The contact owns a 2006 Mercury Grand Marquis. The contact stated while driving 35 MPH, the vehicle was pulling to the left. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact stated after coming to a complete stop at a traffic light, he noticed that the steering shaft was fractured and detaching. The contact stated that he put the steering shaft back into place; however, the failure recurred while pulling to the front of his brother's residence. The contact stated that the power steering pulley and shaft were fractured, and the engine was overheating. The dealer was not notified of the failure. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure through an online chat. The failure mileage was unknown.
Mercury Grand Marquis overheating problems
81 of the 3,703 owner complaints about the Mercury Grand Marquis describe engine overheating, most of them for the 1997 model year.
- owner complaints
- 81
- worst model year
- 1997
- typical repair cost reported
- $800
- typical mileage
- 88,000
Is there a fix? No recall or service bulletin covers this area of the car yet.
By model year
Often reported together
Headlights 6Engine failure 5Stalling 4Check engine light 4Water leak 1Transmission failure 1Pulling 1
What owners say
We own three mercury grand marquis, love the cars however all three( 2000, 1999 and second 1999 all intemitantly loose headlights when high beams are on. If I quickly go to low beams I can see again...its like they are overheating with the amp draw of high beams and circuit breaks. This is way too common to be ok. It dangerous especially if one gets rattled with complete darkness at night and high speed. Bumps also seam to slightly affect it sometimes. This happens any time the gray 99 has high beams on for about 45mins. Only 10-15mins on blue 1999 and 2000 not as frequent yet but only has about 75k miles, where as the 1999 are 150-210 respectively. Started 5 years ago on my first and I just did not use high beam since I purchase second 1999 to replace first and had title issues so bought the 3rd 2000 and found they all have the same flaw!! My cell [xxx]. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6).
The 1996-2001 mercury grand marquis with a 100% plastic intake manifold is known for engine overheating, even with normal use, and a coolant leak from the front of the manifold. This will often trigger the check engine light and low engine coolant warning light. The engine coolant leak is from a factory defect, which causes cracking on the front coolant passage of the intake manifold. In a very short time, this leak will lead to engine overheating issues, especially while the vehicle is idling. This is exactly what happened. I think the car part should have been replaced by ford when they new about the plastic intake manifold.
For the second time in approximately 1 year, the headlights started turning off an on when driving home on the freeway 4 nights ago. The first time this happened a year ago, the headlight switch , burned wire and burned connector were replaced. The car is currently parked as I feel it is unsafe to drive with the overheating wiring.
Coolant leak from crack in plastic intake manifold. This car only has 97,130 miles on it and well cared for. They should not be using plastic in this application - it should be iron or aluminum. This is a common problem I was told with the 4.6 v8 engine. Ford needs to recall these and replace at no cost to customer. I will be writing a letter to ford if the dealer doesn't cover this as a recall. Ridiculous to use plastic in this application.
Driving on the hwy and the car started to overheat with hot steam shooting out from the engine and it also had a strong coolant smell. The car could not be driven until l it had $1,500 in repairs for a known, leaking plastic manifold issue. This failed part cracks and leaks into the hot engine area. And, ford had redesigned the failed part. Additionally, ford had once offered free fixes for a few months for police cars and taxi cabs with the same engines under a class action law suit but didn't tell the owners about. Thousands of consumers were ripped off because ford should have fixed this issue under the class action recall. But they didn't bother notify anyone about the three month recall window. In checking the federal safety agency records, there are thousands of us with the same reported problem. Please take some corrective action for us.
I observed a coolant leak around the thermostat. I found the plastic intake manifold to be cracked around the thermostat and leaking coolant. I made contact with mercury and found that there had been a recall on the plastic intake manifold in which they would have replaced the part at no charge during the safety recall campaign. I was not made aware of the safety recall and have owned the vehicle since 04/17/02 when I purchased the vehicle used from a mercury dealership. The dealership would no longer honor this recall although there are still thousands upon thousands of these engines still on the road. The all plastic manifold was replaced with an intake manifold with an aluminum crossover channel for the coolant. I was forced to replace this defective part out-of-pocket at a cost of $800. It would have been more had I not been friends with the mechanic. The vehicle had 102,281 miles at the time of the failure.
Tl* the contact owns a 2000 mercury grand marquis. The contact stated that the vehicle overheated while driving 35 MPH. The contact noticed fluid leaking from underneath the vehicle. The contact took the vehicle to a local mechanic where it was found that there was a coolant leak. The mechanic stated that there were three cracks on the intake manifold. The mechanic replaced the intake manifold. The failure mileage was 132, 208. Updated 05/29/13*lj updated 06/13/2013
Tl* the contact owns a 2007 mercury grand marquis. The contact stated the while attempting to start the vehicle, he heard a loud noise. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where the technician diagnosed that a spark plug had blown out of the engine head. In addition, the contact mentioned that the vehicle started to overheat without warning. The vehicle was taken to the dealer and the technician diagnosed that the thermostat was defective and needed to be replaced. The failure recurred and the vehicle was taken back to the dealer, who then advised that the intake manifold needed to be replaced. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure but did not offer any assistance. The vehicle was repaired. The failure mileage was 108,000 and the current mileage was 118,000.
Tl* the contact owns a 2004 mercury grand marquis. The contact stated that the high and low beam headlights became overheated and failed. The vehicle was not taken to a mechanic and was not repaired. The failure mileage was unknown and the current mileage was 125,000.
Related recalls
No recalls on record for this model year.
Questions about the Mercury Grand Marquis overheating
Which Mercury Grand Marquis years have engine overheating problems?
The model years with the most reports are 1997 (27 complaints), 1996 (21 complaints) and 1998 (6 complaints).
How much does it cost to fix engine overheating on the Mercury Grand Marquis?
Owners who mentioned a price put the repair at about $800 (median of 14 complaints that include a dollar amount). Costs vary with mileage, warranty and where the work is done.
VIN decoder
See the problems and recalls for an exact car
Buying a used Mercury Grand Marquis?
Check the exact car before you pay: accidents, salvage or flood titles, odometer readings and previous owners.
Check its history