Two problems related to front suspension control arm have been reported for the 1997 Mercury Grand Marquis. The most recently reported issues are listed below.
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. I see more fords with steering issues than any other vehicle that I service. The vehicles also seem to have issues with anyone sitting in the back that the body will scrape the tires and there are multiple electrical issues. I have had to rig my vent door actuator and I have had to install a shut off switch due to a parasitic draw that I can not locate even with a volt meter. After researching on forums and watching countless youtube videos of owners stating these known issues I believe that it is beyond maintenance standards for these parts all to be faulty from this car manufacturer.
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.