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Ford 3.8 head gasket, AXOD transmission failures Windstar Taurus Sable - Ford secret warranty?
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Now it is in shop for transmission. It wouldn't shift in reverse and sometimes wouldn't go into 1st without a lot of coaxing, and when it did, it clunked.
Repairs: $1,800. He said should charge me $2,200 but because he quoted me max, $1,800, then that's all he is charging. Problem: mechanical failure.....Code #1784. No gear train damage at all, mechanical clutch is burnt and needs valve body replaced ($400). He is also replacing a "switch" ($90).
He didn't mention if the pistons were aluminum, but said he would replace if that were the case.
I am relying on a friend of a friend for this and so far he seems to be TRUSTWORTHY.
I love my WS and I hope this is the end of the problems. Is it normal for a transmission to last over 100,000 miles??? this is all greek to me. Thanks.
The computer has "learned" to shift rough. It is better but we are unable to reset the computer.We are told that if it were a Chrysler, all we would have to do is disconnect the battery for an hour and the computer resets.
More reason to dislike Ford !
the dealership had offered me a buyout of $ 6000
last week and today told me Ford had approved
an additional 3000 because of the long wait to get the motors built---they are telling me 6-8 weeks
I will be checking this one out-
this was only good on a new 2000 windstar
It is worth checking into
Service Manager told me that the diagnostic code reported the Forward Clutch Piston was bad. That is the part which is Aluminum. New transmissions come with a steel part, instead of aluminum.
Work politely with your Service Manager. Refer to TSB on this problem (go to www.nhtsa.dot.gov) which dates back to Nov '94.
Then call Ford Customer Service. They will take your trouble report. They refused to connect me to the Regional Ford Rep. They sent my trouble report and maybe (?) something else to the Ford dealership. Ford Dealership dropped their repair price 50%. Then I asked again to speak with Ford Regional Rep, both the dealership and the Customer Service folks refused.
The transmission is still going strong but I don't know for how long. Anybody has an idea how much would cost a new one?
1995 LX Loaded w/56,000 mi
HG failed feb '00 - new motor put in(I was out of town, of course) - covered by the "program" - except for inadequate rental coverage.
Now only 4000 mi to go on my extended warranty - just got back from the shop today to the tune of $800. Check engine light - needed coil pack, filters, etc - my nickel. Also intake manifold gasket bad - luckily a bad gasket and not shoddy workmanship by the dealer 300 miles away who did the motor replacement - covered. I was told that if it was bad workmanship on the motor replacement it would be up to me to go after them for reimbursement.
Tranny - O/D light coming on during extended hiway drives - had this checked out in march at previous dealer who said fluid was getting hot - flushed and replaced at my cost (also paid through the nose at this time for an EGR / DPE).
Today's dealer said tranny had leaking gaskets, seals, etc - replaced under warranty.
A/C - compressor and seals replaced - covered.
Needed a brake job at my cost - dealer discovered frozen rear cylinders - replaced under warranty.
My $500 extended warranty seems to have been a good investment - wish I could say the same for the car.
So - do I keep it and just pay more reasonable rates for repairs once I'm out of warranty and don't need to go to a dealer - or trade it in now? Edmunds says trade is worth $10,360 - is this realistic? Did people who are reporting tranny problems also get the O/D flash at lower miles? Thanks.
No vehicle is perfect of course, but my lesson in this is get a good dealer to go to bat for you- one little person against the big corporations is an excersize in frustration.
If I were you, I would trade this vehicle before the extended warranty runs out. Lots of other high priced things can and probably will go wrong!
