Three problems related to front suspension hub have been reported for the 2002 Mercury Mountaineer. The most recently reported issues are listed below. Please also check out the statistics and reliability analysis of the 2002 Mercury Mountaineer based on all problems reported for the 2002 Mountaineer.
2002 Mercury Mountaineer awd v8 - approximately January and may 2009 both rear hub bearings went bad at 87,000 and 90,000 miles , both sets of emergency brake shoes were disintegrated when taken off . Rear coil springs are broken . Front differential box has leaked for some time now . Rear end axle seal has been leaking for some time now . Going on 4th set of brakes on front . June 2010 at 109,000 miles transmission finally went out - after acting up from time of purchase at 37,000 miles - it would slip when put in drive at first morning startup and would jerk erratically at low speeds - we have never pulled anything with vehicle .
01/18/07 when truck shifts gears it vibrates. Solution: flush automatic transmission fluid. (also changed oil) helped for a few months but problem is back. ($198. 95) 5/29/07 air bag light stays on. Solution: replaced drivers side pretensioner. (also changed oil). $273. 19 6/26/07 heard very loud clunking noise. Solution: replaced front differential (internal damage to clutches), both rear axle seals (because of leakage) $1580. 23 11/07/07 truck makes loud noise from the rear and seems to jump while turning. Solution: front end alignment and replace seals in rear. $482. 97 still have the loud noise and jumping. 12/13/07 take truck to different place with same problem. Solution: replace left front hub bearing. $401. 73. 02/18/08 still have same problem with loud noise and jumping. Solution: left rear hub bearing, drums in rear, and now mechanic tells me I need clutch packs in rear to solve problem. Tells me I should take it back to the dealer. ??? $380. 00. Now I can add all of this up 198. 95+273. 19+1580. 23+482. 97+401. 73+380. 00=$3017. 07 to finally get my truck fixed---------priceless!!!!!!!!!.
Normal driving lead to parts failure. Fortunately no accident occurred, however my mechanic stated that the wheel bearing failure was that severe that had I been traveling on a highway, the result could have been catastrophic. 2002 Mercury Mountaineer (Ford explorer) with wheel bearing/hub failure on all 4 wheels at different mileage intervals. I researched this problem and found hundreds of owners with the same failures. Please research.