Edmunds dealer partner, Bayway Leasing, is now offering transparent lease deals via these forums. Click here to see the latest vehicles!
Ford Windstar Problems
This discussion has been closed.
Popular New Cars
Popular Used Sedans
Popular Used SUVs
Popular Used Pickup Trucks
Popular Used Hatchbacks
Popular Used Minivans
Popular Used Coupes
Popular Used Wagons
Comments
Thinking it was the battery, tried to jump start - nothing changed. Disconnected the battery and had it towed to local shop. Shop originally thought they had fixed the problem with a shorted wire that they changed. After pick-up an drive home, the car did the same, blowing the #17 fuse. The shop has had the car for 4 days now and has not determined the cause - going through all of the electrical system.
Any ideas?
Also, how do you change the bulbs in the courtesy lights mounted in the front doors? It looks to me like you have to remove the door panels, which seems kind of complicated. Thanks.
Any thoughts about what to try next? I read that the MAF may need to be cleaned. Thanks for your help!.....JGK
I'm back to the board. Its been a couple years since my 99 SE 's tranny went with 38K mi on it. At that time ford stepped up and replaced the transmission and extended my Power Train warranty at a cost of $500 to me. So a few months after my new 'freebie' warranty expired, the CE light is on!! Took in to get the code pulled at Autozone and it was the P0174 - System too lean left bank. It's at the dealer today and sure enough, they say it needs the redesigned valve cover that will prevent oil from traveling into the intake manifold via the PCV Valve and ruining the internals of the intake manifold.
The dealer quoted me over $600 for parts (valve cover, gaskets, isolater bolts) and labor. The labor included the work needed to install the above parts and to scrape all the crud that builds up in the EGR ports.
For any of you that have not had this problem, there was a design flaw (my opinion - the ford rep won't accept blame 'our engineers are always redesigning perfectly good parts' , he says - yeah) with the original valve cover that let oil splash up into the pcv valve. Ford apparently discovered this long ago but did not notify owners!! So if you've got a '99 (maybe other years??) you drive around with a valve cover that's slowly letting oil seep into the intake and then after a while oil fouls up the intake manifold until the point that the oxygen sensors pickup the lean condition and the check engine light pops on. So then instead of an easy valve cover replacement, you've got to disassemble the intake and replace parts in there too.
At any rate, I called the customer service number, 1800-392-3673, but the rep was just giving me the run-around and told me there was nothing he could do.
So it looks like I have to eat the $75 diagnostic fee and then I'll get the parts and do the work myself. When I get the parts list I'll post again. I'll also post a link to a very good 'how-to' page that shows how to do the repairs listed in the Ford TSB for this problem.
Has anyone else had any success in getting Ford to cover any of the cost of this repair (for codes P0174/P0171) for an out-of-warranty windstar?
I've got a '99 SE and I have the same problem. Usually it takes a few attempts and then it fills normally. I just try to change the angle of the nozzle a little bit and then start the pump again. I remember seeing a TSB about it when I was looking for info on one of my more serious problems. You can probably find the TSB with a good google search. The dealer service rep might even be able/willing to look it up and give you the info over the phone.
Good luck and post any info that you find!
-Good Luck!
BUT, I can't open the hatch!! Grrrrrr!! The key doesn't open it, and there doesn't seem to be a button up front to open the thing. If I hit the unlock button on the key fob a couple of times I can hear the latch unlocking, but the latch doesn't seem to work in back. All the other doors seem to operate just fine. I had my mechanic look at it for 10 minutes and he couldn't figure it out.
Anybody else have a similar experience and/or advice? Any help is much appreciated.
Is my switch bad, or the flap inside the vents not flapping to switch air directions ? I heard these things are vaccum hose driven. Could i pull the hose out and start pluggin them up to see if the flap inside the vents move around ???
Thanks
jake
l