Ok, I'm gonna admit right off the bat that I might be in over my head here... pls have patience with me.
Just bought a 98 Mustang GT w/ saleen package. I went a whole 10 miles from dealer and got the coolant light. Stopped and added coolant, went a couple miles, heard a loud crack/pop!, light came on again, stopped again and now car was smoking a little bit. Coolant was dripping on the ground and it looked like it was coming from a hose. I drove back to the dealer and after checking it out doing a pressure test, they said it was a cracked manifold. They said they'd fix it and that is where it is now. After much web searching, I see the plastic manifold is a known Ford defect, but questionable whether 98 stang is covered.
My worries are whether engine damage has resulted from this and if I should try to get away from this purchase. (Don't even know if that can be done...?) Obviously I don't want them to replace the manifold with another crappy plastic job...
I'm getting conflicting info on the homefront about all of this.
"Friend A" says I need to have the heads and cylinder walls checked to be sure they're not pitted, because that might be a result of this manifold business. Further, he says I need to have an oil sample taken because that will tell me practically everything I want to know about this car.
"Friend B" says the oil sample won't tell me diddly because they've surely changed the oil. He says there's really no way to know about the engine's condition unless they look on the head side, rather than the manifold side, for pitting.
Oh yeah, "Friend C" says GET RID OF IT.
Is either one right, wrong or somewhere in between?
Any and all info/suggestions/ideas, etc are welcome and appreciated. Thank you in advance for not giving me grief for not being a mechanic. Talk to me like I am a kindergarder, won't hurt my feelings... Might have just made a very high dollar mistake here and am sweating bullets.
Rachelle
Just bought a 98 Mustang GT w/ saleen package. I went a whole 10 miles from dealer and got the coolant light. Stopped and added coolant, went a couple miles, heard a loud crack/pop!, light came on again, stopped again and now car was smoking a little bit. Coolant was dripping on the ground and it looked like it was coming from a hose. I drove back to the dealer and after checking it out doing a pressure test, they said it was a cracked manifold. They said they'd fix it and that is where it is now. After much web searching, I see the plastic manifold is a known Ford defect, but questionable whether 98 stang is covered.
My worries are whether engine damage has resulted from this and if I should try to get away from this purchase. (Don't even know if that can be done...?) Obviously I don't want them to replace the manifold with another crappy plastic job...
I'm getting conflicting info on the homefront about all of this.
"Friend A" says I need to have the heads and cylinder walls checked to be sure they're not pitted, because that might be a result of this manifold business. Further, he says I need to have an oil sample taken because that will tell me practically everything I want to know about this car.
"Friend B" says the oil sample won't tell me diddly because they've surely changed the oil. He says there's really no way to know about the engine's condition unless they look on the head side, rather than the manifold side, for pitting.
Oh yeah, "Friend C" says GET RID OF IT.
Is either one right, wrong or somewhere in between?
Any and all info/suggestions/ideas, etc are welcome and appreciated. Thank you in advance for not giving me grief for not being a mechanic. Talk to me like I am a kindergarder, won't hurt my feelings... Might have just made a very high dollar mistake here and am sweating bullets.
Rachelle