Top 5 Problems Mercury Mariner SUV 2nd Gen 2008-11

Hey, friends, it's Len here from 1A Auto. Today, we have another top problems for you, this one's going to be on a 2nd Gen Mercury Mariner. Let's get started.

Now, for our first problem on this vehicle, we're going to talk about a steering issue. The symptoms that you're going to notice with this issue might be a little bit of a clunk when you go over bumps, and you might even notice that you have a little bit of looseness in the steering. Now, this noise is typically going to come from your steering shaft. The steering shaft is going to be located under the hood on the driver side of the firewall, that's this area right here, kind of underneath the master cylinder. I have a steering shaft in my hand right here. And no, it's not the one for this vehicle, and most of the parts that I'm going to show you in this video aren't, but they are something that I can put in my hands so I can show you. On the steering shaft, you're going to notice there has to be a U joint on it that looks like this right here. It kind of makes it so you can turn the steering shaft as you want. And it's going to be able to pivot as it should. If for some reason this U joint right here has movement and you can twist these two pieces, you're going to obviously have looseness in your steering wheel. You might also notice that clunking because as this is going like that, the two pieces are going to go inside there. That's going to make a noise. And of course, it's an unsafe feeling, especially if you're driving the vehicle over rough terrain. The fix for this would be to replace the steering shaft. This little U joint right here isn't necessarily something that's very easy to replace. If you were doing a drive shaft of some sort, they're going to be much easier and you can use a press. For this right here, it's more common to just replace the steering shaft itself. With that said, you definitely want to make sure you get yourself an alignment after it's done, and you want to follow the service procedure. Because if you remove your steering shaft without your steering wheel in the locked position, you could potentially spin the steering wheel, and that could damage your clockspring, which is part of your airbag system.

Now, for our second problem, we're going to talk about starting issues on these. With this issue, what you might notice is you get inside your vehicle, you put the key in, you go to crank it, nothing. Well, we're going to take a look at that. As far as symptoms for a no-start condition, there's going to be several. You might be able to turn the key and you just don't hear anything, nothing even lights up, obviously, that's probably a dead battery. Or even if you crank it, and you hear like slow crank, once again, more than likely dead battery. Other than that, another symptom that you might have if you're having an issue with starting your vehicle, as you turn the key and it goes clunk, clunk, and you can hear something clunking underneath your hood. While most of these symptoms aren't something that we're going to actually be going over in this particular problem. For this vehicle, they typically have an issue where you actually turn the key and nothing happens at all. In all actuality, the typical fix for this issue is actually the ignition cylinder. The ignition cylinder is the area that you have your key, and you put it into the actual steering column itself and it has a little cylinder in there where the key goes in with tumblers, you try to give it a little turn, it's supposed to activate and start the starter. If the ignition cylinder is no good on the inside, and it's not doing what it's supposed to do, well, then, of course, your vehicle is not going to start. It might even think that it's trying to be stolen. So, to fix this, you'd want to, of course, replace that ignition cylinder, and you're probably going to need to get a new key as well.

Now, for the third problem that you might happen to notice on these particular vehicles might come down to the blower motor function. Typically what you might happen to find for symptoms of this issue would be, you put your blower motor on one or low, nothing really happens. Two, three, there's nothing going on. All right, four, starts really blowing, now it's blowing out high, right? You turn it back down to three because it's blowing too hard, it turns completely off. Typically what it comes down to is your blower motor resistor, that's this unit right here. And like I said before, the parts that I show you in this video aren't actually the parts for this vehicle, because I'm not going to take it apart, but it is one that I can hold in my hand so I can kind of show you. If you were looking at the resistor, you might happen to notice that it has a lot of corrosion on it, or even rust or debris build-up, that's pretty typical. Generally, if you replace the blower motor resistor, it's a good idea to go ahead and replace the blower motor at the same time. They tend to wear out about the same time. It can be a little bit more costly, of course, but if you're in there and you're doing it anyway, well, it's just overall a good idea. When you go to do it, it's more than likely going to be underneath the passenger side dash, right underneath here. And it should be fairly easy to access.

Okay, friends. For our fourth problem, we're going to make our way underneath the vehicle specifically to the left front. As you look at the left front wheel, you can make your way towards the center of the vehicle following that axle, that's this right here, has some nice rubber boots on it. And of course, once you get to the transmission, the axle is going to go into the transmission and there should be a seal in between the two. The symptoms that you're going to have would be of course fluid leaking out of that seal right there. If you had fluid leaking out of your seal, there's a possibility that your transmission fluid could run low. And of course, that would cause internal damage to your transmission, which of course would be very bad. If you have a transmission seal leak, that's something that you're definitely going to replace ASAP because replacing the seal is going to be much cheaper than replacing the transmission. Like I said, you might actually lose a lot of fluids, so you want to make sure you check that transmission fluid. Check to make sure you're caught up on your interval and if it needs to be serviced, well, why not just go ahead and service it as well.

Okay, friends. For our fifth problem on this vehicle, we're going to get inside and we're going to talk about the steering system, specifically up here inside the passenger compartment on the steering column. Some of the symptoms that you might happen to find if you're having an issue with your steering inside the passenger compartment might be while the vehicle is idling, you might actually see your steering wheel kind of trying to do this a little bit. It's going to be very slight, and it might not even be this much. But essentially, it's going to kind of move on its own even when you're not touching it. Another symptom that you might happen to find is you have a light that comes on on the dash. Essentially, if you were to pull that code, it's going to come up with something probably saying something along the lines of B2278. Essentially, what that's going to mean is you have a steering shaft torque sensor malfunction. So, that's something that you're going to need to look into. Obviously, this is something that you're going to want to have properly diagnosed, but typically it comes down to that actual sensor itself. Now, once you found that you have an issue with the steering shaft torque sensor, you're obviously going to want to go ahead and replace it. But you don't want to just stop there, you need to actually have a nice high-end scanner or have access to one and you're going to want to have the steering angle sensor recalibrated/relearned as well.

Another issue that you might happen to find that involves the steering wheel is when you first initially start up the vehicle, the steering wheel might want to turn a little bit, that's something that's actually controlled by your steering shaft module, and that's going to be located inside of your steering column right along here. That's not typically something that you can just go ahead and replace on its own. Generally, you're going to have to replace the whole steering column as an assembly. And if that's the case, you want to make sure you follow this specific manufacturer process because this of course does have an airbag in here, and there are other things that you're going to want to make sure that you take care of along the way as well, including an alignment. Just keep in mind, if you don't follow the actual procedure, you might end up with more costly repairs down the road.

Okay, friends. So, that's what I've got for you for top problems on a 2nd Gen Mercury Mariner. I hope you like the video. If you did, smash on the like button for me. It would mean the world. Leave me a comment because I always love to hear from you, especially if you've got a problem of your own. Subscribe, ring the bell, that way there you can be kept up with all of our latest content. Thanks.