2003 Mercury Marauder Suspension Problems

“Since buying the car in 2004 with 10k miles on it, I've put 120k on it. It's eaten thru 5 sets of tires. I've had them aligned every time I changed tires.. Had two axle rod's break. Radio failed. Ac will constantly turn on randomly.”

“My 2003 Mercury Marauder suffered premature wear on the inner edges of the front wheels. It was found to be within specification for the camber alignment while this wear is indicative of a camber issue. I replaced the front tires and had an alignment. 12,000 miles later the new set of tires is exhibiting excessive wear on the front inner edges. Doing further research, I have found this is a problem caused by the loose tolerance of Mercury's alignment specification. Many other Marauder owners are experiencing the exact same problem. …”

“Both rear axles and bearings were damaged and had to be replaced. Ford has issued a bulletin on this: article no. 03-5-5 axle-rearaxle shaft and/or axle bearing premature wear-vehicles produced before 1/1/2003. My '03 Mercury Marauder was built in aug. '02. Both axles, bearings and seals had to be replaced at the cost of $647.55.”

“Dt: the contact states there is a NHTSA recall campaign 04v328000 concerning the wheel bearings and axle shaft. This vehicle has the same problems as indicated in the recall, but it is not included in the recall because it was manufactured under a different name. The contact stated the parts were identical in both vehicles. Updated 01/25/06.”

“Paint flaking and the buffing marks appear on hood and fenders the hoods shakes side to side and the trim is coming apart around the side windows the frontend makes noies at slow speeds like somthing is not put togeather or they forgot to tighen the nuts”