My parents own a 2003 mercury grand marquis. It's low milage and well maintained. It has a noise at about 30mph well after doing some part replacement and taking it to a shop we discovered that the problem is defective bearings in the rearend. This car does not have a recall and we have not received any notice from dealer or manufactuer. The shop told us the kit for the rearend is $500 (bearings and a pin)and another $500 labor. I was hoping maybe someone here has some info on this problem as in is it common for this year? Is the kit really $500? Is the kit really a dealer only item? At $1000 would it be cheaper to buy a used rearend off a simular car? and if so what cars would have it? Any info or advise is greatly needed! Thanks

Ok we tore down the rearend and it turns out 1bearing was bad and had done some fairly minor damage to the axel. Turns out repair bearings (made to ride on a different spot on the axel) and lube etc cost $66! To do the repair took my Bro about 5hours to complete so the shop was trying to ripoff my elderly father. I am posting this so that maybe someone who has the same problem can learn from it.

There is a TSB on this, not a recall. The # is 03-5-5. "Some 2003 Town Car (except Limo and Hearse chassis), Crown Victoria and Grand Marquis vehicles produced before 1/1/2003, may exhibit rear axle shaft and/or axle bearing premature wear. This is caused by excessive load, temperature, and inadequate lubrication." What it really is, is that the axles were not heat treated correctly (2003 was a whole new car underneath, so it is redesigned, and the first model year for this new part.) Warranty time labor only charges 1.5 hours for this to replace both axles and axle bearings. Ihave done it in 30minutes. This problem normally shows its face around 30k miles. It is only an 03 issue. I've done a crap load of these...........
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Thanks for the reply. If you don't mind,what is a fair rate to have the repairs done? I think the shop my father took the car to was trying to rip him off,they even charged him close to $100 just to check it out.