Posted by wannabeotaku See, I don't think there's any modern car, outside of high-end luxury cars, that will have any major break downs in the first 100,000 miles or so. By that time, most people have already traded it off, and the car is likely on its third owner. Perhaps, cars are more reliable than they have ever been, now that most things just work for a long time.

Would you like to hear the story about my Ford Windstar that had a transmission die at 75k, went through 4 starters, a water pump, power steering pump and had the rear axle break?

Posted by splumer Would you like to hear the story about my Ford Windstar that had a transmission die at 75k, went through 4 starters, a water pump, power steering pump and had the rear axle break?

Not saying Windstars are good but did you get it new? Sounds like it had larger issues.

Posted by jeepdave Not saying Windstars are good but did you get it new? Sounds like it had larger issues.

It was a returned lease, so it had low miles on it and was well taken care of. We got the Carfax on it, so all their claims checked out. Yes, it did have issues, the biggest one being that it was made by Ford. I swear their engineers are all on crack. Apparently the axle issue was due to it being a flat piece of steel that was rolled into shape kind of like a scroll, except rather than have the opening facing downward, it faced up, so salty water would collect in there in the winter up in the Great White North. This caused them to break not in the middle, where the major stress point is, but a third of the way in on the passenger side. It happened to mine while my son was driving his girlfriend. Her dad is a lawyer, so I am SO GLAD they weren't hurt. (Besides the obvious reasons)

But anyway, this was a problem for Windstars, and they were recalled one week after I got rid of it. There was a vacant lot about a mile from my house where they collected all the recalled ones. There must have been a hundred of them. I sent Ford a copy of my receipt from the junkyard where I bought the new axle, plus asked for an extra hundred for my labor, and they sent me a check a month later. If I had taken the van back, I could have gotten $2k for it.

That said, it was very comfortable, well-appointed and had a lot of power. Too bad it was such a piece of shit.

Posted by splumer It was a returned lease, so it had low miles on it and was well taken care of. We got the Carfax on it, so all their claims checked out. Yes, it did have issues, the biggest one being that it was made by Ford. I swear their engineers are all on crack. Apparently the axle issue was due to it being a flat piece of steel that was rolled into shape kind of like a scroll, except rather than have the opening facing downward, it faced up, so salty water would collect in there in the winter up in the Great White North. This caused them to break not in the middle, where the major stress point is, but a third of the way in on the passenger side. It happened to mine while my son was driving his girlfriend. Her dad is a lawyer, so I am SO GLAD they weren't hurt. (Besides the obvious reasons) But anyway, this was a problem for Windstars, and they were recalled one week after I got rid of it. There was a vacant lot about a mile from my house where they collected all the recalled ones. There must have been a hundred of them. I sent Ford a copy of my receipt from the junkyard where I bought the new axle, plus asked for an extra hundred for my labor, and they sent me a check a month later. If I had taken the van back, I could have gotten $2k for it. That said, it was very comfortable, well-appointed and had a lot of power. Too bad it was such a piece of shit.

my friend Josh had a Windstar... it was the same way. It was the 3800 V6 so it ate three headgaskets while they had it. Not only that, but the seals in the rack blew four times, filling the boots with fluid. The car never ran right after the last headgasket replacement. Found out why- the garage had pinched one of the kind-of-important engine management wires between the head and block... The transmission ended up failing and it was summarily scrapped.

Posted by Samurai my friend Josh had a Windstar... it was the same way. It was the 3800 V6 so it ate three headgaskets while they had it. Not only that, but the seals in the rack blew four times, filling the boots with fluid. The car never ran right after the last headgasket replacement. Found out why- the garage had pinched one of the kind-of-important engine management wires between the head and block... The transmission ended up failing and it was summarily scrapped.

That was about the only thing I didn't replace, though thinking back, we had to push it into the dealership when we traded it in for the Jeep, and that might have been why.