We got the car in 97 with 47000 miles, in too much of a hurry to properly research it. The tranny was rebuilt by a trans. mechanic (not Ford)
at 101,000 miles (it would not go in reverse; 95 and 96 Windstars have aluminum forward/reverse pistons; these were replaced by steel ones; make sure this is done if you get it rebuilt). These guys did a great job and when the "check engine" light came on about 6 months later, they
diagnosed the code for me for free (it was a spark-plug misfire). We never had the head gaskets
go but the car began to overheat in the past year
even though we had the thermostat replaced
and the coolant flushed(we had the gaskets checked as per the recall notice but they just do a quick visual check). The ABS light came on at
one point and we were told that sometimes means the brake fluid is low, but eventually we found out that the ABS rotors were cracked and we had them replaced-this is costly because you have to replace the front axles as well.
I guess this is why people say not to buy a model
that just came out-there can be many wrinkles. I had picked it out because it is rated well for safety and like the way it drives. We had a Ford Mustang in the past that was a great car, so we
were feeling okay about Ford.
The air conditioning system died as well as the electronic locks, the gas gauge, and the rear wiper.
And now we're so poor from it all we could only get another used car!
The transmission in the 1995s has an aluminum shift piston which is weak. When it goes, you will have trouble with the transmission engaging when you take off from a stop. As far as I know, Ford has not extended the warranty on the transmissions yet. As a whole, the AXOD-E transmission in the 1995 WS has a very high failure rate.
Keep all of your repair receipts, and follow the Ford recommendations to the letter about service intervals (especially servicing the transmission every 30K).
Also, find a GOOD Ford dealer in your area--you will probably be spending a lot of time with them. You will also need their cooperation in possible Ford warranty issues.
Your host, Bruce.
vpmarolla:
This is what I said, with an appropriate change:
I have to second what HCLEMO said; find another
dealer. Saying that he (your current dealer) has
never heard of a problem w/ the 95 Windstar is
false.
Lie to me once, shame on you. Lie to me twice,
shame on me.
Bruce
Like everyone else, our first reaction was never buy another Ford. We thought we would have it fixed and then trade it for a Honda Oddyssey.
We researched the trade-in value for our Winstar and it was ugly. We estimated under $4,000 from Honda dealers.
Bonnel Ford offered the following alternative to repair...$6,650 on trade for the car as is, plus $3000 from Ford, plus $1500 more from Ford per a current sales event.
The total $11,150 towards a new 2000 Windstar got our attention. We were nervous about the negative stigma attached to the Windstar, however, a net of $7000 more in trade-in value, if we bought Ford again, was hard to pass up.
As a compromise we chose to lease the new 2000 Windstar for 2 years with 15,000 miles per year. The two year lease keeps us under full warranty for the term of the lease. We just were delivered a new SE loaded, TV in back and all, for $69 a month (we applied the full $11,150 to the term of the lease).
In less than two weeks we are in a new Windstar, thanks to a reputable and decent dealership in Massachusetts and the desire of Ford to step up and do something about these problem vehicles. We have our fingers crossed that we don't have any more problems.
01-Aug-00 at 11:18 PM (ET)
I also have a 95 ford mustang and had a head gasket failure
while in San Diego from Phoenix. My vehicle started overheating
and I took it into a radiator shop where they changed the
thermostat, pressure checked the radiator, checked for visable
leaks in the water pump, timing cover etc. After this the water
level continued to drop so I took the vehicle to a San Diego ford
dealer who found that the head gaskets were bad. They also told
me that I need a new radiator, thermostat, and water pump and
timing chain gaskets, all of which I had just had checked, and did
not tell them this piece of info. Of course the service writer said
the cause of my trouble was a bad radiator etc, but they would go
ahead and charge ford for the head gasket repair if I would have
the other items repaired. Amazing, a real shake down by a ford
dealership, who would guess. I told them to fix the head gaskets and I would take
care of the remained on my return to Phoenix, I still hadn't told
the service writer that I had already checked the cooling system
and it checked ok. The service writer than told me if the heads
went out again that ford would not stand behind them if the other
work was not done. The heads were changed, it took almost a
week during which I had to rent a vehicle. When I picked up the
vhicle I told the service manager and writer about having the
vehicle cooling system checked prior to bringing in the vehicle for
the head gasket. Of course the story changes that they were just suggesting the repairs as a preventative measure. Incredible. I then went directly to a radiator shop and had
the systems checked again. Since having this work performed the
vehicle just has not run the same, milage is down, the vehicle
stalls, starts hard, and has poor power. I took the vehicle back
and was told there is no problem. The check engine light came
on and I am taking it back to the dealer. I showed the head work
to a mechanic friend and he was amazed that the mechanic beat
on all the corners of both heads for unknown reasons. I showed this
to the dealership and got a shoulder shug. So the bottom line is
while ford paid to change the gaskets, I now have a totally new
set of problems. Anyone else have a similar horror story? I would suppose my next step is to contact ford and let them know about the dealer and problems following replacement to the head gaskets.
