2000 Mercury Sable REAR STRUTS AND SPRINGS

Ford: 1800-392-3673
NHTSA: 1-800-424-9393
Call these numbers and report this, the front springs are under a recall, maybe the rears can get covered if enough complaints are lodged!
These are an involved process to change, how good of a mechanic are you?

From: suzeann
To: merlin2021
Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 7:59 pm
Subject: sable struts
We have had nothing but trouble with this car. The front springs have been fixed through a recall, now it's out of warrenty and both of the back ones are broken. It will be my husband fixing them, he sent me in here to find a diagram of the process because he seems to have misplaced his Chilton. My car only has under 75,000 miles on and we have had it since 1999. The body is falling apart, the wipers quit working. Just a bunch of little things. It's really unbeleivable. Sorry about the rambleing, it just makes me mad. Thanks for your reply.
Suzeann
Ok I will send the diagrams and some instruction to you. The front springs according to Ford TSB have been extended for 10 years on warrantee, Maybe you should save the reciepts and complain! If they do get forced into a recal, they will pay. You will need to rent a spring compressor when you buy the springs. Or see about buying the complete units.

I am actually in the process of replacing mine at this exact time, which is really amazing.

What you have to do first is locate the appropriate Strut Kit. Which basically is the whole thing assembled, so don't have to fool with the spring, and getting the whole thing together.

The easiest place to find the info is to buy a book, or go to Autozone. Com, register and they will show you, as they've shown me.

But basically it involves removing the back back seat. That being the part your back rests against. Then removing the 3 nuts that hold the strut tower to the top. Take off the rear tire, remove the bolts that hold the brake and any related cables, and then disconnect the tension bar, which may also have to be replaced, and is probably a good idea anyways, since old ones are a pain to reassemble.

Then unbolt the main strut bolt at the bottom. This will cause the hub and assembly unit to fall. At this point it's a good idea to have a separate jack stand handy to support the cross beam. Throw the old one away, put in the new one, and make sure to replace the old tension bar that connected to the strut tower, or else your probably going to have a loose bar in the back, thus causing sway, and no one likes sway.

You might wanna look at the age of this post, it's probably fixed already!

You make a valid point.

But for anyone who might also come across this, somewhere in their travels, they now have an answer to the problem, and that's all that matters.

I sent her a complete how to PDF. Thanks for the help.