Comments: 1-15, 16-30, 31-45, 46-60, 61-75, 76-90, 91-105, 106-120, 121-135, 136-150, 151-165, 166-172
I was driving in my 1999 windstar lx with only 54000 miles on it. we stopped at red light and when it turned green I hit the gas and a loud crunch sound came from the car. my wife thought the transmission fell on the ground and was dragging. I had to get in traffic and push the car off the road. how embarrassing that was! anyway my wife said that the tranny was shifting hard and making loud noises in the last month. so if your van is doing that look out your next!
I also bought a 1999 Ford Windstar new and can't believe what I am reading here. Almost carbon copy of the same problems I have had since purchasing. Had problems with the rack and pinion during warranty, brought it in twice and couldn't find anything. Just after warranty it went out altogether and all of a sudden they know what's wrong with it, at my cost. Transmission just went out for the second time. Interior light stays on, have to manually turn it off. Wrote to Ford and they might as well have replied with a photocopied hand with the middle finger up, basically, we got your money now too bad and tough luck. An absolutely, unbelievably, unreliable vehicle.
On 9/11/05, I purchased a 1999 Ford Windstar with 62,000 miles on it. On 10/15/05, the Overdrive light started blinking. As soon as my wife told me that, I knew what I was in for, and only days outside of the 30 day warranty form the used car lot. The Ford dealer who inspected the transmission fluid is suggesting that we replace the transmission, at a cost of ~$2000. I knew these vans had problems. I should have heeded the advice from my brother who is an engineer at Ford. I got such a good deal from the used car lot I thought I would take a gamble. I lost.
The automatic locks do not work reliably either.
Oh no! We have a 1999 Windstar and I just received an email from my wife saying that the overdrive light started flashing on and off while taking the children to school this morning. I thought I would do some quick research and from what I am reading my stomach is feeling very sick right now. We have had the van for a little over three years and have experienced all of the things I am reading about. The interior lights not coming on when they should then not going off when they should, dash lights mysteriously coming on then going off, dash light telling us a door is open when they are all closed, electric door locks will not lock then the next time we drive the vehicle they work fine, on and on. We have had the engine gasket replaced, the computer replaced, and now we are seeing the dreaded flashing overdrive light. The roominess of the vehicle has been enjoyed, but our family and it allowed for school carpooling, but otherwise it has been one headache after another. I will not go into detail, but I was never in favor of getting this vehicle to begin with, now I can say with all certainty… I will never own another Ford!
I have a 1998 Windstar that I bought new and for the most part it's been reliable. I did however have a transmission blow on me with only 48,000 miles. Of course it was past my extended warranty period and the dealer wanted 3200.00 for a new one. I took it to a local AAmco shop and they rebuilt it with better parts for 1925.00. The Trans has been working great for the past two years. I still like the van compared to the others from that year, it large and the 3.8L engine has some gitty-up. I'd suggest to anyone that buys one of these Vans used to purchase an after market warranty. I think Chrysler has had worse problems than Ford with their mini van Transmissions.
My 1999 Windstar has 64,000 miles on it and after reading all of these comments I am scared to death. I just replaced the rack and steering pump for 980.00. The geers are shifting harder than usual and my check engine light will not go off. Any more ideas???
Well can we stand ONE MORE 1999 Windstar Transmission/Steering/Door Lock/Window horror story??? Stopped at a stop sign, took foot off brake, stepped on gas, heard loud "clunk", slammed foot on gas (didn't really need to as van was NOT going anywhere, just a reaction) reverse driving is underrated I do believe! I am in agreement with all those who said "I will NEVER buy a FORD again" With all these people on this ONE list have had almost identical major problems, can you imagine how many more people have not found this list or just did not post? I realize FORD could care less about this issue, so I won't waste my time writing or calling. I am going to try to get out of this without going broke and NEVER even look at a Ford vehicle again. FOR SALE - 1999 Windstar LX, 92k, Dark Blue, runs great in reverse, $2000 CASH today only!
Okay I guess I will share the repair list for my 1999 Ford Windstar. I purchased my 1999 in april 2000 as a dealer demo. The only good thing was I purchased a 5yr 100,000 mile extended warranty. Had I not I could have bought this van twice for the repair costs I would have spent. Power steering replaced twice, Air conditioner replaced, Master cylinder replaced, O rings, head gasket, tie rods, shocks, struts, lights inside the car go on and off at will, the power locks will lock and unlock when ever (can't afford to keep bringing the car for service that is NEVER fixed, just have to live with that. The best is the transmission. At 35,000 car went in reverse, but not forward, transmission rebuilt, 70,000 car went forward, but not in reverse, transmission rebuilt and today I will pick my van up at the repair shop for... you got it 102,000 car went reverse, but not forward, rebuilt transmission. This time I have to pay $1900. for the repair and consider trading it in, but not for another FORD. I must say I have always driven an import, but at this stage in my life the van just seemed to fit now it will be back to an import. Lesson Learned.