How can this be I asked, as the check engine light never came on and I did not notice a loss of power.
The explanation was that their diagnosing machines were unable to interface with my cars processor, so we have no answer. To find out will cost me 250 to 300 dollars in addition to the 1300 to 2000 to fix the head gasket, as there is coolent in the number 3 cylinder.
As far as contacting Ford, all I have been able to do is get the 800 number and the response is always the same. I can not get someone to tell me who the Ford rep is in my area, or how to contact them.
I am seriously considering small claims court, since my processor is not working, this problem may have started when my car was under warrenty. Has anyone had any sucess at this, if so who did you take to court and for how much?
Thanks
The reason I ask was that the Ford rep who was in court claimed that the 1994 and 1995 extended warranty on Thunderbirds only applied to the Super Coupes, not the "LX" models.
I still think I've got a pretty good chance of recovering on this claim, as the judge was asking several questions to the Ford rep about just how different the super coupe engine was from the standard 3.8. Specifically, if two engines were sitting in a garage, one from a super coupe and one from a regular 3.8 (or from a Taurus or Sable), then would it be easy to identify which engine was which, or would a parts list be necessary. The rep told him that the parts list would be needed, because aside from the supercharger, the difference is very difficult to detect.
Also, as we left the courtroom, the Ford rep was very candid and told me that he'd be willing to bet I'll win.
I'll post "the verdict" as soon as I hear.
I am the orig owner of a '95 Windstar. Tranny is just acting up. No HG problems to date (95K miles), though my coolant res is dry. :-(
Transmissions are another story. As of right now, there are some consumer groups who are looking into transmission failures, but there is no extended warranty for transmissions, nor is their a "buy back" for transmission problems for any year.
Anyway, we used the $4K certificate and and the current $2K rebate, after selling our 95 Windstar LX, on a new Windstar SE, loaded with leather, lots of new and upgraded features- total with everything (tax, etc.) was $24,313, net was $17,113. Very nice van, very accomodating dealer. No problems with our new van (thus far !!!), not even a rattle.
Ask Edmunds.com's Online Service Advisor.
Pat
Community Leader/Maintenance & Repair Conference
After 6 months of occasionally adding coolant, the engine began missing when first started. I just had it checked again today and now they say the head gasket is out and needs to be replaced.
Any suggestions on getting Ford to cover a portion or all of the repair?
We already had the motor replaced 6 mos ago and just had seals and gaskets replaced on trans. Still less than 60k on the beast - if it's the hg problem - I'm going to try for the buyout & trade-in - I'm not going to take another trans service - time for them to pony up and replace it. fed up & fuming - needed to vent - i'll re-post next week with latest response from the masters of denial at Ford.
My 95 Windstar went to the dealer on yesterday (8/15). All I learned was that there has been no warranty extension on the tranny. But, the service department feels the piston is crack and there may be a seal problem. I think they also determined the head gasket is leaking. Whatever they found, it was enough that they are asking Ford about buying back my van.
But, I don't want another Ford if Ford hasn't figured out the tranny problem and fixed it in later model years. Anyone heard?
I'm owner of a Ford Thunderbird 3.8 V6 LX (modell year: 1989) in Hungary. What I need is an Owner's Guide. If somebody can help me, please!