. I am well aware of what the Ford warranty will an will not cover after so may years of use and kilometers (As explained to me again by Ford customer service rep).
Polling the opinions of other Ford truck owners and friends ,they are also in agreement with me and feel I would not be wrong in asking Ford to compensate me for my losses on this failure.
Has anyone heard of this type of failure on a 7 year old truck or has had this same problem? This is not normal wear and tear is it?
I have owned Ford products in the past and continue you buy Fords to this very day, as I have been very pleased with the products up "until now". I had an engine warning light appear during normal driving conditions and brought it in to a licensed mechanic that I have dealt with for many years for an assessment.
His findings were that the intake manifold gasket had failed resulting in engine coolant bypassing its normal pathway and now leaking into the engine cylinders. The coarse of action to repair this failure was to remove the intake manifold and replace the gaskets as well as 8 new spark plugs and wire assembly.
As you can imagine i was upset that this kind of failure would occur and in my opinion is rare for a 7 year old Ford product. I authorized the repairs and left the shop. I was relieved that it was a Ford product though, and confident there was a recall or a design change made because of the nature of this failure.
Later that afternoon, I received a call from my mechanic asking me to return his shop because he had more bad news. When I arrived at the service garage, I was escorted to the bay that my vehicle was in. The mechanic explained to me that in order to remove the intake manifold, the steel factory bolts that fasten it down to the aluminum engine block had to be removed. As a result of attempting to remove these bolts after letting them sit with penetrating oil for some time, the very first one broke as he put tension on it to turn it out of the hole.
So not only has the gasket failed, but now the steel bolts are also failing seriously complicating the removal of the intake manifold.The mechanic knows at this point that this bolt could have broken off inside the block and might have to tap it out, but wont know for sure until he can get the manifold off. On further inspection of this broken bolt, you can see from the enclosed pictures where the bolt broke due to heavy corrosion and oxidization.
Why are these bolts rusted in there in the first place? ( I realized why later) The mechanic suggested letting the bolts sit over night with more penetrating oil and they would try to remove them in the morning. Unfortunately, the penetrating oil was not an effective treatment. After overnight application, and as a result more bolts broke attempting to turn them out of their locked in position.
Not being able to tell if the breaks were above or below the aluminum block head now created a whole other problem. The mechanic had to come up with another game plan at this point. In an effort not to break any more bolts off inside the block, he was left with only 1 other option, and that was to put heat to the bolts to try to get them to turn out. Of course the mechanic was well aware that this may damage the manifold because it is constructed of plastic, but had no other choice.
The idea for this course of action was to get the intake manifold off, and hope that the bolts that had already broken off inside the aluminum block head were sticking out enough so they could be gripped and turned out without having to tap them out risking damaging the block.
Luckily after a lengthy process the manifold was removed (but now damaged) and the broken bolts that were still in the aluminum block had enough material sticking out but still had to be heated and ever so carefully turned out with vice grips which took many hours.
After removal, on inspection of the intake manifold gaskets, and the manifold and the bolts , it is clear that this failure is obviously due to corrosion. If you look at the manifold you can see where the bolts pass through the manifold , there is a steel cylinder built in the manifold to add strength and guide the bolts to their position into the block. I believe and im sure the ford engineers will agree too that these steel bolt guides that are built into the intake head ,is were the chain of events originated and lead to this catastrophic failure.
I'm sure unforeseen at the time, this design was doomed from the beginning. Steel intake collars embedded in plastic that over time corrode, reducing the integrity of the steel bolt. In addition to this, the leeching rust traveled from the bolt and collar into the gasket causing it to breakdown leading to failure. As you can see in the attached pictures overtime the corrosion from the steel bolt guides have migrated to the gasket obviously causing the intake gasket to fail.
Interestingly enough, this corrosion is in the exact same area of every intake bolt resulting in the deterioration and failure of every single bolt as you can see in the attached photos. These bolts were never coming out of their tightened position without breaking off, it makes perfect sense.Steel bolt in aluminum hole = oxidization.
I feel this would have never happened if it wasn't for the way these parts and it components were designed. Interestingly enough, the new replacement intake doesn't even have a gasket for each side as the original one did, but in fact has been redesigned to have a built in gasket for each of the 8 cylinder intake ports.
Facing a rather expensive repair bill I talked about this to other friends of mine whom are also Ford owners to get their opinion. I showed them pictures of this catastrophic failure, and they were 100 % in agreement with me that there should be a recall, or some kind of good faith assistance from Ford to help with this repair regardless of the warranty rules.
I take pride and very good care of my truck and strictly service it on a regular basis. I understand that normal wear and tear of vehicle parts require repair and maintenance from time to time. I have had some issues with this truck in the past but realize no part will last forever, and have paid for the repairs even if they were not covered under the warranty. I am well aware of what the Ford warranty will an will not cover after so may years of use and kilometers (As explained to me again by Ford customer service rep).
Polling the opinions of other Ford truck owners and friends ,they are also in agreement with me and feel I would not be wrong in asking Ford to compensate me for my losses on this failure.
Has anyone heard of this type of failure on a 7 year old truck or has had this same problem? This is not normal wear and tear is it?
Last edited by ymeski56; 09-12-2015 at 06:29 PM. Reason: Edited for readability
