2004 Mercury Mountaineer Differential broken--Please help!

2004 MERCURY MOUNTAINEER
11,500 MILES • 6 CYL • AWD • AUTOMATIC
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BJM_1211
  • MEMBER
  • 1 POST
Our car was taken in recently due to an odd noise during acceleration. The alignment was done in addition to new tire bearrings.
About a week later the car made a loud noise which turned into a grinding noise. The car then started smoking and would not move. A local mechanic looked at it and said it looked like the front axle was damaged due to the poor alignment.
My questions are: is this a correct assessmant, how difficult/costly is the repair and how can i avoid this problem in the future.
Any assistance you can provide will be greatly appreciated.
Dec 3, 2008 at 1:21 PM
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JACOBANDNICKOLAS
  • ASE Certified Mechanic
  • 110,194 POSTS
  • ASE Certified Mechanic
Hi:
First, I can't believe that a bad alignment caused the differential to go bad. Second, where was the smoke coming from? Finally, is the vehicle all time 4wd or do you need to engage it?
Dec 15, 2008 at 11:22 AM
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