Tl* the contact owns a 1998 ford windstar. While parking he smelled a burning odor, and then saw flames inside of the engine compartment. He was able to extinguish the fire himself. The manufacturer was notified, and he was advised to call the federal safety agency because they would not provide assistance. No repairs were made. The failure and current mileages were under 184,347.
1998 Ford Windstar engine complaints
Page 2 of 8: complaints 11 to 40 of 193, newest first, as owners wrote them.
On june 13th, 2009, my 1998 ford windstar van caught fire from under the hood causing a total loss of the vehicle and damage to the house. I have since learned that there is a recall of this particular make and model relating to electrical fires under the hood. I want ford to pay for the damage and the loss of my vehicle. About 5500 hundred dollars.
Our 1998 ford windstar van erupted in fire while off and parked in drive way. It had not been driven that day. The fire began in the dash on the driver side and spread so quickly that the van was a total loss.
My wife attempted to start 1998 ford windstar when smoke began to issue from beneath the hood. She immediately removoved herself and dog whereupon the engine caught fire and subsequently exploded. The fire department was called to extinguish the flames but everything fowrward of the firewall was melted down. The windshield had exploded and the interior suffered smoke damage. Everything in front of the firewall was an entire loss. This report is filed after learning that the federal safety agency is involved in investigation of more than 130 other reports of a similar nature. We wish to learn if there is any recourse or class action suit available to us.
Brake malfunction, display of "service engine soon".
I own an 1998 windstar 3 liter engine. On april 16,2008 I parked my car (nose down hill) during a rain storm. Later that evening I notice the running lights were on and would not turn off. I then unhooked the battery. The next morning I jump started the car and drove it briefly to recharge the battery and noticed a smell of hot or burning wires. I looked under the hood and noticed pooling water in the engine compartment. After the engine dried completely the smell went away. While no fire resulted I was extremely concerned. I read the story concerning your investigation of the windstar and thought it relevant.
Two weeks ago our 1998 ford windstar minivan, with 220,000 miles on it, caught fire under the hood while parked, and was totally destroyed. We had been carefully following the maintenance schedule from ford motor company. During the week before the fire, we had problems with the interior lights not always turning off when we exited the van.
No problems with the windstar before the incident. The vehicle was parked and unattended when the owner was alerted by other residents that it was on fire. The smoke was white in color and coming from the front left area of the engine compartment. At the time the fire department arrived, the fire had made its way through the fire wall into the passenger compartment. The investigator determined the fire appeared to have started in the front left corner of the engine compartment evident by the heavier burning in that area there is a v-pattern noted on the back side of the radiator pointing to the center of the engine. The fire appeared to have breached the fire wall at the area where the main wiring harness and steering columns come through into the passenger compartment. Cause was ruled undetermined.
Camshaft position sensor failed and was replace 3 times. Again it is shot. This causes the van to stall and have extremely high idle. Causes to stall usually while stopped, sometimes hesitates upon acceleration. Also: had to pull ABS fuse due to pedal not depressing. Works excellent without ABS. Also:transmission doesn't upshift when accelerating at high speeds/RPM's. Have to let off gas and repress for van to shift to next gear.
Ford windstar throwing persistent ses light p0740. This was common with almost most windstars. There should be a recall for the manifolds/gasket. Rough ride and stalling at dangerous points.
My heat wouldn't come on sometimes, then the hot light came on. Had it in the shop 2 times, everytime said it was fine, only changing out temp gauge. Dec 2005 3rd time took it in, same problem only oil light would also flicker at low idle pulling into parking spot. Took it back in and told them they had to find out what was wrong, it had been going on too long. Told then heavy residue on oil cap, could see dark marks around exhaust pipe. Loosing radiator fluid slowly. I am no mechanic but all I researched showed head gasket. To make story brief, they told me same day all was ok, computer read fine. I told them I was not satisfied and to keep testing. Took 3 days, then they call me to say the problem was that the head gasket had failed. Of course my extended warranty had ended 2 weeks before. They claimed I had been driving it with no oil and tried to get me to buy a new engine! I had been checking the oil myself, never ran low. Oil pan thick with gunk. I had it in for all reg maint, why would it have gotten that bad? $3200.00 later I had new head gasket water pump, oil pump, and various seals and hoses. Picket it up, following day had it back for not wanting to start, rough idle. Another $175.00 later I got it back. Unhappy to know this has been an on going issue and my 98 windstar, fell in the age/miles time frame for the issue. Knowing that one van had this issue they should have know from all my descriptions what the problem was. If found 2 weeks earlier it would have been covered under warranty. Oil light still flickers now and then when pulling into parking spot. I will never but a ford product again. Company was unwilling to work with me, give me any breaks.
I just found out that my head gasket is blown on my 1998 ford windstar. I read up on this and saw that this has been an ongoing problem with ford and they haven't done anything to correct this problem nor do they offer you a solution to fix this problem at their expense.
I purchased a 1998 windstar van from the ford dealer located in corning ca. I have had nothing but trouble with it passing smog for the oxy sensor. And the transmission has never worked right. The turbo thing is bad. When I went to trade it in I found that the vehicle was out of canada. And these things were part of the recalls reported to you. But, ford of corning said they did nothing to this van before selling it to me. I found 14 things wrong with this vehicle. I acted up a month after purchase. But I was on aware of my rights as a consumer. Also, I was not sure what oms meant. The van is stuck in folsom,ca at aamco transmission repair shop. Financed through fireside bank. Ford of corning said they did nothing to the van before I purchased it but cleaning it.
Engine oil found in coolant. Timing cover gasket failure. Loud engine knock from rear valve bank- possible wrist-pin/lower intake gaskets/valve problems.
