99 Windstar SE Battery Draining

Help, something is causing the battery to go dead after the van sits for several hours. The battery isn't the problem, that has been replaced with a battery we know is good and then 4 to 6 hours later the battery is totally dead. Any clue what this could be?:banghead:

You could try checking to see if something is staying on...when you think it is off.....any after-market add on's would be the first thing I would check.

I do remember seeing something about a TSB for a PCM "reflash" (reprogram) that addressed battery drain. That would be a dealer action.

Our 95 Windstar did this about 2 years ago, it turned out that there is a major wiring harness connector under the driver's side carpet that gets wet and corodes.

Link to TSB info:

http://www.cartrackers.com/Forums/live/fordwindstar/1363.html

Welcome to my life! I am still having problems with this. Here's the steps that I have taken so far.

Number one: Battery Test. Tested Ok.
Number two: Alternator Test. Tested Ok.
Number three: With a multimeter, I tested the voltage between the alternator and the battery. I'm only getting 12.5 volts. Not good. Should be getting 13.5 - 14.0

Number four: Changed wiring between alternator and battery. No good.
Number five: Check all fuses and relays. No good.

I have a suspicion that the problem is with the rear blower motor switch, which already acts like it has a short in it.

Whatever it is....there's an open circuit somewhere taking the power.

We have decided to take it to the dealership. There was nothing obvious and is worth putting the money in it. I will let you know what it ended up being. Thanks for the suggestions though, I appreciate your responses.

Hey, If you don't have this one fixed yet I have heard the relay for the daytime running lights will cause your battery to drain down. Intermittently it leaves the lights on after you turn the engine off. If you are driving in the daytime hours you may not notice the lights being on. Just a thought. Our company has a fleet of the Windstars and we have had this problem on many of our vehicles including mine. But I noticed it on mine. I pulled in the garage and the headlights stayed on after shutting off the engine. The relay is under the dash and is accessable. I pulled the relay on mine to get the lights out.

We did get it fixed. We brought it to the dealership and it turned out to be the wiring harness the runs near the drivers seat. It had gotten wet and the wires were shorting out and causing the rear fan to stay running all the time. The wires were fixed and then super insulated so this wouldn't happen again. They spent over 10 hours working on it and only charged me for 8. So I feel like the $805 was well spent. Pretty funny though that parts were only $3. :smokin:

Welcome to my life! I am still having problems with this. Here's the steps that I have taken so far.

Number one: Battery Test. Tested Ok.
Number two: Alternator Test. Tested Ok.
Number three: With a multimeter, I tested the voltage between the alternator and the battery. I'm only getting 12.5 volts. Not good. Should be getting 13.5 - 14.0

Number four: Changed wiring between alternator and battery. No good.
Number five: Check all fuses and relays. No good.

I have a suspicion that the problem is with the rear blower motor switch, which already acts like it has a short in it.

Whatever it is....there's an open circuit somewhere taking the power.
was wondering if you installed a trailer towin harness for the lights ? they use power all the time and can cause this problem

You will need to verify this, but I remember reading about a problem with the PCM program required re-flash (reprogram) in order to correct a battery drain issue. It was for 1999 and newer windstar.
It was something that I read on another site, and my alldata subscription only shows me TSB's relative to my '96, so I could not verify it.

We did get it fixed. We brought it to the dealership and it turned out to be the wiring harness the runs near the drivers seat. It had gotten wet and the wires were shorting out and causing the rear fan to stay running all the time. The wires were fixed and then super insulated so this wouldn't happen again. They spent over 10 hours working on it and only charged me for 8. So I feel like the $805 was well spent. Pretty funny though that parts were only $3. :smokin:


I know this post was a millennium ago.... lol... but can ANYONE tell me or SHOW me with a PHOTO where this illusive wiring hardness is under the driver seat carpeting??? Is it under the carpeting?? or under the chassis outside the van under the driver seat area???

