00 Windstar Intake Manifold gaskets and insulators replaced @ 50K miles?

So........ Here is my wonderful piece of crap 2000 Windstar in the shop again for ANOTHER vaccuum leak problem! First complaint was at 18,500 miles. At slow speeds when turning van surged forward. Dealership looked at it and said nothing was wrong. It kept getting worse so I took it to a trusted mechanics shop and here was the result.... at 33,822 leak at fuel pressure regulator caused hose to swell, and new vacuum line was installed. Now, at 51,380 check engine light came on. I told my wife to drive it to the Ford dealer closest to her work. I called the service department and pretty much said, I bet it is a vacuum leak of some sort. Guess what.... Intake manifold gaskets, seals, and insulators need to be replaced! $700.00 is the quote! This vehicle has only 51,500 miles on it! This is unheard of! The dealership says "regular wear and tear" I say B.S.!!!!!!! Anyone care to chime in on this - I would love some input/Advice. My gut says dump this piece of crap ASAP! Thanks!!!!!!

So........ Here is my wonderful piece of crap 2000 Windstar in the shop again for ANOTHER vaccuum leak problem! First complaint was at 18,500 miles. At slow speeds when turning van surged forward. Dealership looked at it and said nothing was wrong. It kept getting worse so I took it to a trusted mechanics shop and here was the result.... at 33,822 leak at fuel pressure regulator caused hose to swell, and new vacuum line was installed. Now, at 51,380 check engine light came on. I told my wife to drive it to the Ford dealer closest to her work. I called the service department and pretty much said, I bet it is a vacuum leak of some sort. Guess what.... Intake manifold gaskets, seals, and insulators need to be replaced! $700.00 is the quote! This vehicle has only 51,500 miles on it! This is unheard of! The dealership says "regular wear and tear" I say B.S.!!!!!!! Anyone care to chime in on this - I would love some input/Advice. My gut says dump this piece of crap ASAP! Thanks!!!!!!
here s what you can do(if you're a hands on kind of guy) take the van back take it to autozone have the codes pulled, if indeed its a lean code(s) p0171 p0174, buy a can of brake cleaner or starting fluid and start spraying vaccum lines and where the intake seals are at its a two piece intake so be sure to spray around both gasket areas, if the idle changes at a specific place you spray then you've found your leak. it might not be the intake gaskets, although common its not always the case, and a lot of techs like to replace them because its a few VERY easy hours, a line on the other hand pays 1/2 hour to nothing and is a five minute fix, happy hunting

Go to this site that a poster here put together, it will show the repair in detail and has links to the TSB. This is not a wear and tear fix, this is a design defect and some have been successful getting Ford to cover some or all of the repairs. I would think they would cover most of yours as well considering you only have around 50k miles. Plop the TSB down in front of them and their story might change a little.

http://leckemby.net/windstar/windstar01.html