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Ford Windstar Problems - READ ONLY

2608 messages,  Last post on Oct 27, 2006 at 8:51 PM

You are in the Ford Windstar Forum.

What is this discussion about? Ford Windstar, Van

Messages Page 82 of 261

#808 of 2608 Problem numbers/dogs-long string by 5greyhounds

Feb 05, 2002 (5:16 am)

I know most of us on this topic have had or still have trouble with our vans but all in all if you look at the number of complaints on the Chevy, Chrysler, Dodge or even the Honda topics we are not all that many. In this day and age and with the complexity of cars you almost have to purchase the extended warranty. If a power window motor goes bad you are looking at 500 alone. Heaven forbid that your central computer go bad. That is 3k.
 
It would also appear most of us have trouble with the dealer. I have been buying from the same dealer for about 20 years. I get around 25% off all my work since I bring all my vehicles (I have a 99 Windstar SE, my wife has 94 Probe GT and we just purchased a 2001 Suzuki XL-7 in August) in for service. Yes, I even got a 25% discount on a balance, rotate and align on the XL-7. Had a long talk with the owner about the XL-7. When I went to purchase an Escape they wanted 2k over list and the sales people laughed when I said 500 over invoice. So I got the XL-7. The sales people did not even talk with the sales manager about my offer so they lost a sale. The owner was not really happy about that. When he saw the XL-7 he asked what happened. I told him the story. He told me to come directly to him the next time I wanted a car and I will get anything I want a invoice, plus any rebates on top of that. I said even an Excursion, and he said yes. I told him I would hold him to it in a few years. Anyway, I have a good relationship with
the service people and have not had any trouble getting things fixed. Hex, they had the Probe in just prior to it going out of warranty and the tech who serviced it said they wanted to keep it for an extra day to look at the auto trans and the next thing I knew there was a new one going in. The slightly hard shifting that I felt was the start of a major problem so they just replaced it, not an overhaul of the one in the car but a factory job. Not bad at all. The dealer is Sterling Ford in Sterling VA
 
Yes, we do Greyhound Rescue as part of Greyhound Pets of America. We will haul around 5 dogs lose or 4 with large crates. And yes, the Honda is a little small on the inside. The Chrysler products seem to have a better layout inside and a little more space. Our four crates require some jury rigging to get them all to fit in the Windstar. In the Dodge they just fit in with no trouble.

#809 of 2608 Paul (Greyhounds) by rayt2

Feb 05, 2002 (10:19 am)

I could not disagree with you more when it comes to buying an extended warranty. The only person making out on it is the salesman and dealership. What ever happened to vehicle reliability? To have to purchase additional coverage just in case something goes wrong outside the warranty coverage is ludicrous. If manufacturers can't stand behind their products than we as the consumer should show them the door. I say dump the load as soon as warranty runs out not purchase additional coverage at over inflated prices and STILL have a deductable to meet EACH time you go in for repairs. This power steering pump on our 2000 Windstar should have been covered regardless of the mileage since there were so many TSB's issued on it, the dealers stance of TSB's are only there to assist the mechanics when vehicle comes in for this problem (provided you state it properly when you bring it in) is pure baloney and I'm not eating it! FORD is doing a terrible disservice to we, the consumer, with it's handling of problems related to their products. Their commercials constantly harp about their build quality being job #1 but what do they actually dish out in reality?, an unreliable vehicle since it's inception!
I'm glad you have a good repore with your dealer but this is the exception not the norm in this case. Bottom line is that the service dept. is there to bring in money to dealership and if they dupe the customer by NOT informing them of known TSB who pays the price?
 
Sorry for ranting but dealerships that operate like this tic me off when the only way they stand behind their product is at the customers expense.
 
Ray T.

#810 of 2608 rayt2 by 5greyhounds

Feb 05, 2002 (11:50 am)

I understand your point, however, we keep our vehicles for a long, long time. I would still have my 95 Windstar if it has not been totaled. It had 135k of hard miles on it and was tight as a drum. The nice thing about the extended warranty is when you bring it in for service, even for routine maintainance you get a car while it is there and if they need it for a few days you get to keep it. Also, I know of no car that goes 100K without some kind of major repair needing to be done. Even the high end cars break down. To my wife and I it is not a question if something major will break, it is when it will break. I get the Ford extended 6 year-100k 6/100k for 1K less than a regular customer.
It would be nice if more dealers stood behind their cars as mine does. That is one of the reasons I go back to them. Now then, I do not expect them to repair the trans or AC unit for free at 150K. I maintain a reasonable stance with them and it pays benefits in the long run.

#811 of 2608 5greyhounds by jvirginia

Feb 05, 2002 (12:56 pm)

I can't agree with your conclusions. I believe every car maker eventually introduces a product that turns into a complete bag of worms for both the consumer and the manufacturer. In this case, Ford's 3.8l engines and transmissions are the culprit. Ford can make a very decent product, as evidenced by their line of trucks. But they screwed up big time with this engine and transmission combo. And, unfortunately for the consumer, they used that catastrophic combo in multiple car models and for many years before the problems were discovered. I say unfortunate because had the use been limited to a select model, Ford may have been more willing to stand behind the consumer. But, the usage extended for so many years and models, Ford can't afford to foot the bill for each and every one of those disasters. It's happened before and it will happen again. Chevy had the Vega, Ford also had the Edsel and the infamous fireball, the Pinto, and there was the explosive GM sidemount gas tank pickup trucks. These were just bad ideas, mistakes. That is what the 3.8l engine and associated tranny are, a mistake.
 
