1995 Ford Windstar GL review from North America

The ABS light came up and won't shut off, that's in the 1st two years we own the car (brand new), can't remember the mileage, but we were not heavy users. We brought it to the dealer, and the mechanic did a fancy electrical diagnosis on it and still can't find the problem. Of course, we spent a big chunk on that. Just so happened, one day we hit on the brake hard, emergency stop for a reckless driver cutting in front of us, miraculously the ABS light went off and stayed off for about a year. The same problem showed up again after a year, but disappeared after we added some brake fluid, then appeared again, but became fine and stayed so after we replaced the brake pad. No one can explain why the ABS light acted that way - not even the Ford dealer's mechanic, and it works fine now.

Then the head gasket blew. At first it's just some light smoke coming out from the muffler, that I thought we needed to replace one. We brought the car to a Ford dealer, and found it's the gasket that caused the problem and was advised to replace it soon. As you can see, I am not much a car person. Within 2 days, thick smoke coming from front and back of the car while I was driving from work, I have to stopped the car at roadside, and have it towed to the Ford dealer. It costed me a little over one Grand to have the gasket replaced. Luckily (or not??) I received a recall notification from Ford Manufacturer claiming the gasket design is bad and could easily causes problem in certain states with humid weather, anyhow I got a reinstatement for the part & labor for replacing the gasket, but Ford refused to reimburse us the $49.99 labor on the 1st Check-up. Well, at least we got about one grand back.

A year later, it's the Power Window. We were away for 2 months in Summer, we asked our friend to come start the car at least once a week. He did, but only drove it on the road once. Well, after we came home, the first week, the right+front passenger power window started acting funny. It's getting harder to wind it up and down. It struggled for less than 2 months and finally "died" on us. We thought it's the sizzling sun of Florida melted something inside the panel - since the car was practically left in the same spot for the whole summer, and that side was "baked" everyday. We didn't have the money to fix it, and since winter was coming, we figured we can live without it for a while. Now the Driver side window is acting up, and we are afraid to use it, and it becomes embarrassing when we pass by drive-thru, toll booth and security gates, that we have to open the door and get out to explain the puzzled guards.

After some extensive research, we think it's the problem of the bearing/plastic gear, rather than the motor itself, but still it would cost us hundred for a simple lubricating job. We want to try it ourselves. But first of all, we need to figure out how to take the door panel apart. Anyone know how?