diff --git a/doc/example/animation.md b/doc/example/animation.md
index f26065d2..cbd15118 100644
--- a/doc/example/animation.md
+++ b/doc/example/animation.md
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ contains
         case (-5)
             print *, "ERROR: Failed to generate animation frames."
         case (-6)
-            print *, "✗ Pipe write failed - enhanced recovery attempted (Issue #186: exponential backoff exhausted)"
+            print *, " Pipe write failed - enhanced recovery attempted (Issue #186: exponential backoff exhausted)"
         case (-7)
             print *, "ERROR: Generated video failed validation. Check ffmpeg version."
         case default
diff --git a/doc/example/basic_plots.md b/doc/example/basic_plots.md
index a0984cff..18672d35 100644
--- a/doc/example/basic_plots.md
+++ b/doc/example/basic_plots.md
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ contains
 
         print *, "=== Basic Plots ==="
 
-        ! Generate simple sine data - show 2 complete periods (0 to 4π)
+        ! Generate simple sine data - show 2 complete periods (0 to 4pi)
         x = [(real(i-1, wp) * 4.0_wp * 3.141592653589793_wp / 49.0_wp, i=1, 50)]
         y = sin(x)
 
diff --git a/doc/example/smart_show_demo.md b/doc/example/smart_show_demo.md
index 5ec1e45a..f4417097 100644
--- a/doc/example/smart_show_demo.md
+++ b/doc/example/smart_show_demo.md
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ program smart_show_demo
     call title('Smart Show Demo - Damped Oscillation')
     call xlabel('Time')
     call ylabel('Amplitude')
-    call plot(x, y, label='exp(-t)*cos(2πt)', linestyle='b-o')
+    call plot(x, y, label='exp(-t)*cos(2t)', linestyle='b-o')
     call legend()
 
     ! Display using intelligent show()
@@ -75,9 +75,9 @@ end program smart_show_demo
    - SSH session detection
 
 2. **Select backend**:
-   - GUI available → PNG viewer
-   - Terminal only → ASCII output
-   - File output → User specified
+   - GUI available  PNG viewer
+   - Terminal only  ASCII output
+   - File output  User specified
 
 3. **Fallback chain**:
    - Try PNG viewer
@@ -109,5 +109,5 @@ Smart Plot Display
          |           *
     -1.0 |            **
          +---------------
-         0              2π
+         0              2
 ```
diff --git a/scripts/clean_example_docs_utf8.sh b/scripts/clean_example_docs_utf8.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..d7621481
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/clean_example_docs_utf8.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,75 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+# Clean all non-ASCII characters from example documentation files
+# This ensures FORD can parse them correctly in all CI environments
+
+set -e
+
+SCRIPT_DIR="$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")" && pwd)"
+PROJECT_ROOT="$(cd "$SCRIPT_DIR/.." && pwd)"
+EXAMPLE_DIR="$PROJECT_ROOT/doc/example"
+
+echo "=== Cleaning UTF-8 non-ASCII characters from example documentation ==="
+echo "Project root: $PROJECT_ROOT"
+echo "Example directory: $EXAMPLE_DIR"
+echo ""
+
+if [[ ! -d "$EXAMPLE_DIR" ]]; then
+    echo "ERROR: Example directory not found: $EXAMPLE_DIR"
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+# Function to clean a single file
+clean_file() {
+    local file="$1"
+    local basename=$(basename "$file")
+    
+    echo "Processing: $basename"
+    
+    # Check current encoding
+    local encoding=$(file -bi "$file" | cut -d'=' -f2)
+    echo "  Current encoding: $encoding"
+    
+    # Create backup
+    cp "$file" "${file}.backup"
+    
+    # Use tr to remove all non-ASCII characters (safer than sed with complex UTF-8)
+    # Keep only printable ASCII characters: tab(9), newline(10), carriage return(13), space(32) through tilde(126)
+    tr -cd '\11\12\15\40-\176' < "$file" > "${file}.temp"
+    mv "${file}.temp" "$file"
+    
+    # Check final encoding
+    local new_encoding=$(file -bi "$file" | cut -d'=' -f2)
+    echo "  New encoding: $new_encoding"
+    
+    # Show what changed
+    if ! cmp -s "$file" "${file}.backup"; then
+        echo "  Changes made to file"
+        # Show diff but limit output
+        diff -u "${file}.backup" "$file" | head -20 || true
+        echo "  ..."
+    else
+        echo "  No changes needed"
+    fi
+    
+    echo ""
+}
+
+# Find and process all markdown files
+echo "Finding markdown files in $EXAMPLE_DIR..."
+find "$EXAMPLE_DIR" -name "*.md" -type f | while read -r file; do
+    clean_file "$file"
+done
+
+echo "=== Summary ==="
+echo "Processed files:"
+find "$EXAMPLE_DIR" -name "*.md" -type f | while read -r file; do
+    basename=$(basename "$file")
+    encoding=$(file -bi "$file" | cut -d'=' -f2)
+    echo "  $basename: $encoding"
+done
+
+echo ""
+echo "Backup files created with .backup extension"
+echo "To remove backups: find $EXAMPLE_DIR -name '*.backup' -delete"
+echo ""
+echo "=== Cleaning completed ==="
\ No newline at end of file