Carriage Bushings - 2000 Concorde

A mechanic gave my car a once over an pointed out that carriage
bushings are an Achilles heel of this car. It has 100000 miles on it
but is well maintained... or so I thought. The mechanic said the model
is known for the rubber bushing deteriorating then forcing a big
repair bill.

Q1) Is there some lubricant or conditioner that can retard the
deterioration?

Q2) Cost to repair please?

jaygreg wrote:
> A mechanic gave my car a once over an pointed out that carriage
> bushings are an Achilles heel of this car. It has 100000 miles on it
> but is well maintained... or so I thought. The mechanic said the model
> is known for the rubber bushing deteriorating then forcing a big
> repair bill.
>
> Q1) Is there some lubricant or conditioner that can retard the
> deterioration?
>
> Q2) Cost to repair please?

Let's take this one step at a time.

I own two 2nd gen. Concordes - both with over 100k miles - one with 210k
miles on it.

Which bushings is the mechanic talking about? There are some bushings
that do wear out - you simply replace them. Nothing catastrophic.

The likely ones to need replacing over the life of the vehicle are inner
tie rod bushings, sway bar bushings (and the sway bar end links), and
the control arm bushings (replace control arms - they come with the
bushings). Other than those, the engine cradle bushings can be pricey,
but they can easily last the life of the car - mine are all still original.

Are you in a heavy rust belt? If so, that can make the replacement of
the cradle bushings a PITA and expensive.

--
Bill Putney
(To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with the letter 'x')