Engine head gasket blew out after eight days warranty ran out. Consumer believed this was a manufacturer's defect which should be honored by dealer. Also transmission failure.
1995 Ford Windstar engine complaints
Page 45 of 55: complaints 1,301 to 1,330 of 1,613, newest first, as owners wrote them.
We are submitting this notice because the auto repair shop that performed the work indicated that they had seen an unusual of relatively new windstars and tauruses (same engine) had been brought in with the same engine failure.
We purchased our windstar from hertz sales in boise idaho in may 1995 with about 15,000 miles on it. We transferred the rest of the new car warranty to our name. Near the end of november we received a notice from ford about head gasket problems. The wording in the notice, which was not a notice of recall, LED us to believe that any problem we had would not be covered, and at that time we had not had any engine problems. The middle of january 1999 the heater quit working. We took it to two local mechanics who added coolant. When the heater still would not work properly one said there might be a problem with the head gaskets. We took the van to meridian ford in meridian, idaho. They charged us $2000 to rdo the heads. They did not tell us that redoing the heads may cause the main engine to fail due to damage from leaking coolant into the engine. On april 4, 1999 the engine failed at 65 MPH freeway speeds. Fortunatley we were near an exit and a truckstop or we would have been in serious danger on the freeway. We had the van towed to meridian ford. As of today, april 10, they still have the van. They could not get ford to pay for any of either the first or second repair. They want $2500 to put in a new short block. We have found out on the internet that ford has helped pay for some repairs even though mileage was above that included in their notice and even though some problems occurred after the dec 31, 1998 deadline for remedying any problems. We tried to contact ford ourselves through customer service and otherewise and were stone walled at every step. The people were rude and demeaning in their manner. With the major problems with the 1995 windstars it is apparent that ford should have issued a recall. The problem stems from faulty headgaskets. Ford knew they were faulty. They sent a slick worded notice at the end of the year during the holiday season and gave only a very short time to act before the year end deadline. We want ford to make it righ
While driving at any speed vehicle stalls/ overheats, and the temperature gauge will go up to high. Also, engine check light keeps coming on. Consumer just got the vehicle out of the repair shop, and the same problems have reoccurred.
Ford sent letter saying warranty extended to 60,000 mi. Failures occur usually beyond this mileage.
My local ford dealership told me of the hidden warranty that existed on the head gasket of the 1995 ford windstar. They asked for my mileage and VIN number up front. They told me that the vehicle was covered and had me tow the vehicle to them. After a week they have come back and let me know that the vehicle was not covered because of the mileage which I gave to them in advance. If known this in advance I would have had the vehicle fixed at the mechanic's location that I had the vehicle towed from. My wife and I have been with one vehicle for almost two weeks and have two children that go to different schools because of their age. My investigations on this problem has found numerous complaints on this model. Most failures happening just out of the extended warranty. Ford has acknowledged the problem but would not correct it unless there was damage occurring. This sounds like a way to keep their costs down for repairing what they knew as a defect.
Ie98080, coolant is leaking from engine head gasket which may mix with the oil and spring into the engine and cause a fire.
Head gasket blown, possible cracked block. Ford won't help pay.
Head gasket in engine failed, causing overheating of engine.
Had received a service bulletin regarding engine head gaskets. Dealership refused to repair unless head gaskets had blown out. Had to get timing chain replaced. The motor blew out & anti-freeze leaked through the motor.
Ie98080; while driving engine head gasket blew out, and the vehicle stalled in an intersection which almost caused an accident. Ford did an owner's notification for the head gaskets, but it was on december 31, 1998. At that time occupant did have vehicle inspected, but it was determined that there was no problem with head gaskets. But, in mar 99, vehicle experienced head gasket failure. Please provide further information.
Was not informed by ford of the "owner's notification" program. Told by thee that time had expired. Would like your office to see if they will extend their program. 75000 miles is way too soon for a head gasket. I understand that there are thousands of similar complaints. Thanks.