Just about any expert will tell you that extended warranties are a waste of your hard earned money.
Outside of the infrequent disaster model, most major problems that are likely to develop will occur in the first 50k miles. Most manufacturers are providing 3yr/36k miles bumper to bumper coverage and some provide an extended drivetrain warranty of 5yr/60k miles.
 
Did you also know that some polution control devices on your car, such as the ECU/OBD (computer), catalytic converter and a few others are actually covered by a federal mandated warranty for 8yrs/80k miles if you live in an area which has an EPA approved emissions inspection and your car fails this inspection because the specified device is defective?
 
There are three specified major emission control components, covered for the first 8 years or 80,000 miles of vehicle use on 1995 and newer vehicles:
 
          * Catalytic converters.
 
          * The electronic emissions control unit or computer (ECU).
 
          * The onboard emissions diagnostic device or computer (OBD).
 
There are also other emissions related parts covered under the EPA federally mandated Design and Defect Warranty for the first 2yrs/24K miles. Did you know that if you fail an emission inspection in the first 2yrs/24K miles on a 1995 or newer vehicle due to a bad PCV valve or defective spark plugs, you are fully covered under warranty for parts, labor and cost of testing and diagnosis?
 
Of course, the longer you own and drive a vehicle eventually parts will wear out and require repair.
I have a 1989 Chevy with 140K miles. The only major repair has been the timing gear at approx 90K. Everything, including the A/C, still operates. I have a 1988 Ford Taurus wagon (3.0l engine) with 130K miles. No major repairs required on that vehicle yet. I have a 1995 Ford Thunderbird (4.6L engine) with 107K miles. No major repairs required on that vehicle yet. If you spend your money on proper care and maintenance instead of an extended warranty, you'll be ahead of the game. I've only ever driven 2 vehicles for less than 100K before I sold them or traded them. A Chevette that was damaged in an accident and my 1996 Windstar. At least there was a good excuse for the Chevette.

#812 of 2608 jvirginia by 5greyhounds

Feb 06, 2002 (5:22 am)

I am aware of all the things you have said. However, from my experience I have used all my extended warranties way over the cost to me on every car I have ever owned. It is a personal preference with my wife and myself.
I am a fanatic about maintance. I use Mobil 1 with a new filter every 5k. All maintance is pulled on time. I have the transmissions power flushed every 60K with new transfluid installed after the first 5k and put in synthetic fluid that meets Ford specs. I never let them use recycled fluids. I do all the things to keep them up and running. However, the miles we put on are hard ones. The Probe and Windstar do about 60 miles in DC rush hour traffic every day. That is 15K a year just going to work. We have a third vehicle (the XL-7) for the weekends and that will be suplimented by a 1990 Maxima next month. My mother died this past December and we now have the Maxima being shipped from Arizona later this month. It is the car driven by the "gray haired little old lady". It only has 72k on it and is in prime shape so that will help. I put over 6k a year doing greyhound events with a full load of either dogs or display materials. How you use your vehicle is also a part of the equation on an extended warranty. As I said above, I have used all the ones I have had way over the cost to me so in my instance the up front cost has been worth the investment.

#814 of 2608 Gran Conspiracy by 5greyhounds

Feb 06, 2002 (5:36 am)

I think I have hit upon the worlds largest conspiracy: There is only one car manufacturer in the world. All the different ones we see are just fakes!! Why do I say this? I was going into several of the van discussion groups to see what was going on and it appears all vans, no matter who makes them, have the same trouble: bad transmissions, bad A/C, bad power door systems, bad power steering units and the most infamous of all: the unknown noise or clunk from the front end. I can not believe every auto maker has the same problems so it just must be there is only one out there with a bunch of clones. Any thoughts on this!!!

#815 of 2608 PING by 5greyhounds

Feb 06, 2002 (5:41 am)

About a week ago I asked about the infamous ping the 99s have. Is it a loud one or hard to hear? I have had my 99 SE for a few months now and hear a light ping once in a while and if it is a problem that there is a solution to I need to bring it up to my dealer. Thanks.

#816 of 2608 by midlifecrisis

Feb 06, 2002 (5:51 am)

I owned a 95 Windstar, which we kept for about 30K miles and then traded in for our 97 Windstar with many more options. Sounds like I made the right choice in opting for the 97 model.
 
I hear all kinds of stories from co-workers about problems with their vans. Especially Dodges, which apparently have self-destructing trannies. Two people I know have 96 Windstars with high mileage and not troubles to speak of. Wouldn't it make sense that the people with troubles would be attracted to a forum like this to discuss the problems? Thus, a high percentage of people posting here are having problems?
 
Last I checked, the 96 and 97 Windstar got average reliability ratings in Consumers Report. All other year Windstars got worse or much worse than average ratings.

#817 of 2608 Ping and things by bdemas

Feb 06, 2002 (7:29 am)

5greyhounds: We had a 99 that had the pinging problem. There were some days it was very noticable and others where you would barely hear it. It seemed to be affected by atmospheric conditions. We ended up getting rid of it prior to having it fixed, the dealer wasn't very helpful in trying to fix it. We replaced it with a 00 SE, no pinging problems with it.
 
You mentioned in a prior post that you got an extended warranty for about a grand less then normal, I shopped the net to find the best price on the same plan, what was the final cost you paid? We paid around $1200. By the way, we already made use of the plan we purchased for the 00, the torque converter went shortly after the factory warranty expired. To me, extended warranties are a crap shoot, sometimes you win sometimes you don't, the odds that you will need one with a windstar are rather high, thats why I bought one.

Messages Page 82 of 261

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