1997 Mercury Grand Marquis Suspension Problems

“I am an automotive technician and I service many vehicles daily. I currently own a 97 Mercury Grand Marquis ls and have noticed that practically most steering components on my vehicle are in need of replacing. Specifically the tie rod ends, control arms, ball joins all have blown bushings and a pitman arm.... The steering sways so hard on this vehicle. I have noticed that customer's vehicles that I have worked on that are similar to the crown vic, and the marquis are showing signs of steering component concern as well. …”

“This happened while driving my 1997 Mercury Grand Marquis. The lower control arm ball joint broke while driving, resulting in suspension collapse. This breakage resulted in a irrefutable total loss of vehicle control. There was not a crash because luckily I was driving at very low speed in a street while there were not other vehicles around. If this had happened a few minutes before when I was in the expressway I am totally sure it had resulted in a catastrophic multi car accident. Car is in a repair shop.”

“Air suspension system failed while driving at 40/50 MPH due to a crack in the bag, per dealership. When this occurred the compressor malfunctioned, and vehicle was uncontrollable, because it swerved from left to right.”

“1997 Mercury Grand Marquis. Mileage 86,000. Refer to ido investigation #rq 03-002 and recall #98v-322. On 12/27/08, the front passenger-side ball joint suddenly separated while being driven, dropping entire right front end of vehicle to the ground and the body of the vehicle onto front tire. Vehicle came to an immediate stop. Thankfully, failure occurred at a low speed, in no traffic - at high speed or in traffic this could have been extremely dangerous, if not fatal. I have learned this is not an isolated incident - your office investigated this exact problem in the past as cited above. …”

“Dt: the consumer owns a 1997 Mercury Grand Marquis. While driving and using the steering wheel there was a squeaking noise. The consumer had taken the vehicle to the mechanic who suggested that there was no lubrication on the ball joints nor was there any way to lubricated them due to the design. The mechanic said that the ball joints should be alright for a while. No repairs or corrections were made at that time. On another occasion while driving 29 MPH uphill, the left front ball joint cracked and dropped to the ground damaging the tie rod and ball joint assembly and the left front tire. …”