I have seen mentions of this harness being corroded from being WET and I know I've never checked this on my van and I've had GROUNDING problems for YEARS with it and recently the dome/interior lights will not go off again... typically this has always been the driver door lock latch (WD-40 trick), but the van is doing other crazy electrical things pointing to a bad ground as well as misfiring again with no reason for it to be (because its driven lightly and not frequently).

MOST OF ALL DOES ANYONE KNOW WHERE THIS WIRING HARNESS IS UNDER THE DRIVER SEAT CARPET OR NEAR THE DRIVER SEAT THAT COULD BE GETTING WET??? AND HOW DOES IT GET WET IF ITS INSIDE THE VAN? LOL

God I hope that someone replies, because this is causing such an awful problem at my parent's house and I'm remotely trying to help them fix it 300 miles away.

If you locate the inside fuse relay panel (just over the drivers left foot) ...you will also see the FEM mounted to the inside of the firewall. Nearby harnesses come through the firewall ... and join to the inside harnesses. You can follow the harness down by the LH "A" pillar ... it turns and goes along the floor pan to the rear, yes, by the driver's seat in a channel, covered by a pop-riveted metal cover. Hope this helps.
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If the front water sealing on the firewall has been compromised ... I can see this area getting wet. All depends>

Ours was in a plastic channel under the carpet. The location was the same. The water soaks through the carpet and into the plastic channel.... where it corrodes the connector.

Yes, this is helping. Thanks Guys. I just have a couple more detailed questions.

What is a FEM? (Hopefully not a FEM-bot. lol)

The LH a pillar... is that basically the metal that runs along left of the driver seat and is where you'd step to get into the driver seat under the metal/plastic where it says windstar??

Basically, if I was sitting in the driver seat... is it LEFT , MID or RIGHT of the driver seat if I look/reach downward?

Pop-riveted metal cover??? Does that mean it easily pops up/out by prying it or does it need to be drilled/cut out to get the cover off??

Maybe I should post a photo of the flooring and have ya'll mark it with ms paint brush or some other graphic program.

The harness runs along from front LH "A" pillar toward rear, under the sheet metal cover, just left of drivers seat ... and a large "turn-out" (TO) turns and goes across the car just in front of both front seats ... this portion is mostly n a plastic protector.
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Don't hold me to it, but I think I remember the sheet metal cover just being riveted on one side ... you can probably lift it.
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There is a FEM (front electronic module ...on fire wall just over drivers left foot) and a REM (rear electronic module... just in front of jack storage under rear RH inner quarter panel trim).
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Also of interest are four Switched - System Power Relays. These relays allow a bit of delay feeding the various heavy lamp loads at engine start-up ... kinda slows the loading of the alternator. These relays can also be used to divide and conquer various wiring issues. Of course, they can also add confusion ... (I'm enjoying some of this right now on my '99). Anyway, SSP1 and SSP2 are in the battery fuse box ... and SSP3 and SSP4 are in the inside "fuse junction panel" ... near LH "A" pillar, fairly close to the FEM. During the key-off, these relays should not be energized. You can carefully pull them to see if they "click" .....when the key is off ...indicating problems.

The "A" pillars are the vertical portion of the door jamb/opening .. just in front of the front door. The "B" pillar is just behind the front door opening ... etc., etc.

Thanks 12Ounce
and everybody else.

I have to say. I am thoroughly at my wits end with this supreme bs on these vans. I really can't see how another vehicle could've been made worse. I just can't believe the multitude of problems these vans have had... they were just built poorly and obviously without attention to detail from the get go.... starting in the very first year 1995 with the head gasket failures.

I am glad Ford reinvented themselves, because their previous products IMHO are absolute garbage. I can't stand it anymore... I've had patience for years with all this stuff, but in the past 5 years my life has sped up and I have a lot less time for repairs than I used to... and when I had a lot more time for the repairs I was a lot more patient with learning the problems and solutions ins/outs etc.... but now that my life is fast, I really just want it to work and do well since I've treated it so well.... constant problems from basic usage of a simple DOOR.... shouldn't be giving me trouble... the DOOR has been used simply as it should've been all these years without abuse.. and it just fails eventually.

