I own a 1996 Mercury Cougar XR-7. I currently have 44000 miles on the car, and all maintenance has been done by the book. The first problem I had with this car was at 35,000 miles my transmission went out with no warning. I had the transmission replaced to the tune of $2500.00.By the way I had the same problem with my 95 Thunderbird.
I spoke to Ford customer service and they told me tough luck, as warranty was for 3 years/36000 miles. I was under on the miles but over on the time.
The other day I was on my way to a very important business meeting for my company and steam started pouring out from under the hood.
Needless to say missed my meeting, had car towed to one of the few repair places I trust. Problem is a cracked intake manifold. It seems that from 1996 They used a plastic intake manifold, and they are prone to crack in the coolant crossover passage. After doing research I found that I was not the only one who has had this problem. Ford issued a recall for the police and fleet vehicles for this problem, but no recall for normal consumers.
I called Ford to see what if anything they would do, and they stated that they had a service campaign for this part that would cover the repair, but only up to 7 years from date of manufacture. So now I am out $1000.00 for this repair.By the way, dealer wanted $1600.00
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