After owner noticed van was leaking van was driven around and began to smoke. After contacting several mechanics, van was towed to a garage, after being advised not to drive. Van was checked for problems, and engine head gasket was found to be blown. Engine head gasket will be replaced at owner's expense. Please provide any further information.
1995 Ford Windstar engine complaints
Page 26 of 55: complaints 731 to 760 of 1,613, newest first, as owners wrote them.
Engine head gasket blew out, causing coolant to leak onto engine.please provide further information.
The head gasket blew on this engine and thankfully I was covered by an additional warranty. They chose not to replace the engine but to have my mechanic overhaul it. I got the van back a week later and while traveling on the highway the next day the engine just shut down and would not restart which almost resulted in an accident. Thankfully I was able to pull of to the side of the road. Now the mechanic is telling me that the crankshaft is bad. They have already paid out 2200.00 and who knows how much more they will have to pay before they figure out that replacing the engine is the way to go.
Suddenly overheated.blown headgasket. Engine was destroyed.
Head gasket failed while driving.
Transmission failed completely. Yh
No summary listed for above vehicle.
No summary listed for abov evehicle.
Premature headgasket failure on ford 3.8l engine left me stranded at the side of the road in sub-freezing temperatures. Van temperature guage rose rapidly, followed by loss of all heat, reduced power, and illumination of the "check engine" light. Fortunately, I was in a populated area, and I was able to arrange transportation from there. This premature engine failure occurring in a remote area under similar temperature & weather conditions could have been disasterous. Dealer troubleshooting yielded headgasket failure and major damage to #4 cylinder. Van now needs new engine. Personal research has shown that this is a well-known engine design & manufacturing problem plaguing ford 3.8l engines, yet ford motor company refuses to accept any responsibility for the $3500 cost to replace the engine, or to issue a recall to correct the problem before catastrophic damage occurs. Ford's own instruction manuals list headgaskets as a 120,000 mile maintenance item. Headgaskets should last the lifetime of the engine. The dealer acknowledged that this is a huge problem in these engines, but could not or would not help resolve the problem. I was advised of a ford "program" that extended warranty on this problem to 5-yrs, 60,000 miles. This alone seems like ford's accnowledgement of a problem, but is clearly not adequate for a 120,000 mile part. The dealer also acknowledged that not all owners received the notice on the "program" (I haven't found anyone who did), and that they "are dealing with a tremendous number of very-upset customers" because of it. In daily use, this van is routinely used to transport small children, including my 10-year old son who has muscular dystrophy, is non-ambulatory and is confined to a wheelchair. Ford has produced a well-known and well-documented design/manufacturing defect in these engines, and in doing so, has placed the safety of my family (and countless others) in jeopardy, yet refuses to admit the problem, and worse yet, to act.
The alternator went out 4 times and the head gasket went out. Then the engine went out because of head gasket damage. With a total repairs being $7,500.00 dealer only covered alternator after 4 monthes of fighting with them.
This is the continuation of problems with a highly problematic vehicle. 5 years, 90,000 miles have replaced so far: head gaskets, rear suspension twice, front suspension, ignition wires, o2 sensors twice, and now injector and fuel pump. Over $3,000 in out of pocked expenses over what was covered on extended warrantee. Vehicle is not reliable and am looking to trade in on anything other than a ford! At ford, quality is job none!
Consumer has problem with the computer (power train control module #6) which caused the fuel injector to run full time, after the computer was replaced, the engine broke down and replaced, vehicle still having problems again with the engine.
Head gaskets failed at 60,849 miles. Ford would not honor the extended warranty due to excess of miles. Dealer wanted $1,000 to repair the vehicle. When we contacted ford they said there was nothing they could do for us. We purchased the van just 2.5 years ago. The dealer commented that if we had bought the van brand new he might consider trying to help us. Ford should honor the 120,000 miles original lifetime standard and stand by "quality is job 1"!! We are looking to change to a different company such as dodge.
I will also have to replace the rod,camshaft & oil pump at additional costs
Worn head gasket
Temperature gauge went to red many times, and engine check light appeared on the dashboard unexpectedly. Consumer received recall notice 98m01 on that problem. But, dealer did not work on the vehicle because the recall expired. Consumer received two more recalls, 97s88 and 99s33.
A part or bolt broke off and fell in to the oil pan which caused engine problems. Also, while driving it caused vehicle to stall which could have resulted in a crash. Please provide further information.