Ford recalled the head gaskets in the '95 windstars. They sent their letters out, and I took mine down to the dealer near me to get it checked out. They said that it passed the test. But three months after that my gasket blew out while I was sitting at a red light. I called their customer service number and they told me they could not help. How can I get ford to pay for their defective part that they recalled because of premature failure? I would appreciate any information you could give me. Sincerely, serena terry.
There are evidently severe problems with the 1995 windstar head gasket and transmission. When will the government respond to our complaints and force ford to take responsibility for their mistake?
No summary listed for this vehicle.
My windstar recent engine failure was preceeded by the "check engine" warning indicator coming on as I was driving the vehicle. I pulled off the road to investigate. Upon opening the hood I was immediately exposed to a dousing of both boiling water & steam escaping from the radiator overflow reservoir which overflowed itself from the head gasket malfunction. I received painful burns on both my hands and face.
Head gasket failed at 48k and again at 53k miles. Ford's extended warranty 98m01 for the gasket ends at 60k, but should be extended to cover recurring failures, and should encompass other/later engine damage caused by the gasket failure.
Head gasket replaced last august, now head is cracked and needs replaced
While driving approximately. 70mph heard noise, slowed down to 20mph and vehicle continued to make loud clunking noise. Dealership turned engine off and vehicle never started again.
While driving at 70 MPH and without prior warning the engine head gasket blew out and the ant-ifreeze leaked out into the oil.
Blown head gasket occurred at stop sign, huge plume of white smoke. Luckily, this did not happen on the freeway and caused a crash/fatality. Ford knows there is a problem with the head gasket per their service program 99m01. People can and will get hurt by the vehicles that were not repaired by this program that expired 12/98. My wife said the plume of smoke was huge, it could block the view of drivers behind a vehicle that has this problem along with causing the sudden stoppage of the vehicle that has its engine seized up as a result of a blown head gasket. Please refer to the web site of http://www.primecutsofbluegrass.com/windstar2.htm for a list of other vehicles that have had this problem, and be sure to know that this list was just started this month on 3/13/99. 24 vehicles in 17 days, someone is going to get hurt. And this is just a list of the 95 windstars, the ford 'program' covers 94 & 95 taurus and sable owners also.
Never received a notice of extended warranty of head gaskets. They went 5 days after 12/31/98. Dealership paid for the repair, but now engine had to be replaced because of the head gaskets.
Consumer received a safety bulletin dated june-98 regarding engine head gasket failure. Consumer exprienced the problem in march-99 and the bulletin has expired.
Head gasket failed, causing starter nose to shear off, and coolant to be ejected onto emission control components, including catalytic converter) and out of exhaust system.
Ford has been notified that I never received any notification for any head gasket problem which is now costing me an excess amount of money.
No summary listed for ths vehicle.
Engine head gasket failed just after recall expired. It was tested only a few months before and tested ok.
Received a letter from ford june, 1998 stating that premature failure of head gaskets may occur. They would pay for this if van is less than 5 yrs old or has less than 60,000 miles or if head gasket fails between june, 1998 & december, 1998. Our van had 89,000 miles & head gasket failed march 3, 1999. Ford would not pay. I called ford customer service dept. 03/28/99. They said that our only recourse is to wait to see if ford issues another no-charge warranty for this coverage. Thank you for your attention to this matter.
I have spent $2,650.00 on this van.it is still a death trap. No safety defect listed in summary.
This vehicle has been in for service since we bought it new for engine check lights and poor runability. Compression tests ran in november because engine ran poorly. Dealer replaced oxygen sensors ,and then a month and a half later, the head gasket failed. Ford would not honor the recall since it expired on dec. 31,1999. I think the dealer missed the diagnosis all along, the gasket was failing. The failures of the gasket and transmission along with the numerous sensor replacements has cost me about $5800. These problems are too numerous in numbers, many 95 ford windstar owners are having the same or worst problems. These problems are well known to ford and they refuse to take responsibility. You must make these recall issues to force them to improve their quality.
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