2002 Ford Windstar: headlights failing or too dim

Filed Apr 27, 2015 · Electrical, Lights · 155,000 miles · FL

Tl* the contact owns a 2002 ford windstar. While driving approximately 60 MPH in rainy conditions, the vehicle began to jerk. The entire instrument panel, headlights, windshield wipers, and power windows failed to operate. The engine warning indicator illuminated intermittently. The vehicle was maneuvered to the side of the road until the rain subsided. After restarting, the failure persisted. The failure recurred twice. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic for diagnosis where a code was not detected. The manufacturer was not notified of the issue. The approximate failure mileage was 155,000.

Filed Feb 19, 2015 · Electrical · 131,000 miles · VT

Tl* the contact owns a 2002 ford windstar. While driving 30 MPH, the headlights and the instrument panel lighting illuminated intermittently. In addition, the brake lights and the windows failed to operate. The contact restarted the vehicle, but it could not be driven. The vehicle was towed to the dealer where it was diagnosed that the torque converter, the battery, and the motor mount needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired, but the failure recurred. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 131,000. The VIN was not available.

Filed Oct 5, 2014 · Brakes, Steering · NY

Since I purchased this van from steuben/yates county pro-action in nys wheels to work program, I have had numerous problems with my ford windstar. 1st problem was with emission code stating it needed a map censor; 2nd issue was the sway bar broke (was repaired under recall at ford dealership in elmira, ny jan 2012). After numerous complaints to the car dealer ship I purchased the windstar from the garage, their mechanic replaced o-rings in the engine to fix the map censor in jan 2012 as well. In february 2014 I invested a little over 1,800.00 in repairs to my mechanic for; tune up, struts and shocks, brakes all around, wheel bushings, and a wheel alignment. I keep the van well maintained with oil changes and lately my radiator is loosing fluid. I always stop in where I maintain it and the business is always topping off the radiator fluid and when scheduled oil changes are due, I am always a quart low on oil. Most recent incident: I will be driving along and the van turns off and turns back on while driving. At night when this would happen I have no headlights for a brief moment but that is still an unsafe van. Also, I get an electric shocked every time I touch the van as I get in to go somewhere. ****this is my first and last ford!!****

Filed Dec 23, 2012 · Brakes, Electrical · 178,888 miles · MN

Battery light comes on periodically - driving home my radio shut off, ABS brake light came on, dash lights dimmed then shut off, head lights began flashing, heater may have stopped (not sure, was focusing on the next road to pull off on), could not accelerate. I pulled over, shut off the van and waited. A few minutes later it turned over like nothing was wrong. This also happened to me about a month and a half ago.

Filed Jul 9, 2012 · Brakes, Electrical · 119,000 miles · MA

At drive-through, radio suddenly quit, and the ABS and brake lights came on. Right turn signal came on, vehicle began to pulsate and surge. Pulled over and shut van off, would not restart, lights and hazards began flashing and would not turn off. Retried ignition, lights and hazards went off, van completely died. Informed to replace battery, had battery tested, it was fine. Replaced battery, followed instructions to reset computer after battery replacement. Had to drive van 10 miles to complete, during which ABS and brake light came on, headlights quit (after dark) then began flashing. Turn signal came on to signal right turn on its own. Just before returning home, headlights quit entirely, and airbag light came on. Parked van, let it idle, and the tachometer surged from 500rpms to 3000rpms. Seems to fit descriptions others are saying about ABS and speed control module underneath master cylinder getting soaked with brake fluid.

Filed Sep 12, 2009 · Brakes, Electrical · 81,201 miles · CA · fire

I have a 2002 ford windstar, I went to park on labor day this year and parked my van. A few hours later, I went to van and tried to use my remote to get in and it would not work. Once I got directly on the van I smelled an odor that smelt like burnt rubber that was really strong. I got in van with my key and started the van. It was very hot that day so I went to roll down the power windows and they didn't work. I then went to turn on the air conditioning and it didn't work. I then looked at my dash and realized I had loss all power; nothing was work, odometer, temperature gauge, radio, headlights etc. I thought I just blew a fuse and stayed at the park. When I went home several hours later I still smelled odor but told my husband I would go to shop in morning before work to have my mechanic look at it. That morning I went to shop and they said it was not a fuse and after several hours of them doing visual and computer diagnostics they found that the ABS system caught fire and started burning into my gas line. They said we were very lucky van didn't total catch on fire. They ended replacing the whole ABS unit under the van and had to replace all wires that had burnt and rewire everything. Repair is almost 900.00 dollars. They van gave no warnings that something like this would happen. I feel very scarred to continue driving this van, even with repair being done because I feel like it can happen again and next time we may not be so lucky. I am still paying on the van and stuck. I hope ford does something before someone loses their life. I have not picked up van yet and am considering telling car dealer to pick it up at shop and taking repo on my credit.