I really believe these vehicles, like all, could be intelligently designed to need nearly ZERO maintenance outside of ordinary fluid maintenance etc... but there again that would RUIN the STEALERships formula for every car they sell turning to complete crap at around 100k to 130k miles, but on this van the problems started far far faaaaarrrrrrrr before that mileage.

I just can't stand that I've nearly rebuilt that entire vehicle (exception on interior) and I'm still having problems with it.
:runaround::runaround::runaround::runaround::runar ound::runaround::runaround: :runaround::runaround::runaround: :runaround::runaround::runaround:
:banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead: :banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead: :banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead: :banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead: :banghead:
:swear::swear::swear::swear::swear: :swear::swear::swear::swear::swear: :swear::swear::swear::swear::swear: :swear:
:moppie:

I know the feeling. Our old '99 has 375k miles on it, and I thought I had fixed everything. Now the cycle begins again ... if I can find this blooming ground fault on the SSP's ... maybe that will hold things together for another six months or so. ??
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It runs sooo good ... when it runs!
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When you look at the reliability numbers, Ford is doing better than many .... and probably costs less overall to own.

Anyone searching for battery drains needs to read the following link to page#1 of TSB 02-13-9. Note that at the bottom of the page are links to the other 3 pages:
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http://www.aboutautomobile.com/Forum/Ford/Windstar/TSB/65-189
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This explains when the SSP relays are to be energized ... and when not. It seems you can check conditions by leaving a door open so you can access relays ... but I would suspect the writer failed to mention we should wedge the door-ajar switch so the system will assume the door is closed. ??

Unfortunately, the bundle that runs by the driver's seat is under a steel cover that is completely riveted in. It is a known pinch point. I don't see any connectors in the wiring diagram that would be susceptible to moisture in this are. I've read the same posts regarding the corroded connector but I am hard pressed to identify it.

Most of the lower dash is easy to remove and afford access. Everything is still hard to manipulate, especially if you want to pull the FEM or look behind the Fuse Junction Box. The driver's seat is tough to work around. I used all my usual expletives and created some new ones...lol.

Like 12ounce, I am currently experiencing battery drain problems that manifest as high current through the 4 SSPR relays. I have torn just about everything apart with no effect. There is so much communication between the FEM and REM that it is difficult to figure out what is going on. One mechanic told me it was the REM but with the REM completely removed, half the current still passes through the FEM. All 4 relays have their coils tied together between the two boxes so this makes some sense.

I have concluded the problem is not the boxes at all...long story. I finally put it all back together after days of troubleshooting and running around in circles. I tested to make sure it was still draining and took the car to a second shop. It apparently "healed" itself on the way and they could not find the problem.

It has run fine for 5 days and now is starting to act up again. BTW, it has a brand new alternator and battery. All this started after the original alternator failed and was replaced.

I'll have to start all over.

BTW, did you have the new alternator bench-tested? I have had more than one have faults "just out of the box"!

This all sounds somewhat familiar. I have had an occasional battery drain issue in my 2000 recently, that I thought was just my alternator going out. It finally did fail, and I was reading just battery voltage with the motor running (I had tested it recently and knew it was working, even if it was failing). After replacing the alternator, all seemed fine again, but occasionally, something is draining the battery when the van is off, requiring a jump, and then all is fine again for a while. It may go a few days between occurrences or several weeks. There have been times the interior lights would come on while driving or if I wiggle the ignition while the key is in it, making me suspect that it is going into in key on mode while the van is off and the key is out. All I know is it is frustrating, and I haven't had time to investigate, just bought a jump box to keep in the van. :/

Exactly how my problems started. Tore the car apart trying to find the issue and finally gave up. Took it to a second shop after the first said it was the REM (which I ruled out). The problem went away and they could not reproduce it. After 5 days, it started over and I took the car back. Again, they could not find a drain so we just put a second new alternator and battery in just to eliminate the first combination. They were nice enough to "loan" these for a trial basis until either the problem comes back or stops. I just don't know it it will start tomorrow or a month from now.