Grand Marquis Idler Arm Bolt Loosened?

Big Disaster: I reently had suspension work doen to my Grand Marquis, about 3 months ago. Yesterd my 18 year old daughter tells me that the car steers terrible. I crawled underneath the car and couldn't believe what I saw. The bolt that goes thru the center link was loose and no longer in the idler arm. That big lock nut was missing. This is a new part and the bolt had surfac rust indicating that the nut was missing for a long time Borught it back to the mechanic and he couldn't believe it either. He assumed all responsibility. After thinking about this for a while, I remebered that after this work was done, the car was in a serious accident where the driver's side upper controll arm bracket was bent. A body shop had to straighten the frame in that area. I'm thinking that the nuckle head discontected the idler arm from the center link (by removing the bolt) so that he could straighen the frame without damaging the steering linkage. He probably forgot to install the lock nut. Does this seem like a reasonalbe scenerio?

Reply to
m
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Sounds possible. Either that or the new one didn't come with one (small parts sometimes get lost) and the idiot just put it on as it was.

Good thing she didn't get in an accident.

Reply to
m6onz5a

You haven't supplied a clear enough description to even make a good guess. Is what you are calling a locknut a castellated nut with cotter pin? Usualy if this had been installed correctly it wouldn't come apart on its own. If it wasn't installed correctly it would seem likely that somebody who later repaired the front suspension would have had to have noticed the problem. Of course you would also expect the driver would notice the loose steering long before it reached the point where the idler arm became disconnected.

-jim

Reply to
jim

If the steering was tight and suddenly got real sloppy, then yes that sounds like the nut had to be already completely missing and not just loose. The thing that doesn't make sense is that in order to install the press fit you have to draw it in by tightening the nut. At that point even if the cotter pin is not installed the thing is probably never going to come apart on its own. You can't really forget to install the nut and drive it for 3 months - that doesn't seem possible. I suppose it is possible the second shop took the nut off with the intent to disassemble it but nevr got that far.

-jim

Reply to
jim

Well the good news is that as long as the idler arm and center link are undamaged, simply reassembling everything correctly will fix the problem and it will not recur. I'm ASSuming that your mechanic will also give a quick inspection to the whole steering linkage to make sure that no other cotter pins were omitted.

nate

m wrote:

Reply to
Nate Nagel

Yes, they inspected everything. They are probably afraid of loosing business, but I'm not blaming them, I think the body shop is the culprit.

What really gets me is that my 18 year odl daughter is the primary operator of this car and she (and any of her passengers) could have been seriuosly injured or killed if the car lost control. I was lucky that it she noticed the problem right away. Good lesson for kids, never assume that every auto repair is going too be safe. I certainly won't make that mistake again.

M

Reply to
m

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