Filed Aug 18, 2009 · Electrical, Lights · 101,000 miles · CT

While driving home one night headlights, and signal lights stopped working (lights in back continued to function) odometer stopped illuminating, and message panel displayed inconsistently. Abs light came on randomly at times, and eventually, the speedometer stopped working. After several hours of labor tracking down the problem, the g.e.m. Module was replaced (at great cost). After replacing the g.e.m. Module, it became apparent that the instrument cluster was bad and needs to be replaced. Unfortunately, these parts are on backorder and our only car has now been in the shop for more than two weeks and nobody can give us any idea when the part will be available and when the car will be repaired. Furthermore, the ford dealership where our car sits in an undrivable state (the repair department told us that there is a risk of fire if we were to drive it) told us that there are three other windstars there waiting for the same part, and agreed with us (off the books) that considering the quantity of problems they are seeing with the instrument cluster there should have been a recall.

Filed Nov 27, 2008 · Lights · 123,000 miles · NY

Our 2002 ford windstar had the ABS and brake warning light come on while driving this happens at intervals with no apparent connection to weather, driving speed, etc. The lights will go off when the van is shut off and restarted. I have not made an appt with my mechanic to check the problem as of yet. On 11/26/2008. While traveling at night on an interstate the ABS and brake light came on and shortly afterward the headlights dimmed. The air bag and battery light came on and the turn signals and headlights stopped working altogether. We were able to pull off the road completely. Shut the van off and it would not restart. Turned on the hazard lights and waited for help to arrive after calling 911 on cell phone. The hazard lights stopped working on the front of the van but continued to work in the rear. The interior lights started blinking and would not shut off at all when pushing the switch. The rear hazard lights also would not shut off when the tow truck that was dispatched arrived. Vehicle was towed from the interstate to the nearest vehicle repair garage. Garage has not been able to look into the problem due to the vehicle breaking down the day before thanksgiving. Garage will call on friday after they have looked into the problem.

Filed Jan 18, 2008 · Brakes, Lights · TN

Abs warning light comes on then goes off after vehicle shut off for a period of time. Headlights dim and interior lights don't shut off at times for a long period of time. Sliding door and door locks don't work properly at times and power window on passenger side doesn't open at times. Sliding door has opened on it's own at times after the vehicle has been vacated and locked.

Filed Nov 9, 2006 · Acceleration, Electrical · 4,000 miles · PA

Dt*: the contact stated while braking from 10 MPH under normal conditions, the vehicle surged forward, almost going over a curb. The vehicle was taken to a service dealer, where the dealer was unable to duplicate the problem. The manufacturer was also notified. There was a squeaking noise when the sliding door was closed. The consumer complained of the transmission slipping, the dealer reprogrammed the PCM and re-filled the transmission fluid. The shifter was re-adjusted. The vehicle pulled to the right occasionally, the speedometer was inaccurate. The headlights would go dim at times. Updated 01/09/07.

Filed Jan 6, 2006 · Airbags · NY · 1 injury

I was driving 55 around 8:45 pm on a local highway, there were no other cars around, when all of a sudden I heard a sound like an explosion and I felt pain on the left side of my face. I did not brake, I took my foot off the gas and pulled over and turned on the overhead light. My face and ear hurt and my ears were ringing, I looked to my left and found that the side airbag that deployed, which was what had caused the ringing in my ears and the pain in the side of my face. I called 911 and a ny state trooper responded. He looked in the road and at the car and determined that I did not hit an animal, that there was no large debris in the road that I may have hit, and there was absolutely no new damage to the vehicle- especially there was no damage to the drivers side door. The only explanation is that the airbag deployed on its own. When the airbag deployed, it tore open the fabric of the drivers seat and foam stuffing from the seat exploded out and all over the inside of the minivan. Today I went to the ford dealer from whom I bought the vehicle and we are attempting to determine how the damage will be repaired. Ford wants me to file an insurance claim and have my insurance company pay for the repair, but I believe this to be a potentially dangerous mechanical defect on ford's part and that ford should pay for the repair and investigate the problem further. The service manager at the dealership just kept telling me that airbags just don't deploy on their own, but after looking at my van he agreed that it must have deployed on its own since there is no damage on the door to indicate that I was struck by something.

Filed Nov 22, 2004 · Electrical · NJ

While driving 55 MPH at night, the headlights and tail lights failed without warning. This caused poor visibility to the driver. However, the consumer was able to maintain control of the vehicle and pulled over. The vehicle was taken to the dealer for inspection. The mechanic informed the consumer that the brake lines needed to be replaced. However, the problem still continued at this time. Please provide further details.