That fuel smell again

I had a chance to see my sister-in-law's new 2001 Mercury Sable this past weekend. It was parked in the driveway next to my Trib and I went out to take a look at it after I had greeted her for 15 - 20 minutes in the house. I walked between the two vehicles - her passenger side, my driver side - and smelled that dreaded smell again, gas. I really didn't think it was my Trib because it had been sitting for hours so I smelled along her windshield and hood on the passenger side and sure enough, a very strong odor of gas. <br>The sable has the same engine as the Trib so I don't think the fuel odor is a Trib problem but an engine design problem.

The Ford TSB, I believe mentions the Ford Taurus and Mercury Sable with the 3.0 V6 are included in the TSB.<br><br>David

It would appear that the TSB affects all Ford, Mazda, etc. products which have the 3.0L Duratec V6 with the plastic intake manifold.<br><br>AFAIK, this TSB does not apply to aluminum intake manifold equipped 3.0L Duratec engines.<br><br>Therefore, it would appear that the plastic intake manifold was improperly engineered/installed and is the design flaw.