I have a 1998 ford windstar in which I recently had to replace an oil pan because the mechanic told me that it had warped and was causing an oil leak on the exhaust system. No one has ever heard of a faulty oil pan is there anyone else with this problem?
Found lot of white smoke from the exhaust. Left at repair shop. Repair shop called and mentioned that it is head gasket damage. The repair shop also mentioned that he has seen lot of similar problem with 3.8 l ford windstar gl minivans. Not sure what to do since it might cost about $2,000 to fix.
Service engine light was on and van was running rough. Diagnostics indicated that the intake maniford runner control vacuum motor was stuck. Van would overheat if not replaced.
Vehicle loss coolant gradually over the last couple of years. I never saw any leaks under the vehicle. On several occasions the car was abruptly pulled off the road because we thought it had caught on fire, but we could not determine the cause of the burning smell, we also had brought it to a mechanic on several occasions to evaluate but he could not determine the culprit. The vehicle overheated on oct19th and sprayed coolant and steam which was the first time there was a physical indication that there truly was a problem. The vehicle is presently in the shop at my expense to repair the head gasket, intake manifold and timing chain cover gasket.
Service bulletin #01205 or the federal safety agency #625715 I have a ford windstar gl 1998 I only had it turn over to 70,000 and my engine light keeps coming on and I'm getting trouble code po 171 and I'm also notice that fuel gage don't not go to the full mark and I had to have all 4 h2o sencer replace and now my odemeter and trip meter quit working and I only have 72,000 on my van is there something I can do with these vechile problems that I shouldn't have with such low miles I just bought the van in aug 2004 with only 56,000 are any of these problems on the recall list . Please help if you can I can't afford to keep repairing my van that should be a recall problem.thanks for any help you can give me
1998 ford windstar 3.8l engine, head bolts stretched causing coolant leak into engine, head gasket was not blown so wynn's service contract will not pay for $1800 repair. This is the second major expense, I had to replace the transmission at 80,000 miles.
Engine shuts down intermittently when decelerating into a turn. It also shuts down momentarily (vehicle "bucks") or fully (stalls completely) during normal driving, independent of speed. The latter problem is much more common than the former! Consequence: several near-miss rear-end collisions, especially at highway speeds. The dealership could not replicate the problem. An independent technician replicated but could not properly repair the problem(s). The problems have been occurring for more than two years.
I have a 98 windstar mini van . After the minivan has been running for awhile and you go to stop it will go dead or what you call stalls. So after I crank it back up and try to take off again it will stall again. So therefore I have to make sure there is no traffic coming,because there has been some close calls of me and my children getting into a wreck due to this piece of $#*$.the interior lights will not go off, so my husband had to take the light bulbs out: also the passenger side window will not go down or up. This thing is so bad I wish jimm skinner ford would have just kept the piece of $#*$.
Took van in to have routine oil change and coolant replaced. Repair shop said the head gaskets were gone. Called ford customer service they said sorry but no help was available. Had vehicle towed to dealer. Bill to repair estimated at 1400 usd. Van has been maintained and given good service. Don't think head gaskets should leak at 76000 miles.
Consumer complained about a blown head gasket problem. Anti- freeze was mixing with the oil, causing white exhaust fumes. Consumer contacted the dealer and described the problem over the phone. Dealer told consumer it will cost $1500.00 to repair. The problem. Vehicle was no longer under warranty.
My heating was working intermitently so I brought the vehicle to crown ford in lynbrook to diagnose the problem. I was told that the head gasket needs to be replaced. The radiator also needs to be replaced due to the head gasket leaking into it. Cost for the repair would be approximately $2300. There was a recall on previous years vehicles and there are many tales of woe regarding this problem posted on the web. I don't believe ford has fixed this problem sufficiently for the vehicles produced after 1996.
While driving 30 MPH, the head gasket failed . As a result, a loud noise from the engine was produced. *ak *sc
At approximately 57,600 miles my 1998 ford windstar developed an antifreeze leak. I took the vehicle to my local garage and it was diagnosed as a leak at the timing cover gasket. I had this repaired at a cost of $1453. Two weeks later, as I was driving to a baseball game, my car began to stall. It was hard to start, and the oil light was flickering when the car was running and there was a loud rattle coming from the engine. There was no warning before this happened, the temperature gauge was normal, no rattling sounds from the engine,etc. I had the car towed back to my local garage. My mechanic diagnosed the rattling noise as coming from the lower bearings, the engine bearings were failing at 57,800 miles!!!! I called my local ford dealer where I had bought the windstar and asked them if there were any open programs on the engine, since when the timing cover gasket had failed, I had searched the internet to see if this was a common failure( it was). The ford dealer was no help, I then called ford customer service and they were no help. I then wrote a letter to william clay ford and he had a blaine yung call me on 5/8/2004. Mr. Yung was also no help, quoting that the warranty was 3 yrs./36,000 miles. Meanwhile I had to have the car repaired at a cost of $4200, new remanufactured engine, tune-up, etc. I believe that the defect on the timing cover gasket which caused the original antifreeze leak, leaked antifreeze into the crankshaft and caused the engine failure. This car has been well maintained and should have gotten me at least to 120,000 miles before I need to replace an engine. I have owned many other cars and have gotten at 150,000 miles out of them before I had to do any major repairs (engine or transmission). I feel ford should back their products and own up to this defect.
The head gasket on my 1998 ford winstar 3.8l engine has failed at 90,000 miles, well short of what I would have expected. It appears that ford has issued a recall for older 3.8l engines which have had head gasket failures, but not for this model year. I am registering this complaint in the event that other ford owners are experiencing the same problem.
1998 ford windstar head gasket failure with vehicle just over warranty coverage status. Normal maintenance record as well as driving techniques/habits.
Our 1998 fird windstar engine siezed
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