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Ford Windstar Problems
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Comments
Our Dealer here in NC has been super once FoMoCo owned up to the problem and devised the "fix". Suggest you get back to your Dealer ASAP.
You need to ascertain if they reset the PCM, reset the Octane setting to 87, were diligent in cleaning carbon from the engine as well as simply replacing the valve cover.
Factory only "allows" 1.5 hours to do this whole job, a job that takes somewhat longer to accomplish. Maybe you only got 1.5 hrs worth of fix!
Good luck with your Service Dept folks, and please keep all of us in the "Ping Club" updated.
I'm going to take our Windstar out on a vigorous test drive tomorrow!
I have reviewed some of the titles and there are a couple that I would like to read more into before I go through the hassle of setting up service for my van. For example, I occasionally experience a single tone from my van's dash. There doesn't appear to be any reason for the tone. It just beeps for no reason. I have seen a TSB that looks like it is related, but I can't find the full text to see what the problem might be.
I have also seen TSB's related to the pinging problems related above. I have a friend who is having his van serviced for that problem under what his dealer says is an as-yet un-announced recall by Ford. I would like to look into those further just in case my van develops the problem.
Does anyone know of somewhere on the 'net that I can find the full text of the TSB's that are related to problems I'm having? So far all I can find is the list on the NHTSA.GOV and that only gives brief summary info, which isn't always very descriptive.
If you find the info on the internat, please share with us all.
It is almost like the defroster is pumping moisture laden air into the car.
We've had our fair share of problems with the WS,
(abs, computer etc.) but we've not been able to solve this one.
Thanks
Once it happened to me, and once to my wife. I can't vouch for my wife's diagnostic abilities (well I can, but I'm prevented from speaking out by the "If you can't say something nice..." rule :-) ), but when it happened to me I noticed that the brake pedal went most the way to the floor (it didn't push back firmly like its supposed to). And when it was down near the floor, I noticed the brake lights went out!. With the brake lights off, the park/shift interlock won't disengage.
I was able to get it to shift by pressing lightly on the brake enough to illuminate the brake lights, then shifted straight to neutral before stepping hard on the brake. I test drove it around the parking lot and the brakes seemd to be working fine, so I drove it home. When I got home, the problem had disappeared (and of course the dealer the next day was unable to reproduce the problem).
When it later happened to my wife, she was fortunate to have a Ford technician waiting to have his eyes examined (my wife is an optometrist). He looked at it and said it was the brake light switch. He showed her how to "make it work" until she could bring it in. She hasn't showed me yet what "make it work" means. :-)
Has anybody else had a problem like this? My memory is too poor to recall any prior posts.
Don't know if thats the problem you are experiencing or not. Had it in my 95 and it drove me nuts till the dealer told me the "fix".
My 2000 has a totally different problem. The shift lever was falling apart, you could never tell what gear you were in by looking at the dash! Something had broken in the housing on the column!
My suggestion - Run to the nearest Honda dealership and get an Odyssey! (As long as it isn't a Koon's dealership!!)
replace the sterio. Dead battery, sliding doors
going in dead battery mode, fuel milage
dropping-see several older models doing the same.
Any problems i would be interested in hearing about
as the dealer called Ford because they can't
duplicate the problem so ford won't let them try
anything.
now the antitheft device is having a problem
recognizing the keys... tried both keys numerous
times before one of them worked and then I tried
the other key again and then it decided to work
also.... The problem only seems to occur when the
vehicle is cold... ( -30c ) thats what I figured
out so far.. she's heading back to the dealer
tomoro would appreciate any comments on similar
problem
Cost of ownership : Total costs of vehicle (5 year loan, 8%), insurance, gas, all repairs, tires, normal maintenance, etc came out to $0.34 a mile. Anti-lock brakes still work, A/C still works. Min-vans work great for what we need, am looking to get a full size van next time (12 passenger Ford) but waiting for the windstar to blow the engine or something not worth fixing to kill it first. Must have gotten relatively lucky with this van. We also own a 95 Mercury Tracer (econo car) for 100K miles and the only problems were the dome light and a front wheel bearing went bad ($100). I will shut up now...
I will not be replacing this van with another wind star.
If you live in the Vancouver BC Canada, steer well away from dealers that sound Rich. Better still steer well away from automobiles that seem to need fixes or repairs almost daily.
