Hello all. While searching for information on replacing control arm bushings for my '94 Marquis GS, I stumbled upon this forum. God I'm glad it's here and looks like it has quite a bit of good information within it.
The car was given to me and my wife last Christmas. The reason for this was I only had an Astro cargo van at the time and couldn't safely get her and our child (16 months right now) to the hospital and appointments (more on the van later, it has a BIG stereo system in it). So my mom got my stepdad a new vehicle and she give me the Grand Marquis. Not a bad deal if I do say so.
Now the problem with the GM are, from what I gather, normal for Ford and Mercury. The odometer and tripometer has quit working at 142K miles. The front needed upper and lower ball joints, bushings, shocks. Basically a whole rebuild. The engine runs great and everything else seems to work... so far.
Going home from my mom's house one night the passenger side front gave out. Control arm was sitting on the ground. Everything looked like it was gone. We took the car to Tire Kingdom. They had it fixed (shyea right) in 2 days. A little over 2 grand spent on the car. Well guess what? They were supposed to rebuild the WHOLE front end but did not. They only rebuilt the passenger side. A month after I started hearing squeaking and grinding from the driver side front. Took it back to Tire Kingdom with the receipt. They looked at the car, told me shocks and control arm bushings were needed. They also said this was not covered under the warranty since they didn't work on the side of the car. Hmmm, sounded shady to me being they were supposed to do the whole thing. Needless to say, they didn't get to work on the car again. I've figured I can do it myself, do it right, and save some money. SO that is my plans as of now.
Anyways, Glad I found this site. Hope to be of use when I can be.
Now for mor eon the Astro. It's a daily driven audio competition van. The wall of 4 15'" subs take of most of the van from the B pillars back. My wife had to sit on the floor between the seats while my son was in a car seat in the passenger seat. This was not a good thing to do, plus it's illegal. I was going to remove all the stereo equipment and put in a bench seat to make it safer, but, my wife said she'd kill me if I did since I've put so much money in the system. She wants me to build it up bigger than it is now.
Any questions, fire away. If pics are needed, just ask. I think my camera works.
The car was given to me and my wife last Christmas. The reason for this was I only had an Astro cargo van at the time and couldn't safely get her and our child (16 months right now) to the hospital and appointments (more on the van later, it has a BIG stereo system in it). So my mom got my stepdad a new vehicle and she give me the Grand Marquis. Not a bad deal if I do say so.
Now the problem with the GM are, from what I gather, normal for Ford and Mercury. The odometer and tripometer has quit working at 142K miles. The front needed upper and lower ball joints, bushings, shocks. Basically a whole rebuild. The engine runs great and everything else seems to work... so far.
Going home from my mom's house one night the passenger side front gave out. Control arm was sitting on the ground. Everything looked like it was gone. We took the car to Tire Kingdom. They had it fixed (shyea right) in 2 days. A little over 2 grand spent on the car. Well guess what? They were supposed to rebuild the WHOLE front end but did not. They only rebuilt the passenger side. A month after I started hearing squeaking and grinding from the driver side front. Took it back to Tire Kingdom with the receipt. They looked at the car, told me shocks and control arm bushings were needed. They also said this was not covered under the warranty since they didn't work on the side of the car. Hmmm, sounded shady to me being they were supposed to do the whole thing. Needless to say, they didn't get to work on the car again. I've figured I can do it myself, do it right, and save some money. SO that is my plans as of now.
Anyways, Glad I found this site. Hope to be of use when I can be.
Now for mor eon the Astro. It's a daily driven audio competition van. The wall of 4 15'" subs take of most of the van from the B pillars back. My wife had to sit on the floor between the seats while my son was in a car seat in the passenger seat. This was not a good thing to do, plus it's illegal. I was going to remove all the stereo equipment and put in a bench seat to make it safer, but, my wife said she'd kill me if I did since I've put so much money in the system. She wants me to build it up bigger than it is now.
Any questions, fire away. If pics are needed, just ask. I think my camera works.
Took me long enough to find these dorks, too ... I'd owned my first Panther-chassis vehicle about 9 years at the time (late 2006), and every single thing I tried to do was a stinking nightmare.
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