Mercury Mariner

robind419

I bought a used 2008 Mercury Mariner last February with roughly 32,000 miles on it, a clean car fax and spotless inside & out. In August I had a cracked exhaust manifold fixed, now 3 months later there may be a problem with the Power Steering Rack that the Ford garage has "never seen before". I brought it in for a very loud clunk/bang noise made in the front end upon turning and shifting gears, you can also feel this bang in the steering wheel, shifter and floor. Also, when the car is in park, and off, you can feel something banging around when you move the wheel back and forth. I do not know why all of a sudden these things that "shouldn't be happening"(as the ford garage has said to me), I take very good care of my truck, I don't go off roading or abuse my vehicle, and I don't drive it accessivly (I've put around 10,000 miles in the 8 months I've owned it). I don't think I have unreasonable expectations on this used car. Another thing that bothered me, and I don't know what a dealerships responsiblilities are here, when I brought my truck in to have a tire looked at for possible repair (en lieu of replacement) I was told that it looked like that tire had been repaired before, and I would have to replace all of my tires by the end of this year. I was irritated that I purchased this vehicle with used (and repaired) tires, I thought that a dealership would ensure that a truck they were selling would have tires that would last beyond one year of the purchase date.

I live in MA and I'm not exactly sure how the lemon laws work for used vehicles, from what I've read some places require that the same issue be repaired (or attempted to be repaired) multiple times. With this vehicle, it appears to be one thing after another, for items that "shouldn't have happened". Someone suggested that I bring the truck in (once I get it back) to an outside garage and have them go through it, and check milege to see if the odometer was accurate. The car fax was clean, but I was told that is just what is reported and may not necessarily be accurate.

Any comments or suggestions would be greatly appreciated! I'm getting to be afraid to drive my truck, especially with my two small children in the car!

tico1447

My daughter's 2008 Mariner Premier has two problems that I am betting are interconnected. When you open the doors, the interior lights do not go one, none of them. I can manually turn on the roof light but the others do not come on. And when you start to drive. the doors do not lock automatically. Anybody have any idea what's up?

Thanks
Mr. Ed

robio5150

My mother-in-law has a 2010 Premium Edition. Just after 40k she started noticing the same exact steering issues you describe. The stealership also said they had never seen such a problem (BS) They told her (after 3 visits to get them to acknowledge there WAS a problem) that they needed to replace the WHOLE rack-and-pinion and the STEERING COLUMN! She battled with FORD customer care and they took care of some of the bill. NOW they told her she needs new tires because the wear indicators are even with the tread. Well I took a look at the tires (I have been a service advisor for several automotive repair shops) and the tire they where taking the reading from was the front tire that wore prematurely due to the STEERING ISSUE!!! In my opinion this vehicle is sub-par to have the Mercury badge so :lemon: BOO on FORD and BOO on this dealership! Buy a Jeep Grand Cherokee and be done with it!

allison4000

WARNING! THE STEERING IN MERCURY MARINERS IS NOT POWER STEERING, IT IS ELECTRIC POWER STEERING. NO FLUID REQUIRED. NOTICING A LOT OF MARINER'S ARE HAVING STEERING ISSUES, INCLUDING MY OWN VEHICLE. THEY WANT YOU TO REPLACE THE ENTIRE STEERING COLUMN! PLEASE CALL THE NHTSA TO FILE A FORMAL COMPLAINT SO WE CAN GET A RECALL ON THIS VEHICLE. THIS IS AN EXTREMELY EXPENSIVE FIX AND NOT COVERED IF YOU ARE AT ALL OUT OF "WARRANTY".

You may file your own complaint by calling the NHTSA Monday-Friday 8am to 8pm at (888) 327-4236

I have a formal complaint listed with them already. They only have a handful of the complaints because people are not aware they have to file a complaint with them in order for a recall to happen. THEY SAY TO KEEP THE RECEIPT IN CASE A RECALL HAPPENS, THEN YOU WILL BE REFUNDED.