I purchased this vehicle used, it was a one owner just paid off through a reputable ford dealer. The van had roughly 96000 miles, I thought that was great for a used car. I did the car fax and had my own mechanic look it over everything was good.

A little over 22 months into payments, and 115,000 miles, I was running errands and had just left from making a payment on the van. I pulled into my local walmart and as I was attempting to park the van jerked hard and stopped in the middle of the road. It was busy and people weren't very sympathetic I was mortified. How the hell was I, 4'11" 120lbs, supposed to push this "bus" out of the way? Eventually some good Samaritans pushed it and thank god for geico who towed it 15min to my house.

I paid the vehicle off a few months later at income tax time only to be told that the dealer would replace it at cost to me. I found this website while researching repairs for the transmission. Now that I see a lot have had to be replaced twice I think I'll pass. I have contacted ford but I feel that may have been a wasted effort lol but it was worth a try. I paid $8600, buy here pay here leave it there, I put roughly 20,000 miles on the van wow what a deal !? I have purchased better and more reliable out of someones front yard. I paid $1500 for a 1990 honda civic hatch back with 175000miles on it and drove it for 4 years before my family grew, which led to this disaster purchase. That was my first and last ford purchase. YOU SUCK FORD!!! BUY A HONDA!!!

The van has been acting up and we called Ford and mentioned how hard it is to shift if it is on a slight incline or decline. They said that was normal for the Ford Windstars. I took it to the dealer for a recall issue and while I was there, mentioned all the things its been doing like jerking and reving and pulling forward and backwards without hitting the gas. Ford guy at Dale Jarret Ford in Charlotte, NC gave us an analysis based on what his wife's car did. He said it would be the alternator to the tune of $350. We took it somewhere else and they said the alternator was just fine.

Today as we came home the car made a loud noise and came to a stop. The van goes in reverse but will not engage to go forward. Thanks a lot Ford Guy. Did your wife's car do the same thing? Now we are without a car... Is there a recall on this?? 704-970-6463

After the O/D OFF light started flashing on our van, I took it to a transmission shop. THey ran a scan on it and it showed no transmission codes, just a couple engine codes. So I went to the engine guy. he said they weren't a big deal, that if it was his vehicle he would just drive it as is. I told him about the tranny issues and that the transmission guy said that the engine issues could cause the tranny trouble. The engine guy said no, not likely.

I went to leave for work that night and I had no transmission. Nothing. Second POS Windstar that had tranny issues. We won't be getting a Ford again!!

typical problem apparently no warning nothing. went all the way to the white mts 145 miles one a week ago no problems. drove around for a random ride total of 200 miles last nite no problems. go to grocery store 1/10 of a mile today go to pull out and come home feels like im rearended, and woulnt you know it no other cars around. i have reverse no forward gears. that was a fun ride home no money for tow so reverse it was.

cant decide whether to burn scrap it for fix it. owned this van for 1 yr first major prob but after reading everything i have seems pointless to fix. everything done on time fluids, filters, etc. etc. kinda pissed got to admit. seems like fords theme though what can i say. had a fullsize bronco fix one 8 more issues would show up ,so pissed definitley surprised not a bit. done for now will post when decide what to do about it.

Well I guess Im just part of a long line of unhappy Ford Windstar owners. Very common occurance. I was stopped at a red light waiting to turn right went to take off and boom!!! It felt as though I had been rear ended but there was no car behind me. I was still able to drive and but did feel a difference in the way the van drove. As the day went by things began to get worse. The van wouldnt back out of a parking space until I gave it some gas. It began shuddering at take off and felt a hesitation when it shifted from 2nd to 3rd. At one point it absolutely would not budge in reverse and when put in neutral would go foward as if in drive on a flat surface. At a stop light it wouldnt take off until revved pretty hard.

Havent taken it to a mechanic but after reading everyones experiences on here its pretty safe to assume that I have a shot tranny on my hands. Probably just gonna scrap it cuz Im not willing to pay $2000- $3000 to get something thats worth $1200 fixed. Probably gonna have to get a Honda =(

Unfortunately, this was the second time our transmission failed. My sons and I were on a weekend getaway over 100 miles from home at a local mountain resort. I was able to pull into the hotel parking lot and park, but that was it. It cost almost $250 to tow as we didn't have the "long distance" tow coverage. It's been parked in our driveway every since then. I'll have to pay another tow charge to get it to the mechanic, if he can find a used transmission, which he has been unable to do. Cost to repair with a rebuilt transmission including a "new radiator" is over $3000. We've been lucky both times to be "close enough" to make towing reasonable, but I'm wondering if it's worth it to repair the transmission only to have this happen again. Very frustrating, I would like to say nice to see we're not alone, but who wants to be sitting on the side of the road with 3 kids which is where we were the first time.