Three problems related to steering have been reported for the 1998 Mercury Grand Marquis. The most recently reported issues are listed below.
When driving at highway speeds car feels like it is swaying back and forth.
Autozone- valucraft brand- ball joints part number vfa2101 I recently had my ball joints replaced and I had a premature failure of the ball joint fastening hardware while driving down the city road in a straight line at 45 mph. It caused thousands of dollars of damage and it also almost cause me great injury. I suspect autozone is using low grade nuts cause the nut that was on the ball joint sheared off causing me to bend a control arm, crack my frame, blow a tire, all while barely missing a telephone pole. Had I been going down the highway at the posted speed limit I could have flipped my car, got pulled under a semi, cross the median into oncoming traffic and so on. I would like for an investigation to be started on their poor engineering choices and a recall to be started. Its just not for the safety of me but for the safety of other people. I do have all damage pictures and pictures of the failure point. I have pictures of the nut in question compared to another competitors brand and there is a noticeable size difference and hardness difference. The ball joints were replaced 9/26/2015 and failed on 4/25/2016. Autozone part number vfa2101. My belief is the nut is a lower grade when it should be a grade 8 nut. I say thousands of dollars because the auto body shops around me said they will not repair the frame because its a liability and would recommend a new frame to be put under the vehicle essentially totaling my car out causing me to have to spend thousands to replace my vehicle.
During normal driving noticed a squeaking and groaning noise coming from front end of car. Steering has become loose and was told by a mechanic that the ball joints,shocks,bushings are dry and that the vehicle cannot be lubricated because it is sealed. Seen other complaints on website regarding these same issues. I have been warned that the tires could fall off at high speeds causing serious injury or death.