Consumer Complaint Detail

FORD / THUNDERBIRD / 1997

Recalls
0 Injured
Investigations
0 Death
Complaints
No Fire
Components - Details
NHTSA Complaint Number: 002047757 Incident Date: Oct, 24 2002
Consumer's City: RANCHO SANTA MARGARITA Consumer's State: CA
Vehicle Transmission Type: AUTO Manufacturers Name: Ford Motor Company
Model Name: THUNDERBIRD Model Year: 1997
Vehicle Involved in a Crash: No Component's Description: Engine and engine cooling
Vehicle Involved in a Fire: No Persons Injured: 0
Vehicle's VIN#: 1FALP62WXVH Date added to File: May, 23 2021
Date Complaint Received: Nov, 26 2005 Complaint Type: IVOQ
Incident Reported To Police: No Purchase Date: Oct, 14 2002
Was Original Owner: No Anti-lock Brakes: Yes
Number of Cylinders: 8 Date of Manufacturer: -
Was Vehicle Towed: - Description of the Complaints: i purchased this 1997 ford thunderbird lx sport as a used vehicle in oct. 2002. i noticed that during the first few weeks of owning this vehicle it would intermittently leak a substantial amount of coolant onto my driveway but i could never see where it was coming from. sometimes it would go for days without leaking and then one day there would be over a quart of coolant on the driveway. i brought the car into a shop that put the car on a lift to look for the leak but they could not find one. i continued to drive the car and add coolant every time the "low coolant" light appeared on the dash panel. in may 2005 i was on the 91 freeway and suddenly without warning the "low coolant" light came on and the temp came up quickly so i tried to change lanes to the right to exit the freeway and the back of the car broke loose and i almost turned sideways. i found out later that the rear tires and wheel wells were soaked in coolant. this was the first time that i found out that my intermittent leak that no one could find was my intake manifold at the base of the thermostat housing. i went to rancho santa margarita ford and asked about recalls and they told me that the recall for the intake manifold had expired a couple of months ago and that there was nothing that they could do. i called ford motor co. customer relations and was told the same thing. the car now sits parked unrepaired. i cannot afford to pay almost two thousand dollars to correct fords engineering blunder. *jb