1995 Ford Windstar GL from North America - Comments

You should be asking what HAS NOT gone wrong with this piece of crap. Then, my message would be much shorter.

Anyway, the first thing to go was the tie rod ends - but at least the van was still in warranty when those went.

Next, it was the CV half shafts - again still in warranty, but a pain nonetheless.

Now, my luck is running out. The timing cover gasket blew and the Ford dealer wanted $1500 to fix (The van wasn't even paid off yet!!!). I told them to forget it and called my brother-in-law (who is a Ford mechanic). He fixed it for $600 (including $200 to tow the car from Cincinnati to Columbus, Ohio where he lives).

Now, I'm just waiting for the head gasket or the transmission to go next. There are numerous electrical glitches as well - power windows and door locks operate by themselves!!! and the door ajar chime goes off at random.

This van is an absolute piece of junk.

The Ford dealer is worthless when it comes to addressing these issues (especially the head gasket one) and Ford Customer Service is unresponsive and numb.

I will never, ever buy another Ford product as long as I live. Even if Ford was the only car company on earth, I'd walk a million miles before buying one of their pieces of crap again!! If you're a middle income family with little money to burn, stay away from Ford!!

My 95 windstar has 70,000 miles and the transmission has to be replaced - 3000 dollars.

The inside lights stay on, the ABS lights stay on, and maybe some times the piece of junk might even stop after replacing the entire braking system. I will never purchase another Ford as long as I am driving cars.

I purchased a used 95 Ford Windstar about 1 year ago. It has about 65,000 miles and after having the van for a couple months, I had to replace the tranmission (2000.00). I'm still paying for that.

After contacting the previous owner, I found out that this is the second time the transmission has been replaced. I then spent 400.00 for new tires.

The ABS light came on and stayed on for awhile. I replaced the brakes and it seemed to fix the problem.

Every so often it won't even start, that again went away?!?!?! Now the check engine light is on. I am so sick of this piece of !@#$#$%^$@!. We still owe 6,000.00 and hope to be able to trade it in without too much damage. I wish I'd known all this before I bought it.

My 95 Wind-star has been a nightmare.

At 40,000 miles the rear head gasket blew.

Just out of the 36,000 warranty of course.

I had it fixed and 3 months later, the front head gasket blew. My mechanic tells me it is a design defect (cooling ducts too close to the cylinders, therefore not enough gasket between high pressure cylinder and coolant duct. This complicated by thermal expansion problems caused by a cast iron block with aluminum heads). Ford Consumer relations wouldn't even consider any help at all. At 70,000 miles the head gaskets went out AGAIN!. By this time, enough Ford customers had so much trouble with this defect that they threatened a class action suit (so I was told by a Ford mechanic) and Ford released a service bulletin and agreed to compensate. But only for the first repair, not subsequent ones. By 75,000 miles, I have had 3 head gaskets, a radiator, 2 water pumps, numerous sensors, a blown Transmission, door ajar switches, coolant leaks, and the list goes on... I have called and written to Ford consumer relations and have gotten ZIP from them in the form of compensation. I have owned 4 new Fords prior to this purchase, I own a business that uses service vehicles, I have 2 sons soon to be of driving age. Ford was not swayed by this fact and refused to help me in any way. By my estimations, that will cost them approximately 25 vehicles over the next 10 years or so.

I recently bought a 1995 Ford Windstar from my local mechanic. He was working on it for someone and they decided to sell it. Now after reading these reviews I know why. It sounds like a piece of junk nightmare, and to let you all I know I'm not certain when, but the door ajar light is on constantly and I cannot tell why. I'm no mechanic, but all the doors are closed. It is a small problem compared to those listed, but still it will eventually drive me mad.

~ darksidzz - samderenzis@mail.com.

Good evening. My family had a 95 Windstar. It had a lot of the same problems with internal lights not turning off. We fix the sensors in the door, but the lights failed to extinguish. Then, just before we sold it, it had problems with the Check Engine Light. It's a good thing we traded up for a new 05 Chrysler. --Nikolai.