It has the infamous interior light problem. Removed upper two light bulbs when we first got it, and other than being a little dark, it hasn't been too bad. Yes it is a tad absurd, but not life changing.
Also had a mystery transmission fluid leak at 90,000 miles. AAA towed us to our destination and shop wanted $1800 to fix this, since I needed a whole new transmission. Refilled this fluid myself and drove away, so I fixed it for $20, and that was 46,000 miles ago.
Other than that just routine things: brakes, shocks, fluids, tires, fuel injector.
Oh yeah I needed new spark plugs; shop wanted 300 to do this, but I did manage to do this myself, but found out why it was 300. The designers at Ford must have been bored when they designed that little number.
Overall the cost of this van was very affordable. When we got it it looked like new and was less than 4000 dollars. I am selling it for 2900 and drove it almost 60,000 miles. The per mileage cost of this van is very low.
We loved the space and it worked well for a family of five. The mpg isn't very good or we would drive it till it dropped.
I just purchased a Pontiac Vibe and hope to drive it for years. I know I need to buy American and am keeping my fingers crossed on the Vibe. I can't afford a 15,000 dollar mistake.
You sure got a lot of low cost usage out of your 98 Windstar.
Manual tranny must have been a rare combination in 98. Good on ya and thanks for reporting your experience.
Peter.
Note: A Comments RSS Feed is available. New comments appear in the Members Area before the main site