2000 Ford Windstar: water leaks into the cabin

Filed Jan 4, 2012 · Visibility · 142,000 miles · MN

Tl* the contact owns a 2000 ford windstar. The contact stated that the vehicle was parked and smoke began to emit from under the hood. The contact did not see flames, but poured water under the hood to put out the smoke. The windshield wiper motor stopped functioning after the failure occurred. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer for a diagnostic test and the technician stated that water entered the wiper motor and started a fire. There was a recall under the federal safety agency campaign id number 01v261000 (visibility:windshield wiper/washer:motor), that may be related to the failure. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and stated that the VIN was not included in the recall. The vehicle was not repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 142,000. Updated 02/22/12

Filed Apr 18, 2010 · Suspension · 141,024 miles · MI

The rear axle beam on my 2000 ford windstar van broke in half suddenly shortly after exiting the freeway. Just prior to exiting the freeway the van shuttered and vibrated bad enough to cause me to slow down to about 50 MPH before exiting the freeway. Fortunately I was only traveling about 30 MPH when the incident occurred. Although both rear wheels collapsed against the inside rear wheel wells and the vehicle swayed from side to side I was able to safely get it stopped with causing an accident. During the past couple of weeks the van had an on and off vibration and seemed to wander in its lane on occasion. I took it in for front end service work last week and had the inner tie rod ends replaced as well as some front end bushings. Although the steering was tightened up, the periodic vibration was still there. It took about 5 minutes on the internet to discover this is not an isolated incident. I found about 130 similar issues/complaints by googling "ford windstar axle problems." this is clearly a very serious safety issue. At this point I don't know if anyone has been killed or injured but I intend to find out. The problem appears to involve 2000 & 2001 windstars with mileage ranging from 70k to 160k. Based on the inspection of my vehicle and review of other posted complaints it appears ford uses a double walled u shaped steel beam to support and connect the rear wheels and springs. The axle beam is not totally enclosed around the spring mounts. Water enters the axle tube and has no where to drain. Over time the water promotes rusts and weakens the axle tube from the inside out until metal fatigue sets in and the axle eventually fails. I suspect this problem will bleed into the 2002/2003 models as they age and eventually rust out. This situation is a virtual time bomb for unsuspecting ford windstar van owners.

Filed Dec 21, 2005 · Body · 81,000 miles · MI

The main recurring problem with my windstar has been a leak in the right rear of the cargo area, resulting in damage to the headliner and a body control module that wiped out the lights, turn lights, brake lights, and dome light in the rear of the vehicle. I purchased it in october of 2002 and had issues with this immediately. The dealer I bought the van from replaced the carpet and attempted to seal the liftgate hinge and electrical connector. There was still a leak and I took it back, their response was that I shouldn't take this van to a car wash. I took it to a mercury dealer and they "fixed" a recall that was supposed to take car of the problem. Despite the effort, it has been leaking for three years and I didn't find out until my wife told me the lights went out. The headliner and carpet were soaked. I also found corrosion on the casing of the body control module, a part that ford was going to charge me almost $400 for. Not including labor. To make a long story short, I ended up taking it to an independant body shop. It's going to cost us $350 to remove the liftgate and repair the damage to the integrity of the body and correct the leak. I was "lucky" enough to find a body control module for $150 that I'll install myself. $500 is a lot ot spend on something that ford should have taken care of on the assembly line, especially since this was the subject of recall. There could have been a fire and my wife is disabled. I've owned three ford products and all have had water leaks. All of these were new or newer vehicles. All of the competing brands I've owned including fiat, gm, datsun and chrysler have never had this problem. The owner of the body shop we took it to pointed out the repairs made by the mercury dealer had also failed. He also commented that the van might have been in an accident, something that was never disclosed to me at sale.

Filed Dec 11, 2003 · Fuel system · MA

After and while raining there an excessive amount of water is getting into the fuel tank from the fuel filler door. This is causing the vehicle to stall frequently or not start at all. After a couple of bottles of dry gas are added the stalling is stopped until more water gets into the gas tank. There is no type of weatherstripping around the fuel filler door that prevents moisture from coming into the fuel filler area and there is alway water there after rain or snow. I have gone to several ford dealerships to look at similar ford windstars and even the new ford freestar minivan and found randomly that on some of those cars there was a rubber stopper attached to the fuel filler door which looks like it would create a seal to prevent water from coming in. However most of the vehicles that I looked at did not have that rubber stopper on the fuel filler door yet it clearly looks like it belongs there.

Filed Feb 19, 2002 · Visibility · ND

Consumer received safety issue notice, recall#01v261000, about wiper motor cover from ford and obtained the new wiper motor cover from the dealer. The wipers failed to operate when first getting into cold car. After car was warmed up and run for a time, wipers would begin to operate, consumer took vehicle to the dealer again and first they replaced the switch and then replaced wiper motor again. Consumer is stating that the wiper motor function operation was the result of faulty engineering by ford motor company. Clearly, water entered the wiper motor cover before corrective repair was initiated and possibly not removed by the dealer. Consumer is expecting a refund from manufacturer.