Vehicle is losing coolant and running rough when first started. A quart is added every 800 miles to vehicle. No lights illuminate on dashboard. Coolant smell is coming through exhaust. Dealer was not notified. Please provide more information.
1996 Ford Windstar engine complaints
Page 7 of 17: complaints 161 to 190 of 472, newest first, as owners wrote them.
At 60-65 MPH, engine blewout with no warning and could have caused an accident. Cause unknown. Dealer notified. *ak personal mechanic found broken connecting rod which damaged two cylinders and crankshaft. Connecting rod experienced metal fatigue due to faulty manufacturing. Engine needs to be replaced.
Consumer stated that due to a factory defect, the engine had to be replaced. It was brought to consumers attention by the service manager that ford motor company had a factory recall on the 1994 and 1995 models for the same problem. *yd
Engine would overheat while driving. Vehicle taken to a repair shop, and was informed of a blown head gasket. Dealer contacted. Feel free to provide any further infromation.
In the 20 months that I've owned this vehicle the engine block has over - expanded twice - causing the head gasket to fail. Both times I was traveling on interstate highways. Thier was no warning prior to failure(complete loss of power due to heat fatigue). Fortunatly I was able to manuever the vehicle off to the shoulder without causing an accident. This is definately a safety concern for other owners of this vehicle.
Engine check light displayed, white smoke billowing out of tail pipe.
Upon starting van, owner smelled coolant, and then noticed that van was losing coolant. Owner took van to dealership, and they told him that he had a blown intake manifold gasket, which caused coolant to enter into exhaust system. Please describe details.
Head gasket failed and was replaced, also a new engine cover was put on, a little over a year later the head gasket had to be replaced again and the engine had to be cleaned and milled due to the sludge build up, serpentine belt noisy.
Head gasket has gone out a couple of times. Consumer has had some oil leakage. Contacted dealer, and the dealer was not willing to do anything.
The left outer tie rod was replace. *yh the fuel injector, timing cover gaskets and wiper blades were replaced. The rear brake light was replaced . The switch headlight control was replaced. The drivers door ajar switch was replaced. Updated
When stopping at a light, engine sometimes will die. Vehicle would lunge forward after pulling off from a stop. Took vehicle to dealer, they replaced something, and two weeks later problem reoccurred. *ak the engine stalls whenever more than one device is turned on at the same time. This problem makes it impossible to turn head lights and windshield wipers on together. The vehicle also shakes violently after being driven for few hours.
My windstar blew its headgasket with 60k miles on it- the engine never ran hot---when check engine light came on I took it to dealer--blown gasket 1800 dollars--checked internet and found at least 200 people with same problem--called ford but they refuse to assist.
Engine loses power while driving, possible head gasket failure, dealer notified.*ak
After driving for 2 minutes the temperature gauge went to hot. Consumer took vehicle to dealer, and they replaced head gasket. *ak engine overheats due to head gaskets and timing cover gasket failure . Consumer stated that windshield was cracked after repair.
Head gasket failed, leaking coolant into cylinder, fouling spark plugs and oxygen sensors. Problem has been ongoing since vehicle had 95,000 miles. Dealer was notified. Please provide more information.
When parked in driveway (thank god) I stepped on brake and pedal went to the floor. Looked underneath and fluid was flowing off of the catalytic converter. Had vehicle towed to nearest dealer (allstar ford, praireville, la) to fix. They advised subject line failed due to corrosion (I have the line and it is corrosion). Failure fits nthsa recall 02v101000 except that vehicle was purchased and registered in louisiana, but I have childern in nj and pa and spend time there each winter and have experienced snow and salted roads many times. In any case there should be an implied contract when you purchase a car that a critical component will not fail due to a preventable design error, or if it fails not be repaired by the manufacturer. I believe any vehicle with this failure regardless of place of purchase or registration should be covered by this recall.
Engine has gone out, causing smoke to come out of tail pipe.
Had on numerous occasion taken my 1996 ford windstar for engine light was told problem fixed only to have light come back on. Proceeded to have all work done due to not being able to afford another vehicle. While searching for aditional information concerning this problem discovered that this is known ford motor problem with this model. If this known by the company as known defect why has nothing been to resolve this beside having the consumer to absorb the financial burden of fixing a known manufacturer's defect.
Consumer states while driving, the check engine light illuminated. Took to dealer and they stated that the head gasket needed replacing. Consumer feels that the gasket should not have went out, there is a common problem with winstars. Please provide any further information.
During routine maintenance check, dealer found head gasket had blown and the pistons broke. Dealer replaced head gasket and cylinder head, also consumer stated that the vehicle would run hot and then cool back down due to the blown had gasket.
Consumer stated the oxygen sensor failed.
Check engine light came on repeatedly and dealership tried to fix as follows: 8,369 miles - replaced spark plug wires; 14,184 miles replaced "bad" hego bank; 34,442 miles replaces plugs 4 and 5; 34,479 miles replaced hego #2; 37,843 miles replaced spark plug wires (again); 38,111 miles replaced bad shaft in synchonizer sensor; 44,489 miles replaced "defective" vacuum elbow; 44,552 miles cleaned resistors and replaced upper intake o rings; 47,420 miles light came on and went off by itself; 50,000+ miles light came on and went off when battery was replaced; 56,000+ miles noticed coolant "disappearing from auxillary coolant tank - took in and dealership couldn't find anything wrong but put in dye -- took back in a few weeks when coolant disappeared again - diagnosis: head gasket failure; had head gaskets replaced, but check engine light would not go off and engine was misfiring -- diagnosis: bent rod .
My head gasket failed arounf 70000 miles! 94 and 95 ford windstars have already been recalled due to head gasket problems. There are many 1996 failures as well. What can we do to get ford to address this same problem with the 96 windstar?
Consumer states vehicle 3.8 v6 engine was losing coolants and running rough while driving, dealer notified and informed of a cracked head gasket. Nlm
The checke engine light keeps coming on. Noticed a small puddle on garage floor beneath vehicle. Took vehicle to dealer. Mechanic dropped oil pan. The bearings had turned to copper, this caused the engine to leak antifreeze. Nlm
Cylinder head gasket problem resulting in internal antifreeze leak, causing bearings to go bad - engine replacement required.
Consumer states that the head gasket failed.
Vehicle experienced head hasket failure and states the federal safety agency stopped their concern at the 1995 ford windstars, consumer believes that the 1996 windstars should have been included since the 1996 vehicle is identical to the 1995 except for the fact they were titled for 1996, a 1996 windstar could have been built in late 1995 and thererfore there is no difference.
My 1996 windstar has a blown head gasket.
While driving vehicle intermittently stalled.
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