10th Jul 2007, 10:17

I have a 2001 Windstar LX and the right hand sliding door is grinding now. I figure it just needs to be lubricated, how do I do it and what product do I use?

My cars history is here http://www.devwebsphere.com/ford_windstar_owners_blog/

13th Jul 2007, 13:14

I have a 98 windstar with a passenger window issue. It does not work unless I remove door panel and tap window motor with hammer. It will only work for a short while though. Any ideas?

19th Jul 2007, 16:35

I own a 1999 Windstar and have it in the dealership for the 4th time in last 3 weeks. The #16 fuse keeps blowing, which disables the instrument cluster, then when you turn the vehicle off it won't restart, but headlamps and heater fan stays on. Dealership replaced instrument cluster on 3rd trip, but fuse blew next day, this time COMPLETELY disabling car. They now say the 1st inst cluster was "bad" and they have replaced with another. Quite frankly, I'm afraid to get out on the road with it. Can't find any similar problem on the Internet, any ideas?

25th Aug 2007, 00:39

Have a 2001 Windstar LX with 141K miles. The car has been faithfully maintained since purchase. For the last few months the car turns off while driving. It sometimes gives a warning with rough idling, sometimes not. Have brought it to 3 mechanics; they cannot determine what's wrong.

I suspect water in tank - besides carburetor cleaner & dry gas, am wondering if there is anything else that may help?

25th Oct 2007, 11:54

If you Windstar suddenly idles roughly and stalls be sure to check the intake manifold runner controls. The bellows may be cracked causing a vacuum leak.

9th Feb 2008, 22:10

2003 Ford Windstar:

I purchased it when it had 55,000 miles, and it now has 94,000 miles on it.

Since owning it, I have replaced brakes once, tires 3 times due to worn inner tie rods and wheel alignment out.

Got the CV axle replaced and the alignment done; that fixed the wearing on front tires.

Then my car wouldn't start, so I replaced the battery, but later that day after replacing the battery, the car died again. Found out the alternator wasn't charging the battery, so I replaced the alternator.

Was good now, then 2 months later I started hearing weird noises in front of car soon as I started up. Then one morning the car didn't start at all. It would try to start, but couldn't get it to turn over. Thought it was starter so I had it tested and Pep Boys found it was bad, so I replaced it, but the problem was still there.

I noticed the car was trying to crank, but something was resisting it to turn over. I took off serpentine belt and checked all accessories for freedom of rotation, and found the A/C compressor was completely seized and wouldn't allow the engine to turn over. Currently have disconnected the A/C compressor, but had to remove alternator to get to the mount bolts.

Problem now is everything is so tight spaced that I am having problems to clear the compressor to come out through the bottom. Seems I can only pull it out through the top, but I have to remove the alternator mount bracket and pulley to clear it. Got one bolt out, but other alternator mount bracket bolt is rounded and is real tight. Fun, fun, fun... Now I have to spray WD40 on the bolt, let it sit overnight and try to find a good tool to remove that rounded bolt head, so I can get the alternator mount bracket out, so I can get the A/C compressor out of the engine. What a mess.

Once I get this fixed I'm getting rid of this Ford.

11th Mar 2008, 10:34

I have a 1998 Ford Windstar GL. I'm about to replace the idler pulley. I've heard that the bolt might be a left-handed thread. Does anybody know if this true?

15th Apr 2008, 19:31

I was reading the comments from everyone on this site and was amazed at how many have the same problems. Reading the first persons comments, I thought it was me speaking. I have 198,500+ miles on my '98 Windstar now and do all of the work on it myself. One thing that I wanted to let everyone know about is the transmission fluid change. When I replace my transmission fluid, every 30,000 miles, I replace the filter and I always add one quart of Lucas Transmission Additive. After doing this, it is amazing how well the transmission shifts. I can tell when it's getting close to the time when it needs to be replaced, because it starts to shift hard and bangs into gears. I've also had a bearing in a steering knuckle seize up. The steering knuckle was destroyed and the only replacement available was from a recycle/junk yard. So far, I haven't had any additional problems with it. I have the problem with the rear A/C not shifting out of heat mode, so from all of the comments, it sounds like I need to replace the dash switch. Just today the front controls wouldn't shift out of the defrost vent position, so I probably have to replace that switch as well, because I checked the vacuum and the vacuum motors and they all appear to be OK. I guess I can't complain too much considering the miles on the vehicle, but it seems Ford would look at the continuing same problems they have on a vehicle and engineer the problems out of it.

21st Apr 2008, 08:51

Per my previous comments, I replaced the switch that controls the rear heat and A/C, but still didn't have any change in the conditions. I was going to replace the front control switch but decided to do some additional troubleshooting. I discovered that I had no vacuum at the switches at all. I traced the vacuum lines back and had vacuum at the port feeding the vacuum reservoir. If I attached a vacuum source directly to the vacuum line that feeds the switches, without the other end connected, the line would hold a vacuum. What this indicated to me was that there was something obstructing the line. I decided to run a thin wire up the hose from the switch side and it wouldn't go in more that about 6 inches. I turned the wire several times and pulled it out finding a green goo stuck to it. This took several attempts but finally I was able to clear the clog and all of my vents work again. The goo that was in the line came from the bad rear control switch in the front panel. Just for anyone Else's reference, the vacuum supply line that feeds the front control panel was the black hose with a tee on it that feeds the rear control switch. If you have a vacuum gauge and check it at the end of that hose, you should have 15-20 inches of vacuum. If you don't, there is either a leak, a broken hose or as in my case an obstructed hose. Hope this helps anyone else having these problems.