The instrument cluster gauges start dancing back and forth, then the tack gauge maxed out and stuck under the shift indicator. I went to a ford dealer in fort wayne in. And they removed the cluster and broke off part of the tack needle so it can't become stuck again. Still to this day (a year later) the gauges start dancing and sometimes freeze in a position. Once it showed I was doing 80 MPH while stopped at a stop light. Some days they work then other times they dont. I recently found out this is a common problem with ford windstars. Look up dancing gauges windstar on you-tube and see all the issues people show. If this is such a big issue why isnt something being done about it? Respectfully, [xxx] information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6).?
2000 Ford Windstar electrical complaints
Page 2 of 9: complaints 11 to 40 of 222, newest first, as owners wrote them.
The ABS warning light came on. When driving car over 45mph, the speedometer starts jumping all over the meter and the odometer is no longer reading miles. This is the same exact issue as the federal safety agency campaign number 09v399000. Apparently, even though ford recalled windstars, our windstar was somehow not qualified even though we're not experiencing the same exact issue.
So I fixed my defective instrument panel cluster and got a ABS error code c1185 which is a bad ABS relay. This relay is defective by being on the back side of a heat-sink plate that makes the board expand and contract allowing for some, if not all, of the solder joints break. As it stands now I have no idea if my van is safe to drive in its current state with the failure of that relay nor would I like to risk it. So my van sits drivable however, not used because of ford's lackluster performance on recalls. I will not pay for their mistakes anymore!!! It"s criminal!!!!!
I was driving my vehicle and the gauges in my instrument panel cluster started to go all over the place. The RPM indicator broke off against my gear selector indicator. Replaced instrument panel cluster and had to buy a new key(only had once key from previous owner) and reprogram both keys to new anti-theft device built into said instrument panel cluster. There was no problems with any of the wiring coming to the instrument panel cluster either. When I asked my mechanic what had happened he said it was a common problem with this year, make and model and happened a lot. Also when I replaced the part another error came up that I was unaware of because of the defective instrument panel cluster. So this whole time I was driving the vehicle I had no real idea of the state of my vehicle because of this common defect. Very scary!!!! Come to find out that it is another recalled part (ABS relay) that I'm going to have to fill out another complaint form for. Its nice to know that my entire vehicle has a build-in defect that allows for complete negligence of the state my vehicle is in.
Having ABS and electrical problems. Over drive lights was blinking so I had a full scan done. Abs system shows about 12 error codes and the ABS light wasn't on. Check the light and the light works. The mechanic seems to not to understand the problem. This problem is very alarming to me because this can be really bad for my family safety. Also another code pulled for the alternator overcharging the battery which never turned the check engine on. Check engine was proven to work and that was repaired and work to fix it.
Anti-theft system failed while in motion. Several failures over the last few months. Dealer failed to diagnose problem properly the first time I brought the car to him. Finally obvious failure. Limped carefully to the dealer. Safety hazard of course.
Abs brake, cruise control, and speedometer/odometer electrical problems.
For some reason my instrument panel custard needles started,to bounce up and down for no reason and sometimes its ok.than you be driving and everything its ok, but than there goes the needles bouncing up and down again and than it stops or if I stop at store or gas station and start the ignition again it does it again.problem 2, before the fires on the ford vehicles on the cruise control switch mine had already burned out as I was at the store parking lot I picked up my hood and there was the smoke and short wires below the brake fluid holder I fixed it,on my own than see all the problems on the daily news. This happen when I only hadabout 85000 miles.problem 3, for some reason I'm having with my ABS,the light keeps coming on and my brakes don't work right,but when the ABS light is off my brakes work fine, I tell you ford can really make sorry vans like the windstar lx model.
After a little research, I found that this is a very common problem with windstars. There is a switch (called the brake pressure deactivation switch) hooked to the braking system that detects when the brake has been pushed and stops the cruise control accordingly. Well? This switch is known to develop leaks, which allows brake fluid to run down into the wiring and cause a short. This blows the fuse which controls the speedometer, A/C, odometer, etc.
Tl-the contact owns a 2002 ford windstar. The contact stated that while driving 60 MPH, the vehicle stalled without warning. The vehicle was able to restart. The failure occurred on numerous occasions. The dealer or independent mechanic was unable to diagnose the failure. The manufacturer was not aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 88,262. Ne
Abs lights came on and ABS stopped working and speedometer RPM stopped working.
Abs light stays on making them inoperable.
Tl* the contact owns a 2000 ford windstar. The contact stated the gauges fluctuate and the ABS light continuously illuminated. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 134,000.
Abs light come on without any specific reason - ecu master relay has a bad soldier joint which fails prematurely and causes the ABS light and dtc c1185. It also causes the enhanced ABS braking system to become inoperable.
Tl* the contact owns a 2000 ford windstar. The contact stated that the ABS warning indicator illuminated and the RPM gauge displayed inaccurate readings. The vehicle was taken to a private mechanic and the instrument cluster was replaced; however, the failure was not remedied. The manufacturer stated that the vehicle was not included in the federal safety agency campaign number: 09v399000 (vehicle speed control). The failure mileage was 150,000.
Abs light and traction control lights coming on. Sliding doors not fully locking coming open while driving.