Yet another complaint about the 99 Ford Windstar. We bought ours used in 2001 and replaced the first transmission at 77k miles and again at 182k miles. It's now in the shop for a new rack & pinion and tie rod ends. We had a major problem with the electrical system; the lights would flash on/off and the locks go up/down of their own accord. DH pulled the sliding doors off, cleaned the tracks really well and put them on good and tight, and that problem is fixed (at least for now). We've already bought another van... this time a Grand Caravan. Had we done our homework on the 99 Windstars, we never would've purchased one. Lesson learned... now if I could just dump the old van!
I too bought a 1999ford windstar, and I just had the outer tierods replaced. Now I'm having trouble with the engine warning light comming on and staying on, the info section tells me the drivers door is ajar and it isn't, the o/d light came on info told me to ck transmission, so I pulled into the closet station ck all my fluid levels got back in and every thing was fine, now my cruise controls don't work, and it seems it is linked to my to my check trans light because the more I tried to set my cruise the more it seemed to confused my computer and gave me false readings. Got to drive.
This all sounds too familiar, purchased a 99 Winstar brand new... have had all the problems listed above. Transmission replaced, lights staying on, driver side lock not working, door open lights on... wow, now I am getting worried, my O/D indicator is flashing, brought the van in for service, they told me... computer says nothing wrong, just wait till something happens... the saga continues... NEVER will buy a Ford again. Amen.
I, opposite to most posters here, LOVE my 1999 Ford Windstar SE.
Did I have buyers remorse after I bought it? Yes. While test driving it, I could feel a vibration in the gas pedal, and I mentioned it to the sales person who went on to tell me that it was just "more power" than I was used to, coming from a 94' Taurus.
A CARFAX that I pulled myself while looking around at different cars showed that vehicle to be in good standing. Sooo... in the need to go out of town hurriedly, we felt our car might be undependable and we sealed the deal. The vibration remained, and yes, I kept saying that I felt something was wrong with the van. We found old registrations in the glove box of the van, along with a travel trailer so we were sure the first owners must have pulled something with the van. But they traded it at only 20,000 miles and this was curious to us.
A few months later, while looking at a car for our son, we paid for the CARFAX 30 day unlimited use service online and began searching. I thought I would just check the van again to read it again, and lo' and behold... the new CARFAX showed that the van had been in a SEVERE crash.. on the drivers side that deployed the airbag. The dealership wasn't responsible because I had run the CARFAX independently, but nothing showed. To me, that explained the vibration in the gas pedal, and although I felt duped, we felt stuck with this van.
We took it in to our regular garage that tried to align the wheels and they asked if we knew it had been wrecked... they could tell. We sighed with a yes, and had them fix it and we went on our way. The transmission seemed to jump a little in the 30K's and we complained to the dealership. At 38K we took it back and demanded a service on it. They came back and said they would replace the transmission at no cost because we had first made them aware before the warranty expired.
Today, the van is over 100K. We've replaced a rack and pinion, a heater core and did various other things on it and it still drives great. But what can we expect, this thing is NOT new...it's 7 years old and has been driven approximately 15K a year on country roads. We still like this van and hate to sell it... but it's gotta go because the kids are grown and we don't need it any longer.
This all sounds so familiar. We've had a number of problems with our 99 Windstar... Most notably is replacing the power steering rack, TWICE! The first time at 50,000 and the second time at 115,000 miles. Not a cheap repair, but apparently a very poorly made system.
I bought a brand new 1999 Ford Windstar and had trouble from day one. Finally I had to unload it after the 3 year 36,000 mile warranty expired. The rack and pinion steering went and Ford refused to help me. I will never buy a Ford again. If you feel loyal and want to buy American - buy a Chevy from GM. I owned a 1985 Cavalier station wagon which I bought brand new and had it for 10 years, over 180,000 miles and only did routine maintenance on it.
Wow. Now I don't feel so bad. I have a '99 Windstar, which I THOUGHT I had "driven gently." Just over 50,000 miles on it. (just old enough and just far enough for the warranty to have expired!)
I was coming home after running errands today (in a town about 25 miles south of me), getting ready to make a left turn. I had to stop to let oncoming traffic clear, and when I took my foot off the brake and put on the gas to turn - CLUNK. (First I thought I had run over something sharp and punctured a tire, or that something had fallen out of the undercarriage).
And no go. And no go in any of the other "forward" gears. (And I was unwilling to try reverse as the traffic was stacked up behind me.)
A $50 (and five-block) tow later, the man at the repair shop checked everything out he could easily check and concluded that the transmission was shot. Which means about $2K or maybe more in terms of a fix. But, oh well, I need a car, I don't have another car, and I'm not quite ready to replace it yet.
The worst part is that the car is in the next state over, and I don't have a family member (or even boyfriend) that I feel I can impose upon to help me get my car when and if it is fixed. I guess it's either beg-a-friend time or call Enterprise car rental...
At least now I feel like I didn't "abuse" the car somehow and make its transmission die - that was what I had been fearing, that I had somehow overlooked some important maintenance issue.