'99 Windstar Great Van/No Complaints
terence123cars
01-29-2006, 05:58 PM
I have read a lot of the posts on this site and find that there is a lot of really great and knowlegable people here.
I am fairly new to this forum and would like to tell you Windysiders about some items that I have had to do as normal maintenance items.
However, there was a recent problem that wasn't a maintenance item. I ran over a large rock in the middle of a dirt road here in Baha, Mexico. The rock punched a small hole in the Transmission Pan and all of the fluid was lost. I was out in a remote beach area when this happened. I crawled under to see what I could do about it and found a small hole at the front of the transmision sump pan and all of the fluid gone! Of course, I didn't have any tools with me.
I enlisted some of the kids that were with me and they found some Surfers Dudes that were living on the beach, that had a gallon of transmission fluid with them!!!! I managed to plug the hole with chewing gum and Duct Tape. I put the gallon of fluid in to it and got it running and managed to drive home (100 KM). The fluid we got at the beach was not Mercon V, but it got us home O.K.
I pulled the Pan and found that there was just a small hole/crack in the front of the oil pan. I found an epoxy repair kit intended for Gas Tanks at Napa Parts store here in San Jose, Baha, Mexico and used it to patch up the small hole in the oil pan. It worked great. I cleaned it all out including the magnet (The magnet had a fair amount of black slimey gunk on it but not particals of metal. I re-installed the oil pan and filled it up with 18 Litres (Quarts) of Mercon V fluid. I have driven at least 500 KM since the incident and it is still oiltight.
I have ordered a new oil pan, (with gasket), and a filter which I'll install as soon as I get. I will dump the new fluid that I installed last time and replace it with new fluid again. (This should pretty well exchange the fluid in the convertor too). There has been a lot of discussions on swapping the petroleum based Mercon with the synthetic Mercon V in this Forum. My van has almost 200,000 KMs on the original fluid. It was pretty black when it had leaked out on the beach. Putting the non synthetic oil in for a couple of hundred kilometers apparantly had no effect on the operation of the vehicle. Plus the new Mercon V has much more detergent in it than my old fluid (which by the way, had never been changed!) Anyway the transmission is running perfectly for the last 300 or so KM.
The second item I would like to address is the infamous Intake Manifold Spacer bolt revision. I had checked out as many threads as I could find from you awesome folks, on this problem. I was, like many of you, having really bad Pinging (Pre-Ignition) from the leaning out of the air/gas mixture, even with premium (94 Octane) gas, that I had to do something about it. I ordered the parts kit on the Ford TSB and installed it last weekend. Wow! I couldn't believe all the crud (Carbon) in the metering orfices. Two of them were completly blocked and the other four were probably 60 percent blocked.The upper intake manifold was loaded with oil. Also I replaced the vacuum line between the manifold and the DPFE sensor, as it was completely shot (oil damaged)
The whole job took about 3 1/2 hrs to complete. What a difference!!
the engine now runs great. No pinging and at least 25% better power delivery. I expect the mileage to improve a well. I think I'll install the seperate filter before the PCV valve as recommended by you guys. I'd rather empty a filter than have all that oil breath through the intake manifold. Incidentely, the front Rocker Cover did not have the hole @ the 5 o'clock position on my car, so I didn't bother changing it.
The third item is that I have ordered a pair of new Quikstruts for the Winny. I'll get them next week. I'll install them and let you know how it went. I have already removed the Plastic cowling and I will find out wether I need to remove the CV shafts or not. Thanks everyone for the great advice. It sure is good to know that like minded people can get together and pick each others brains on our Windstars.
I have read some (very few) negative comments on this vehicle, but I have to say, I have owned many cars and trucks and I would certainly recommend the Windstar to anyone. With the proviso that every vehicle has to have regular maintenance. I hope this will be of help to others and apologise about being long winded.
I am fairly new to this forum and would like to tell you Windysiders about some items that I have had to do as normal maintenance items.
However, there was a recent problem that wasn't a maintenance item. I ran over a large rock in the middle of a dirt road here in Baha, Mexico. The rock punched a small hole in the Transmission Pan and all of the fluid was lost. I was out in a remote beach area when this happened. I crawled under to see what I could do about it and found a small hole at the front of the transmision sump pan and all of the fluid gone! Of course, I didn't have any tools with me.
I enlisted some of the kids that were with me and they found some Surfers Dudes that were living on the beach, that had a gallon of transmission fluid with them!!!! I managed to plug the hole with chewing gum and Duct Tape. I put the gallon of fluid in to it and got it running and managed to drive home (100 KM). The fluid we got at the beach was not Mercon V, but it got us home O.K.
I pulled the Pan and found that there was just a small hole/crack in the front of the oil pan. I found an epoxy repair kit intended for Gas Tanks at Napa Parts store here in San Jose, Baha, Mexico and used it to patch up the small hole in the oil pan. It worked great. I cleaned it all out including the magnet (The magnet had a fair amount of black slimey gunk on it but not particals of metal. I re-installed the oil pan and filled it up with 18 Litres (Quarts) of Mercon V fluid. I have driven at least 500 KM since the incident and it is still oiltight.
I have ordered a new oil pan, (with gasket), and a filter which I'll install as soon as I get. I will dump the new fluid that I installed last time and replace it with new fluid again. (This should pretty well exchange the fluid in the convertor too). There has been a lot of discussions on swapping the petroleum based Mercon with the synthetic Mercon V in this Forum. My van has almost 200,000 KMs on the original fluid. It was pretty black when it had leaked out on the beach. Putting the non synthetic oil in for a couple of hundred kilometers apparantly had no effect on the operation of the vehicle. Plus the new Mercon V has much more detergent in it than my old fluid (which by the way, had never been changed!) Anyway the transmission is running perfectly for the last 300 or so KM.
The second item I would like to address is the infamous Intake Manifold Spacer bolt revision. I had checked out as many threads as I could find from you awesome folks, on this problem. I was, like many of you, having really bad Pinging (Pre-Ignition) from the leaning out of the air/gas mixture, even with premium (94 Octane) gas, that I had to do something about it. I ordered the parts kit on the Ford TSB and installed it last weekend. Wow! I couldn't believe all the crud (Carbon) in the metering orfices. Two of them were completly blocked and the other four were probably 60 percent blocked.The upper intake manifold was loaded with oil. Also I replaced the vacuum line between the manifold and the DPFE sensor, as it was completely shot (oil damaged)
The whole job took about 3 1/2 hrs to complete. What a difference!!
the engine now runs great. No pinging and at least 25% better power delivery. I expect the mileage to improve a well. I think I'll install the seperate filter before the PCV valve as recommended by you guys. I'd rather empty a filter than have all that oil breath through the intake manifold. Incidentely, the front Rocker Cover did not have the hole @ the 5 o'clock position on my car, so I didn't bother changing it.
The third item is that I have ordered a pair of new Quikstruts for the Winny. I'll get them next week. I'll install them and let you know how it went. I have already removed the Plastic cowling and I will find out wether I need to remove the CV shafts or not. Thanks everyone for the great advice. It sure is good to know that like minded people can get together and pick each others brains on our Windstars.
I have read some (very few) negative comments on this vehicle, but I have to say, I have owned many cars and trucks and I would certainly recommend the Windstar to anyone. With the proviso that every vehicle has to have regular maintenance. I hope this will be of help to others and apologise about being long winded.
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