The brake light comes on. The brake fluid is low. Filled the fluid up. A week later same thing happens. I could not find a leak. Finding a puddle of brake fluid under the van I had to make a better effort to find the leak. The leak is coming from the brake pressure differential deactivation switch. I went to this site to find out more information about this problem. Http://www.fordwindstarrecall.info/
The brake pressure differential deactivation switch (scds) (2b264) located under the master cylinder (behind the air filter) over time develops a leak. This causes a short and a fuse trip, fuse #10 if the engine is on. This leak also causes brake fluid to wick down two wires to the ABS brake module (2c219). The fluid accumulates on the (always on) power connectors for the ABS brake system which are powered by fuses 101 and 102 and are both 40 amp. The fluid attracts moisture, road salt and leads to a fire when the fluid and moisture act as conductor between the hot leads and ground. This switch has been the subject of other ford recalls, just not my windstar van yet. My wiring harness when inspected was wet with brake fluid, including the connections and the inline fuses, which basically permits electricity to jump past the inline fuses and continue to heat up the wiring harness. The fuses bodies crumbled when inspected. Since most double side door vans are predominantly driven by large families, the possibility of multiple fatalities per vehicle due to a horrific death from being burnt alive is a valid point to consider. Most vehicle fires spread so fast that unstrapping multiple small children from restraint seats would take an inordinate amount of time, especially with smoke inhalation and the heat of flames to prohibit rescue. Thank you for investigating this.
Tl* the contact owns a 2000 ford windstar. The contact stated that the instrument panel failed. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was found that the instrument panel needed to be replaced. The manufacturer was contacted and informed the contact that the vehicle was not included in the federal safety agency campaign number 00v351000 (electrical system). The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was not available.
Abs light on dash and other warning lights malfunction at different times along with displays that have characters in dash that are un-familiar. Beeps occur that I find no explanation in manual. Have had 2 malfunction in electric door locks and it is impossible to manually unlock passenger side doors from outside doors. Rear door latch cannot be opened except with key in event of certain types of crashes especially if occupants are not conscious.
Abs light on speedometer odometer don't work.
Abs light stays on! Abs system does not operate!
Abs light came on while driving. No problem detected. Light comes on after driving for awhile and the engine gets up to normal operating temp. Mechanics tell me the ABS module is bad. I have two windstars and this happens on both. Ford definitely has a problem with the ABS module!
Abs light continues to come on intermittently. No immediate affect on braking until used hard. Then rear brakes lock-up immediately. Sliding doors will not open using overhead control. Locks do not 'un-lock' when unlock is depressed. Child protective door locks are off, and still the sliding doors will not operate from inside handle. The only automatic function that operate on the sliding doors is the 'close door' button on both sides. Exterior handles do not open the door until the locks are manually/physically forced into the unlock position. Dashboard lights and gauges go out-of-control randomly. Ie: speedometer goes from 0 - overspeed, tachometer does the same as well as fuel and temp.
Instrument panel stopped working. Unable to determine speed, gas level temp, etc accurately. Other people on the web have been complaining about this for years. The problem appears to be cracked solder on the instrument panel circuit board. This should not happen and should be recalled and corrected.
I was driving on the highway and all my instrument panel needles (speedometer,gas, RPM, mileage, temperature) were all jumping around. This went on all the way home. I parked the car but the RPM needle was stuck I was able to move the RPM needle but now its broke .the instrument panel continues to sporadically go from working, to not working at all, to all the needles jumping around.
Rear windshield wiper is not working. Mechanic states the rear wiper motor has water damage and must be replaced.
I was driving on the highway and all my instrument panel needles (gas, RPM, mileage, temperature) were all jumping around. This went on all the way home. I parked the car but the RPM needle was stuck and I could not shift the car into park (p) and could not turn off the car. I called a local mechanic and he came over and put the car in neutral (n) and turned off the car. The car had to be towed to the mechanic to have the instrument panel checked. The mechanic was able to move the RPM needle so that I could shift the car but the instrument panel continues to sporadically go from working, to not working at all, to all the needles jumping around. The mechanic was aware that I had the transmission done 3 times since I bought the car in sept. 2003 and told me that the malfunctioning instrument panel may be contributing to the transmission issues.
All of the dashboard needles began flipping back and forth sporadically. They would bottom out below the 0 mark for a while registering no speed or gas tank amount and then start jumping around again. When I attempted to park the vehicle, the speedometer needle was lying across the bottom and kept the car from being able to go into park. At this point, the car was unable to be turned off completely, unable to be re-started, unable to steer and I had to hold my foot on the break in order to keep it from rolling. We were eventually able to start and then drive the vehicle home once the needle jumped back up. Once again in the driveway, it did the same thing and we had to drill a hole in the dash in order to manually move the needle out of the way so the van could be placed in park. We will be having it towed to a repair shop.
Abs light comes on and off while driving, cruise control does not work, speedometer and rmp guage goes crazy and stops working, leaking break fliud but can't seem to locate problem, interior lights flicker on and off, door locks will start going up and down while driving, rear passenger door does not close all the way and will sometime pop out but not completely open while driving, makes noise when turing left I had the rack and pinion changed but that did not solve the problem the noise just got worse.
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