Cheers.
p.s. I assure you I am NOT a Ford competitor !
I am really upset, because the body shop guy said that if the original adjuster saw that there was damage to the trans. they probably would have totalled it, and I could have had a brand new van...now I am stuck with this one, because they did the work already.
Best of luck!
Drew
Edmunds.com Townhall co-host
Vans and Aftermarket & Accessories conferences
About two weeks ago, the dealer had my van for a week replacing seals... the suspected problem. This did not solve the problem. I've seen other posting with similar problem described, but I don't believe I saw a fix... has anyone ever actually gotten this problem resolved?
Thanks in advance for whatever help you provide!
Also, I have been getting some moisture on the carpet between the front seats. Does anyone have any sugesstions as to what to look for? I have about 84000 on it and have no major problems to date. Is this just the tip of the iceberg?
As for the problems of load noises when shifting out of park on an incline, I think that I have finally figured out how to avoid this. From a previous post.... Come to a complete stop. Set the parking brake. Ease off the brake until the van is fully engaged to the parking brake. Push the brake pedal back down and shift to park. When starting, push the brake down, shift into gear, relate the parking brake and go. Seems to help
Thanks for your help.
Apparently the speed reading is electrical, not mechanical. You might try looking under the dashboard and wiggling/reseating the wires to the speedometer. I had a similar problem about a month or so ago, in reaching back to feel I had jiggled the wires, the problem has not come back so far. From other reports, to replace the speedometer head would run about $500.
The dealer quoted a price of 475 plus tax to install a new head. I'll play with the wires on the back this weekend and see if that fixes, or temporarily solves, the problem. I hate to part with that amount of money just after Christmas. Especially since we have to replace the windshield, too. Rocks and/or kids throwing things off an overpass. Best price on Windshields, at least in Charlotte, NC, was $250. We may end up trading the thing in this weekend on an Olds Silo, if I can figure out where the money is coming from.
To answer your other questions... The tach remained fairly constant and the driving speed did not change. Just what the speedo said we were doing. It's fine on the highway to run by the tach, but I haven't paid enough attention to where the tach runs for the lower gears to try to use it in the city. I sure don't want to support my local law enforcement agencies, not that way at least.
At least for us, the 99 has been very dependable and reliable. Thanks for listening!
www.nhtsa.dot.gov/ivoq/oscripts/IVOQ/VOQ/voq1.cfm
Let 'em hear from you.
1. Sometimes the passenger side sliding door would not close using the key fob remote control or the overhead button. Manually pulling on the door a little and pushing it back seems to do the trick. It could be that the motor does not pull the door all they way back to engage properly for closing. I will complain about this at the next service.
2. The driver's right arm rest keeps drooping and then falling off. The dealer ordered us a new one, but problem persists. This could be a design problem. The clip on the armrest appears weak and the post to which it attaches has no detent position. I wonder whether others have experienced this and have a solution.
3. The engine shudders when accelerating slowly from a low speed.
4. I had the dealer install mud flaps. They installed it too low to the ground. When I hit small bumps, the mud flaps scrape on the road.
5. We drive the van short distances at fairly low speeds everyday. As a result, we get very low mileage.
6. The third row bench seat is very stiff and uncomfortable. Long rides would be unbearable.
Can avoid by backing off the accelarator or flooring it -
Is this a famous transmission issue ? thanks
Thanks!
For the past 10 months ALL THE INTERIOR LIGHTS (dome, reading lights, door courtesy) just FLASH ON AND OFF intermittantly It doesn't matter if the head lights are on or not. This becomes quite a safety issue at night. The van has been in the shop numerous times with no success. HAS ANYONE ELSE HAD THIS PROBLEM ? If so how was is repaired? We are close to the end of the warrenty.
We had other problems with the van. Most frustrating was a cruise control that only worked once in a while. It took the dealer a year to fix it. All the radio speakers and door locks/switches have broken and been replaced. During the year and a half since we bought the car there has always been some thing wrong with it.
I'm worried about other electrical type problems down the road. It just seems like one thing after another goes wrong.
Do you think we should get rid of it?
It returns every few weeks and lasts about a week to 10 days, then just magically goes away....for a while. There seems to be no correlation to the weather, how we drive it, how often the doors are opened with or without car engine running, etc.
Anyone with data on this problem please email me at wilens@pacbell.net
I am an attorney and I have had the Van in a few times already for "service."