12th Mar 2007, 15:54
I bought a 1994 Windstar in forest green with grey secondary colors, with tan leather and wood trim. Very comfortable vehicle. A few days after I bought it, the power steering pump started leaking and then had to be replaced. That has been the only problem to date.
22nd Jun 2007, 12:18
I just bought a '97 Windstar for $1500. I haven't had the problem with the door ajar light, the "chiming", or the dome lights.
I've had the van for 2 weeks and the transmission is leaking like crazy. I'm going through atleast 2 qts. a day. And my speedometer is "jumping" as well. Only diff. is that it's doing it from 0mph to 35mph. Then it stops.
The accelerator thing under the hood (can you tell I'm not a mechanic) was sticking making the van idol at 3000rpm. And causing the transmission to shift down into first very rough. That was fixed with WD-40.
I haven't made a payment on the van yet. And I'm debating taking the dang thing back and telling them to burn it to the ground. I don't like it. I've never actually liked Ford, but this was a last resort, had to have, no other option kind of thing.
22nd Jun 2007, 15:06
Uh, you bought a car for $1500 and have to make payments on that $1500. For that money, you can't expect perfection. You also failed to mention the mileage, condition of the vehicle, etc. For a 10 year old car with an unknown history, you can't fault the manufacturer. Maybe you should shop around a little better next time.
7th Jul 2007, 14:39
What a wonderful site. I, too, typed in "1998 Ford Windstar door ajar chime" and here I am. I bought this van in 2002 with 24,000 miles on it for $10,000. Yes, I have had many of the same complaints over the last six years. Many things replaced or fixed from power windows, to power steering pump, to rack and pinion (also radio/CD replaced). This problem with the door open chime is driving my family crazy (I live in a small town so I only listen to the chime for a few blocks). It seems to happen more often in warm/hot weather. I live in North Dakota so am chimeless for many months of the year. We did find someone that fixed if for a while (now I can't remember if it was in the winter or not). He said that using an air hose on the senors to blow the dust off. But like I said it could have been winter and just corrected itself while the cold weather lasted. Ready to try WD-40.
BUY A FORD AGAIN? Not on my life. I happened to visit a Ford dealership looking at used cars and the salesman was a little miffed when I told him I didn't want to even look at a Ford. Thanks for listening and thanks for all the postings. It does make a person feel a little better knowing they are not alone in their misery.
Shari from North Dakota.
22nd Jul 2007, 14:54
We have a 99 windstar... the ignition was left to the "on" position over night and drained the battery. After jumping the battery--the mileage looks like --------, the ac is not cold, and the rear blower stays on high, no matter what the setting says. Also, the ABS light is on. Does anyone know what to do in this case. The dealership is closed since it is Sunday...
11th Aug 2007, 12:00
Another one with much of the same Ford problems. Especially the ABS dashboard light and the "always on" interior light. Tried the WD 40 thing on both the side door and rear door with negative results. Found a solution to the interior light problem. REPLACE THE ARMS ON THE REAR HATCH. That's it. Each arm costs about $25. Solution was by accident. One of the arms broke. When replaced, the interior lights went off, and never misbehaved again! No wonder everyone who has similar problems never came across a logical solution.
14th Aug 2007, 19:16
I have many of the problems stated on the site, but the one that is happing more in more these days. when I come to a stop or slow down to stop at a light or something the car cuts off. it runs well on the road, but when I'm coming to a stop it cuts off, but startes up a gain. however its happing more often now. What going on.
HElp be fore its dies.
12th Mar 2007, 10:21
Another disgusted Ford customer: we bought this beautiful 1996 Ford Windstar for my wife in April 2002, with just 76,000 miles for $7,000. That first night the CE light came on, as did ABS light. Numerous attempts to fix included cleaning injectors, constantly clearing codes, and even disabling CE light (which I caught on to immediately, when key was turned on and light did not come on). Additionally, within one year we spent $1,000 replacing everything in the front end to cure a clunking noise, yet CE problem kept coming back.
In May 2004, at 102,000 miles, we had a MLP sensor replaced (gas pedal vibration, 2 oxy sensor codes) and a transmission flush ($300). (We also had a problem with the car sticking in second gear, which required either one or two sensors to be replaced, but I could not find the receipt for that one so I am uncertain of exactly where to put it chronologically). At 121,000 miles, we had a $200+ tune-up for rough idling (and CE light), which turned into a $1,200 head gasket replacement. Also noted at that time was an antifreeze leak behind timing cover and a bad catalytic converter, available only through Ford for $800, which went bad from faulty head gasket. After we replaced the catalytic converter and both oxygen sensors (again) the CE light finally stayed off (we had replaced oxygen sensors twice before this).
In December 2006, at 136,000 we had to have the transmission completely rebuilt ($4,000) as we barely limped in for service, followed by another $1,500 to replace oil pump and machine crank and new bearings, all due to low oil pressure and oil light coming on at idle. With these problems, we have completely ignored the interior lights staying on long after closing all doors. It just did not seem as important.
This morning, as my wife was driving to work, her speedometer began jumping between 0 and 120. The transmission was just completely rebuilt 3 months ago. I got so upset I typed windstar speedometer fluctuating and found this web page.
I decided to post because we have spent more maintaining this car than its' pricey cost. Contrast this vehicle to the 1997 Dodge Caravan I bought for myself in October 2004 for $2,600 with 103,000 miles. I spent around $250 to replace an EGR valve when the connection had corroded and led to a CE fault. Other than that I have only done 3,000-mile interval oil changes and once replaced tires. Never even a tune-up, and I have put over 45,000 additional miles on it.
I have owned three Ford vehicles in my lifetime, and I will never again make that mistake. On every single one, a problem developed that led to a computer code saying one part was bad, and when that part was changed and the problem did not go away, another code and another part had to be changed, and on and on until I would finally give up and junk the car.