2001 Ford Windstar: engine overheating

Filed Nov 3, 2013 · Brakes · 168,110 miles · PA

Arrived at destinations and stopped. Tried to leave, brakes had not released and would not release.. Had to drive home against the brakes which were smoking upon arrival at home. Next day, brakes went back to normal. Two days later, same occurrence. Brakes would not release, overheated, brake pedal pushed hard up with all brakes applied. Nest morning after cool down, brake pedal resting on floor; would not pump up; no brakes. Since I have owned this vehicle, brake and ABS indicators come on for no apparent reason, I.e., 3 drops of rain on windshield and indicators come on. Ford dealer was made aware of this, said it was an ecu problem and did nothing about it, saying it would cost me about $700 to fix.

Filed Apr 27, 2013 · Transmission · 90,000 miles · PA

This 2001 ford windstar minivan was towed to a garage for unrelated malfunction (overheating). Mechanic told us that the rear axle had a hole in it and was unsafe to drive. This minivan had been serviced at a ford dealership for a recall for a possible crack in the rear axle and rechecked shortly before this incident. Obviously the recall did not fix the problem this was the second minivan to which we had this happen. The other was a 1998 ford windstar. We were told in january 2013 that this rear axle was cracked and undriveable. This vehicle too had been recalled and taken in. We had the 2001 minivan checked in january because of the problem with the 1998 and it was still found to be cracked in march.

Filed Jul 27, 2011 · Brakes, Electrical · 95,000 miles · OH

Abs module malfuntios. Abs warning lights. Brake warning lights. Traction control warning lights. Was told by ford dealer that unit overheats - common problem.

Filed Mar 18, 2011 · Body · 58,000 miles · MD · fire

Product recall made on personal vehicle in february 2011 ( notification sent ) however vehicle was turned in for repair because hood and engine was smoking and overheating ! I was informed then that the car could be potential danger and could relate in vehicle detachment. I turned car into ford dealership and check engine light still appears and car can not pass inspection. I feel very unsafe.

Filed Oct 5, 2010 · Brakes · 132,000 miles · DE · fire

I stopped at a red light and noticed smoke puff out from under the left side of my hood. I thought I was overheating, but my temp gauge showed nothing. As I pulled away from the red light and off to the side of the road I noticed my ABS light and my brake light had come on and my o/d light began flashing. My speedometer and odometer had completely shut down. I checked under the hood and saw no visible problems. I drove the vehicle back home and over the next few days I noticed I was losing brake fluid and brake pressure. I parked the vehicle and began driving a second vehicle until I could get a mechanic to check out the windstar. I took it to my mechanic and he said the brake fluid was leaking around the brake pressure differential deactivation switch in front of the master cylinder. He said he had heard there had been problems with this on windstars and recommended I check to see if there had been a recall, which I am doing now.

Filed Jun 29, 2010 · Engine · 261,000 miles · OH · fire

Sometime between 10:30pm of 28 june and 5am 29 june, my 2001 ford windstar spontaneously combusted while parked in the garage of the rectory here at holy assumption church in marblehead, ohio. The van is a total loss as the entire engine compartment and most of the dashboard (on the passenger side) are burnt out or melted. This happened after I twice took my windstar to an authorized ford dealership in response to a recall to have a part replaced connected with the cruise control that has been reported as overheating and causing such a fire. There is damage to the interior of the garage (the local fire department does not know why the fire stopped before burning down the garage - since there is concrete evidence of the intense heat of the fire.

Filed Mar 4, 2010 · Brakes, Driver assistance · 95,000 miles · MI

Abs lights illuminate on dashboard during which time antilock brake system and traction control does not operate at all. This occurs approximately 10-15 minutes after vehicle has been started and lasts the entire time the vehicle is being operated. This problem appears in warm weather around 95% of the time and about 30% of the time when temperatures are below freezing. Appears to be the antilock brake control module overheating but I cannot confirm that. Have had the speed control deactivation switch replaced under recall. Dealer inspected brake system at the same time and said the control module will have to be replaced at a cost of over $1,000. I am hesitant to spend the money as I am not sure if the new control module will have the same defect. I was hoping the previous recall would solve this problem but it did not. Wonder if the two issues are related.

Filed Aug 23, 2007 · Transmission · 65,000 miles · WV

Mid-summer vacation trip from west virginia to north carolina. Within a few miles of return to west virginia the transmission started to leak and eventually lost approximately 8 quarts of fluid. Major slippage started within 6 miles of home. We managed to limp to our driveway before the slippage was so bad we could not move the vehicle forward. I installed 8 quarts of fluid and drove it to repair shop -- no sign of leakage on that 15 mile trip. I subsequently drove the vehicle to a transmission repair shop, another 15 miles with no leakage. The transmission repair shop pulled the transmission, replaced the front seal and replaced the torque converter (slight groove on shaft that repairman said would cause the new seal to fail if the torque converter was not replaced). Vehicle had just under 65,000 miles on it when failure occurred. Note: the seal failure appears to be related to an overheating condition. This is made obvious by the fact that no leaks occurred during two 15-mile trips subsequent to failure and before repair was conducted. Anothe downside to this experience is that after spending $1100.00 for the repair there is no warranty because the transmission repair shop did not disassemble and inspect the transmission, which would have been another major expense. The transmission function appears to be ok but I won't be trusting this vehicle again for long trips out of town. Given the 65,000 mile failure and internet history of low-mileage transmission failures without resolutions from ford, this will be the last ford I will own.

Filed Nov 27, 2006 · Acceleration · 67,699 miles · FL · fire

Failure of cruise control brake switch which caused fire car was "power braking", causing overheat of rotors , brakes, torque converter and transmission.

Filed Feb 12, 2006 · Engine · FL

1) there were 2 major problems with our ford windstar 2001 which we bought brand new from our dealer. The first problem: we thought there was a lot of smoke coming out of exhaust. It looked like it was burning oil. Took it in to the dealer the first time and they replaced a seal. We took a trip and took it back to the dealer and they said there was coolant leaking into the intake manifold and we would need a new engine. We ended up spending about $3500 on the car. The second problem was related to the ABS brain failed and we would need to replace it and that would be about $1200. It was at this point, we decided we would not pursue that repair as that would mean we would have put in about 5k into our car within a year. 3) ford went in "half" with us on the engine replacement. I do not recall the exact date for the first failure. The second failure was approximately january 2005.

Filed Aug 3, 2004 · Transmission · NJ

My 2001 ford windstar van had its transmission replaced at 47,400 miles. The reason that it failed was that the torque converter went and the transmission overheated. I spoke to the service manager and transmission technician about this and the technician said that it was a problem common to this model. I called ford and was told that there wasn't anything that they could do for me. Transmissions should not go with less than 48.000miles on them.