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Ford Windstar Alternator and Battery Problems

81 messages,  Last post on Apr 10, 2013 at 9:42 PM

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What is this discussion about? Ford Windstar, Ford Windstar Cargo, Van

Messages Page 8 of 9

#64 of 81 Re: Stalls while driving [donc10] by alshouse

Mar 03, 2011 (11:37 pm)

Replying to: donc10 (Oct 03, 2010 3:32 pm)
I have a 2002 ford windstar, It has had a charging, and battery problem just about sice we brought it. I have replace the battery 4 times, and the alternator 2 times. now it has a shut down problem. I did some research, and determined it was the pcm, but it repair the charging problem between the pcm, and the alternator, but did not cure the shut down problem. took it to the repair shop, now he is telling me that the alternator is producing an rf wave which is shutting down the the plusing of the fuel injectors, and stopping the firing of the plugs. reseach indicates that there is a/c voltage riding on the d/c voltage which is interfering with the pcm. it seems that the alternator is the problem. maybe a shield around the alternator or replacing the alternator untill we get a good one. I do not understand why ford has not fixed this problem.

#65 of 81 Re: Stalls while driving [donc10] by alshouse

Mar 03, 2011 (11:40 pm)

Replying to: donc10 (Oct 03, 2010 3:32 pm)
I have a 2002 ford windstar, It has had a charging, and battery problem just about since we brought it. I have replace the battery 4 times, and the alternator 2 times. now it has a shut down problem. I did some research, and determined it was the pcm, but it repair the charging problem between the pcm, and the alternator, but did not cure the shut down problem. took it to the repair shop, now he is telling me that the alternator is producing an rf wave which is shutting down the the plusing of the fuel injectors, and stopping the firing of the plugs. reseach indicates that there is a/c voltage riding on the d/c voltage which is interfering with the pcm. it seems that the alternator is the problem. maybe a shield around the alternator or replacing the alternator untill we get a good one. I do not understand why ford has not fixed this problem.

#66 of 81 Re: Stalls while driving [donc10] by fastener

May 21, 2011 (4:23 am)

Replying to: donc10 (Oct 03, 2010 3:32 pm)
We have a 2002 Ford Windstar that experianced an issue like yours, where the vehicle would just shut down while driving it. You would then need to stop the vehicle, put in park, shut key off and then restart. There were no engine codes set and no issues starting and running until the next time. This happened several times so I brought it in to a Skalink Ford in Lake Orion to be diagnosed. They were not able to get the issue to happen for them. They did suggest having the intake cross over and egr cleaned and replaced $250. After I got it back, my wife used the vehicle to go to Tennessee for a weeks vacation with my young daughter. While on the way, she experienced this issue again. While in Nashville, she went to a good mechanic that I used when I lived there prior to 2006. They suggested that we change out the ignition coil and put on new wires and rotor. She drove it around for a while visiting friends and it happened again on the day that she was supposed to come home. I called Skalink Ford and complained that thier fix was not a fix and that my wife and daughter are stranded in TN with an issue they were supposed to fix. I told them that if the Ford dealer could not diagnose it, who could and reminded them that they were responsible for miss-diagnosing the issue. They recommended that we take the vehile to the authorized Ford dealer in Franklin TN. My wife contacted the Ford dealer and set-up an appointment for the next day (Saturday morning). The dealer there diagnosed it as a bad fuel pump and would replace it for $800, but had to wait until Monday because they did not have a replacement in stock. I called Skalink Ford back and after an argument, they agreed to put $250 towards the purchase of the new pump work. The Franklin Ford dealer had the new pump installed and my family was on thier way. They did not get out of Tennessee before the same issue happened again. She ended up limping it home, pulling off the road where she could and restarting and continuing home. I did not nor will I ever deal with Skalink Ford in Lake Orion again. We kept driving the car until the alternator went out and I replaced it as well as the battery. Since I did that, we have not had another issue. It is an ac noise issue riding on the DC that must be shutting down the ECM. Don't waste your money chasing a fuel or ECM issue and do not expect that the Ford dealer knows how to fix everything. They just take thier best guess which of course is subjective and use the process of elimination at your expence and still not correct the issue.

#67 of 81 Re: Stalls while driving [fastener] by oyokidude1

Jun 02, 2011 (4:17 pm)

Replying to: fastener (May 21, 2011 4:23 am)
This happened to me, but it would jerk before it would shut off, and usually in excess 70mph, it would act up. What I did, was replaced all the plugs with the original motorcraft plugs, they had been running champions. I also replaced the Coil Pack with a motorcraft ford replacement as well. Not to mention cleaning out the EGR ports. What may have been the culprit was a dirty MAF sensor which I also cleaned.

#68 of 81 Re: Stalls while driving [donc10] by alshouse

Jul 03, 2011 (10:04 pm)

Replying to: donc10 (Oct 03, 2010 3:32 pm)
On my 2002 ford windstar, I had an alternator that was producing an r/f wave that was causing the van to stalling, changed the alternator, and the van run fine now. also found a communiction problem between the pcm, and alternator voltage regulator. changed the pcm. then had to reprogram the new pcm for the security system for my van. it solved most of the problems. now the battery light is flicking, what that means is it come on, and sometimes goes right off, and other times it want to just stay on, not sure what is causing this problem. hope this helps.

