This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.
So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.
Head gasket failure. Never received notice of problem extending warranty to 60000K. Ford says out of warranty and will not assist. Dealer repaired at very high rate of failure and repairs about 1 a week. Said nothing he could do to assist.
Vehicle with a 3.8L engine experienced blown head gasket while traveling at highway speed of 55 mph. Dealer notified, and informed consumer that repairs would be done at consumer cost.
Although I'm not the original owner, I have received recall notices and other literature from Ford regarding this vehicle. Yet I have never been notified of any problem with the head gaskets failing. However, I now have come to find that this is a known problem that Ford has acknowledged in recall 98-MO1. I have never received this, and now the dealership I've taken the car to says it's too late. The forementioned letter from Ford indicates the warranty on this problem expires after 5 years or 60K miles. Not whichever comes first! this car came into service 3/31/95 (according to york Ford) so the 5 yrs has not expired. Hopefully this complaint does not fall on deaf ears, I'm at my wits end in trying to deal with Ford on a problem that they acknowledge. Thanks for your time.
Took my van to the garage for new head gasgets. Only to find out it need a new engine. A friend told me he heard that Ford has known this is a problem with 1995 Windstar vans and that they extended the warranity to 60,000 miles. Called the fod garage to check this out and they told me it was true. They confirmed that this was a problem but I didn't fall under the warranity with 80,000 miles. When you buy a vehicle they say 80,000 isn't anything but when you have a problem they say "well, you have 80,000 miles." Being upset that this was going to cost me $3,600 and only being not 5 years old yet I did some phone calling. Ford motor wouldn't give me the time of day so I called the dealer where I bought it. They called their rep. And he would do nothing. The service manager of the dearlership told me they put in at least 6 new motors a month and it is a big problem. Usually the motor goes after 60,000. So Ford is trying to make themselves look good and extend the warranity but noone benifits from it. Also they never notified anyone that this was a problem. So if you had your own garage take care of the problem and were under the 60,000 miles you would have paid for it anyway. I also called other dearlerships and they too confirmed that the 1995 Ford winstar vans had a problem with the engine. Ford admits it but will not take responsibilty for it.
There was an improvement campaign for the gaskets on the engine that applied up to 60,000 miles. Consumer was over 60,000 miles, and had this work done before finding out about the campaign. The dealer has been contacted.
My understanding is that head gaskets should last the life of the engine, a failure at 72,000 miles is not acceptable. I believe Ford should cover this component since so many 3.8 liters have this problem.
The pressure relief valve broke. Had to relace the timing cover since this is wear the pressure felief valve is located. This was done 3000miles after the engine had to be replaced due to the head gaskets going. I was told that this valve should of been replaced at the time that the engine was to avoid having to tear it apart running up labor costs.
The oxygen senor was not working after I picked up my van from the dealership after they had just replaced my engine. This was done due to the head gaskets failing. I was told this was not related. But the oxygen sensor was working before the engine service was performed. I thought this was covered under the 80000 mile warranty on the emissions system. I was told it wasn't by the dealership.
Engine head gaskets failed.this caused the engine coolant to leak into the engine. This resulted in the engine overheating, which then caused the block to crack. Had to have a small block put on. Plus all the various other components that went along with replacing a block.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Walnut Hill, IL, USA