2002 Ford Windstar Sport 3.8 litre V6

Summary:

This is a reliable, smooth driving, comfortable, and an excellent family vehicle.

Faults:

We had to replace the brakes (including calipers, drums, rotors, and pads).

We have a coolant reservoir that is leaking at the seam (in the middle of the reservoir).

We replaced the back tires (Goodyear Regatta 2).

The factory 6-disc CD changer was defective when we bought the van. We replaced it with a Panasonic deck, and recently replaced that with a Kenwood deck (MP3, WMA, etc.)

We recently replaced the air filter with a K&N air filter.

General Comments:

We have 4 children and the interior handles all of us (6) with lots of comfort.

There is plenty of room for storage even with all of us inside.

This van handles very well for a 5560 lb vehicle.

The fuel consumption is high, although the weight of this van explains it.

We do the regular maintenance (oil changes, air filter, tires, brakes, etc.)

We haven't had any significant problems with this van yet (we have put over 17, 000 kms on this van) and we are quite happy with this purchase.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 6th August, 2006

22nd Aug 2006, 12:30

I made a mistake. The Ford Windstar Sport isn't 5560 lbs, it is 4194 lbs.

8th Jun 2007, 11:39

So believe it or not I have 136,000 on original transmission. How you may ask... every 30,000 I shove a lawn mister hose down the transmission fill/check tube and drain it off and add 1 slick50 for transmission and the rest High mileage transmission fluid (cars over 75K), been doing this since the first slip at 55k. She is still smooth. There is a heat problem and the fluid burns, sludges and generally makes a mess over time.

Now other issues,

* The power window only work on passenger side, all other power windows and back vent windows do not work. (cleaned the contacts did not help)

* I am having the high current draw issues, put a 135 amp alternator in and still get a battery light if the air is on and I am at idle (there is a service notice on this). Looking at an ebay 200 amp job... that will give me 85 to 95 amp at idle... that should help the air conditioner.

* Passenger power lock does not work, and driver side is intermittent

* rear air fires up, but blows no where I can find, vacuum leak I think. But all the hoses are cold.

* had a chaffing short on the headlight, had to pull the harness and solder/heat shrink the break. Re-taped the entire harness and pulled every connector, cleaned them with electrical contact cleaner and then dielectric greased them up.

* Still have power loss on hot days, not sure if it is electrical or the head gasket, but this has been going on since about 60K. The engine light goes on and it is linked to the number 3 cylinder.

* Driver wiper has lost pressure, just will not push on the windshield enough to get a solid clean wipe.

* Water short, on really wet days, water gets somewhere and causes misfire and engine light goes on.

* Stupid hubcap clear coat is peeling off.

* Cup holders on the center bench seat will not stay in the locked position.. need a bigger magnet.

* front left caliper needs replacement, sometime sticks a little causing abnormal wear and some pull, sometimes...

* ABS wire chaffed and broke... soldered it back and it is fine.

If you are handy and you like to tinker... then this is for you... it keeps going and it is paid for...

2002 Ford Windstar

Summary:

Looks can be deceiving

Faults:

Same problems with this model as is for the 1999 and on models. The Transmission is about to go, electrical problems, a structural defect in the roof, I don't trust the tires, tire low light stays on, O/D light comes on, so on and so forth.

General Comments:

I am going on my first transmission replacement without warranty. I was wondering if there could be a non ford product, higher quality transmission could be used in replacement of the current stock transmission to be able to withstand my 'lead foot' habits. If anybody has looked into this problem or done this please contact me Dragoness_669@hotmail.com.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Don't Know

Review Date: 27th January, 2005

25th Feb 2005, 13:10

I completely agree. Our 2002 Windstar is in the shop having its transmission replaced with 35K miles on it and 1 month outside the warranty. We were told that there was metal fragments inside the transmission making it impossible to fix and had to be replaced.

12th Apr 2005, 16:25

Our 2000 Ford Windstar just blew its transmission leaving my family of 4 stranded on the highway 100 miles away from home. Our 75,000 miles. warranty had expired just 2 weeks earlier. We were told that the transmission needed to be replaced because metal fragments from the transmission tore up the entire thing and it could not be repaired. The cost of a "reconditioned" replacement was $2,841.00! The transmission that blew had been overhauled at 27,000 miles. Plain and simple, it is not acceptable for a $28,000 vehicle to blow its transmission at 27,000 or 50,000 or 75,000 or even 100,000 miles. Worse, Ford knows this is a problem with the Windstars, yet, it has the gall to charge nearly $3,000 for a replacement. Oh yeah - to add insult to injury, our new transmission comes with only a 3 year, 35,000 mile warranty, which goes to show that Ford has no confidence in it either. Ford should be ashamed to force young families to to replace a $3,000 transmission every 3 years!

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