Exceeded ford's 60k warranty on head gaskets and ford refused to cover replaced
1995 Ford Windstar engine complaints
Page 37 of 55: complaints 1,061 to 1,090 of 1,613, newest first, as owners wrote them.
The engine froze up. This was due to the head gasket problem that this 3.8l v6 engine is known for. The only indication we had was erratic readings of the temperature gauge. It would climb to the upper range but then drop immediately. There was no white smoke coming from the tailpipe. I planned on taking it to my mechanic to check it out except that the engine locked up. My mechanic said the head gasket must have been blown and antifreeze was mixing in the oil. He said that with this engine one time of overheating can cause the headgasket to blow. The entire engine had to be replaced. After some research it appears ford is well aware of this problem. Their solution was to extend the warrenty to 60000 miles but not tell anyone about it. Doesn't help me anyway. This is obviously a mechanical defect with the engine. Overheating one time should not require headgasket replacement or a new engine.
Head gasket blew without any prior warning, even though vehicle had been meticulously maintained
Transmission replaced however continues to experience problems with surging. Mjs
In march 1999 the head gasket failed on my 1995 ford windstar.the failure occurred at 75000 miles which was beyond ford's extended warrenty for this defect by 15000 miles as well as being beyond the dec.1998 cutoff date.when we contacted ford's customer relations department we were told this was "normal wear and tear" so we had to eat the $1000 repair bill.in may 1999,on the way home from work after midnight the low oil pressure warning indicator came on.the upsot of this was a complete engine rebuild again at my expense;$2800.00.last monday,october 4,1999 on the way back to louisville,ky.from waymart,pa. In maryland the transaxle gave out 600 miles from home.repair bill for this,$1800.00.the safety issue in all of this?anytime you are stranded along the side of the interstate away from home after dark your safety is in jeapordy.
Oxygen sensor failed. Mjs
While driving at 30 MPH consumer notice smoke coming from the front of vehicle due to engine head gasket blowing out.
Rocker arm is cherping and knocking. A tsb has been issued on the vehicle . The dealer and manufacturer have been notified.
Head gasket has blown, leaking coolant into the oil pan. A service recall has been issued on the vehicle, however the owner was not notified. The manufacturer has been notified.
I had received the extended warranty notice from ford stating they had a problem with premature failure of the head gaskets on the 95 windstar. The letter stated the warranty was only extended to 60,000 miles or 5 years. My van started overheating whenever I would drive it. I re-plenish the antifree several times. The check engine light came on and it had a heavy exhaust. I thought at first it was a sensor going bad but when I took it to the shop to be checked. They informed me the head gaskets were blown. I contacted a local ford dealership. They told me they could not fix the problem since I had over 60,000 miles on the car, even though it was less than 5 years old. They gave me ford customer service's number to call. I spoke to them and they said they could not fix the problem because the warranty had expired. I could understand this problem if I had abused the van. However, I kept the maintenace up on it. I think ford should be made to recall the "1995 ford windstar" to correct this problem.
No summary.
Head gasket blew causing a lot of strong smelling, white smoke to come from under the car and out of the exhaust. My wife had four children in the van at the time. She stopped the car and got all the children out of the van - thinking it might blow up. We had the car towed to the dealer and found out the head gasket had blown requiring $1,400 to $2,500 in repairs (depending on the severity). We chose to have just the gasket replaced but will probably need to have lower engine work down in a few months for another $1,000 or so.
The blown head gasket is a major problem with the 3.8l engine. I have researched this problem and found that many others have had similar problems. If you need numbers, they are out there.
No summary.
Engine head gasket malfunctioned, causing the vehicle to stall unexpectedly which may resultin a crash. Common problem. There was a tsb bulletin but it has expired. Please provide further information.
The head gasket has blown twice in 53 weeks, and from what I have seen on the web this is not an isolated incident.
High temperature indication during dileing and 0-15mph. Took to local ford dealer and was told that I have a bad head gasket that will require me to replace the engine. The dealer told me coolant has leaked into the engine and crankcase and that replacing the engine is the best alternative. Replacing the head gasket would be a temporary fix as they have experienced a lot of failures with this engine before .
Engine failed. Nlm
While driving vehicle started to overheat. Noticed white smoke coming from tailpipe. Vehicle at dealer & informed consumer that enginehead gaskets had blown & needed to be replaced.
While driving at 35 MPH engine head gasket blew out, and the consumer saw a lot of smoke coming out of the rear view mirror.
Engine head gaskets blew out, resulting in overheating, causing a hole in the engine dealer will repair the gaskets.
Engine head gasket has blown out at 80,000 miles, causing potential saftey hazard. Please provide further information.
Blown head gasket. This was a properly maintained engine and there was no warning of any problem. I am faced with buying a new long block at a cost of $4700. From ford.
No summary.
No summary.
The head gasket failed and therefore the engine was damaged. Ford stated there was a design flaw and they extended their warranty from 50,000 mi. To 60,000 mi. The only problem our van had 63902 mi. It was giong to cost us $4000 but after pressing the issue ford agreed to pay $3500. Since then I have found 7 other similar cases of head gasket failure at aboout the same mileage in the greater dayton area.
Timing cover gasket & seal failure and cylinder head gaskets failure at 48,834 miles. Symptoms were hesitation/jerking when accelerating & coolant loss. Both failure symptoms began at the same time, increasing in frequency for 1-2 weeks until "engine warning light" came on. Vehicle was in for routine maintenance, including cooling system flush/coolant replacement about 2 months prior to failure, & no problem was identified at that time. Dealer covered cost of cylinder head gasket replacement, but did not cover timing cover gasket & seal replacement($708.61). Appealed to corporate level, asking if the coolant leakage might be the root cause of the known cylinder head gasket problem, but they refused reimbursement, saying both failures were independent. I find it oddly coincidental & hard to believe that both problems initiated at the same time, but are unrelated.
The vehicle is losing water and overheating due to a blown engine head gasket. Dealer says gasket needs to be replaced between the block and the head.
Head gasket failures - 3 times @ 54,000, @65,000, @74,000 miles
Head gaskets bad - this is a known problem which ford has already admitted is a design flaw. They repaired cars with under 60k miles (which owners self-diagnosed) free. The problem is that most owners can't tell they have the problem until after 60k miles. The symptoms are often subtle, and don't immediately point to head gaskets as their cause. Ford obviously should have recalled these vehicles for inspection and repair as needed. Instead they decided to only deal with the few owners who managed to figure out on their own that the head gaskets were the problem. My car didn't show symptoms until it had been driven over an hour (sometimes several) on long trips - an infrequent occurance. Therefore I couldn't have known about the problem until I drove it on enough long trips to see the symptoms. Make ford pay for their mistakes!
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