Here's one for the Books! This past Monday night, I went to start my XF, and heard a very loud backfire, then it tried to stay running and quit. It's been at my local Chrysler dealer ever since. Today, (Friday) they call me and say "What did you do to this car?, The intake manifold is in two pieces!" They thought it was a M.A.S sensor on Wednesday, but that didn't work... Now we know why. The thinking right now is...The M.A.S. sensor went bad, caused the backfire and the explosion was enough to split the intake in two... I'm soooo bummed. I'll let you all know what happens next.

PS. I read in some thread somewhere, about a an intermittent engine miss on manual trans XF's This had happened before this obvious problem...maybe a M.A.S. sensor on the way out.

M.A.S. Sensor= Mass Airflow Sensor- just in case someone doesn't know the term.

9/21/05 update- While the mechanic was working on the car,,, he put my XF up on a lift and scratched the hood