#69 of 81 2002 Ford Windstar by fmparks

Jul 29, 2011 (5:40 pm)

Replying to: beck600 (Oct 04, 2010 10:41 am)
I have a 2002 Windstar, first both brake lights are on, most times the sliding doors wont work, now it wont hold a charge and it looks like I may need a new alternator. I have had Windstars since its conception and find that the 2002s has the most problems I purchased this one used with 122,000 miles, it ran perfectly for 2 months. the liftgate light is constantly on, and what is the liftgate?

#70 of 81 Re: Stalls while driving [fastener] by k80chavez

Dec 19, 2011 (7:55 pm)

Replying to: fastener (May 21, 2011 4:23 am)
  This happened to us. my husband refused to drive it again after the first time that the battery went dead on him in the middle of the night. He had it towed to the house and let it sit until I came back from my business trip (a few days) he never attempted to restart it like y'all did. Now I'm wishing he would've. My dad replaced the battery, and it got 1 round trip to the mexican restaurant down the road before it started shutting itself down. I didn't drive it again, and a few days later my mom in law asked me to move it. I hesitantly started it, and that was fine. Then it sat for another month and a half without being started. I got a tow truck to take it to a shop, and the doors wouldn't even unlock. This leads me to believe that there is a short, and that somewhere in the vehicle it is leaking voltage constantly. this did not start until my husband hit a curb and blew out a tire. Maybe something moved around. The passenger side window have never rolled down and neither does the driver side rear vent/window. There are some electrical problems in this car. There are several recalls on it. I'm hoping to just R2 the alternator, limp it to a dealership and see what happens with the rear axle recall. Hopefully Ford will buy this hunk of junk back. I bought it not even a year ago, and I've already replaced the power steering pump.
I took it to Firestone on NW 23rd and Penn in OKC. THEY wanted to charge me $$1700!!! to replace the entire A/C and the alternator, because they said that the A/C belt (which is in some way associated with the alternator) caused the A/C to jam up and they needed to replace the entire A/C system. They are potentially crooks. What do y'all think?!?!?!
I only paid 3300 for the stupid thing!! I'm not paying 1700 to fix the crap.

#71 of 81 Ford Windstar 2000 v6 3.0 charging lamp. by vidir

Dec 20, 2011 (5:12 am)

This i a weird car. i have been trying to fix the alternator battery problem since 2005.
 
Last year i changed both the alternator and the battery and the charging light has since then always after 20 secs turned on.
 
Have the same problems?
 
My only solution is to start the car and wait until the light comes up to then turn off the engine and then immediately start again. As long you are driving it never comes on again.
 
Im tired going to the workshops beacuse they can find anyting wrong with the PCM or the charging. I got the same answer from two diffrent car electricians, the car PCM dosent like your alernator charging volts whatever..
 
I do not care about these issues anymore, im satified that the car is working regardless starting two times each time. Im going to use the car until it dies
 
The best thing with Ford Windstar is that they do not manufacture it anymore.

#72 of 81 Ford Windstar charging problem by mcscookiejar

Jan 03, 2012 (2:06 pm)

I have a 2002 Windstar for about 2 1/2 years now, got such a good deal I ignored the lights after I got it that stayed on (ABS and battery). Had no problems with it for all that time until a few weeks ago it wouldn't start up and it made the typical clicking noise of a low battery so I cleaned the contacts and jumped it off to go home. Checked the voltage while it was running and it read 12.3 volts so I figured it was the alternator. I charged up the battery and put on a new alternator drove to town and after a few stops it wouldn't start again. After charging the battery again I tested the voltage of the new alternator and it was around 12 volts again. Thinking that the new alternator may be bad I had it tested ( which I should have done with the original one) and it tested good. Upon further investigation I found that the control/ monitoring plug on the alternator has 3 pins 1 should be around 7 volts, 2 should be around 13 volts and 3 should be the output voltage of the alternator (or did I get that reversed) anyway pin 2 read 0.04 volts instead of the 13 volts it should have had. Made sure I had continuity from the computer harness and the plug. So could it be that because I have no voltage on pin 2 the alternator is not producing electricity and if that is the case do I have to replace the computer to fix it? I would appreciate any suggestions at this point, thanks.

#73 of 81 Re: Ford Windstar charging problem [mcscookiejar] by vidir

Jan 04, 2012 (2:19 am)

Replying to: mcscookiejar (Jan 03, 2012 2:06 pm)
"do I have to replace the computer to fix it?"
 
I had my "computer" or PCM or whatever updated, it seemed to better in my case and i think that can solve it but im not sure in your case?
 
I tried to measure the volts before but the thing is the pcm is checking your system for volts and if it get "wrong" feedback it decides to not charge and so on.. and to update or change a pcm can be a good idea.

Messages Page 8 of 9

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