Billowing smoke caused hazard on road.
Engine head gasket leaks anti-freeze into the engine. Ford is aware of the problem. Problem has not been corrected. Report given by mike prevost(father-in-law) please provide any further nformation.
Ford will not fix problem, warranty expired 7 days earlier. This is a known defect. No safety defect mentioned in summary.
The vehicle overheated and the coolant bubbled, allowing cold air into vehicle when heat was on. This is due to a blown out engine head gasket. Dealer said it needed a new head gasket.
1989 ford taurus, same engine size, same problem at 75,000 miles. Presently own a 1999 ford mustang with the same size engine. Is there a problem with the design/manufacture of this engine? No trailer has ever been towed. Vehicle is driven very casually never fast acceleration, mostly highway type driving. I've never in 40+ years of driving ever blown a head gasket before in anything! Two times with the same size engine - is this coincidence, or a problem with the engine. What can I do so as to not have the same problem with the mustang? All three vehicles have been automatic overdrive transmissions with regular scheduled maintenance. Thank you.
Head gasket failed causing damage to the engine. Yh
The engine is defective and head gasket failed. Yh
Recall repair was not done due to faulty diagnosis (sensors replaced), vehicle continued to overheat and then recall repair completed, however vehicle sustained damage to engine from extensive time of overheating and faulty diagnosis. *mjs 98m01
My 1995 windstar overheated and anti-freeze blew out to the tail pipe like a big cumulus cloud. My wife and kid got so frighten. I found out later that the 1995 windstars have a history of failure in head gasket. I am writing this because I want to help other windstars owner in the future when they are in the same problem. The federal safety agency should demand a recall on the 1995 windstar and ford should covered this part to 100,000 miles on this vehicle.
Engine died and dispursed white cloud (steam) on rr track crossing (hwy6 & hwy85 los lunas) obscured visibility and tail lamps for 3-4 cars behind me. Nice that a train was not coming and all were stopped.
We have a recall letter from ford on the head gasket problem which covers the first 5 years from date of purchase or 60,000 miles. The car overheated on 12/20/99 and it could not be determined at that time by our mechanic at another shop if it was the headgasket. On 12/22/99, the problem occurred again and our mechanic said it was definitely the headgasket but he didn't think the motor was affected. He suggested returning to the dealer, tousley ford, for repair even though, tousley said they would not honor the recall as it was 25 days out of warranty. We were approximately 6400 miles under the 60,000. Tousley had us contact customer service at ford who declined to also honor the warranty. Our mechanic felt that having the work done at the dealer would be the only way we might get any money back on the repair if ford was required to honor this recall. Tousley told us the whole motor needed replacing, not just the headgasket and the repair cost $3,538.15 not including the $35.75 we paid our mechanic to diagnose the problem. We don't feel this has been fair as our mileage was considerably under the 60,000 and feel we are being penalized for not driving enough as we were only 25 days out of the 5 year warranty. Ford knows this is a problem but this eliminates a number of owners who don't use their vehicle enough and saves them a lot of money. This expense, for us, was one and one half month's take home pay and hurt considerably. I don't know if this communication with you will help us get a full refund or even a partial refund, but we would be grateful for any help you can provide. I am also going to file a complaint with our state attorney general's office. I do see the dealer's point in that they cannot honor work not approved by ford, but I don't think either the dealer or ford were fair. Thank you.
Mechanic states that the head gasket needs to be replaced.he just worked on a 1995 mustang with the same size engine with the same problem. Coincidence! I don't think so. Dealership said if the warranty was still in effect, they would cover the cost to repair. 7,000 miles over the warranty. The vehicle had 39,000 miles when we purchased. We have put 28,000 miles on it in 4 years. Somehow I do not think this low mileage would cause the head gasket to blow. I also know that there was a bulletin issued for this same problem on the 95 mustangs. If it was put on the mustangs why not the windstars since they have the same engine?
A loss of heat plus an overheating engine were the first symptoms of an engine problem. A new thermostat was installed, but (8) days later the same symptoms were observed. A service center testing confirmed that the head gasket(s) were blown and required replacement. Ford had extended its warranty to 60,000 miles, but failure occurred at 70,000 miles. Ford refuses to be responsible for this repair. This is the second 3.8 l engine that has had this problem in our family. A 1993 thunderbird with the same engine type had to be repaired at a cost of $1100.
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