Calling all older Windstar owners: repairs?

We've owned a 1999 Ford Windstar 8 months now, and we love it. But a week or so ago the engine light came on, and I'm noticing a big of "lugging" when I let off the gas to slow down, like it wants to die. It's not that drastic yet, the lugging is very subtle, to the point that passengers don't notice it until I point it out.

We took it to Schuck's today because they'll hook it up to the computer diagnostic tool for free. The code came back that it was a problem with the EGR valve. The Schuck's guy said that it's pretty common on some Ford vehicles to have EGR valve issues, but that it can also end up being this sensor (can't remember the name of it now) that works with the EGR valve. He recommended taking it to the Ford dealership and having them run a diagnostic as well and getting their opinion as to what the real problem was, if it really is the EGR valve or something else that affects it. He said the part will be around $75 (if it's the EGR valve) and Ford will charge around $75 to do the diagnostic.

Thank GOODNESS dh's W2 came today, we'll do rapid refund and use our tax money for vehicle repair this year. Which means dh probably won't get his powered paraglider, but oh well. We have to have safe, reliable transportation.

So, any other Windstar owners gone through this, or anything similar? Are there any other common issues I should know about?

We also need to have the brakes done. I'm at almost 86,000 miles now and when we bought it the owner said we'd need the brakes done soon.

I just found this:

An egr code itself can be tricky and misleading. Most of the time the valve is not the culprit. I would check the following:

No vacuum to valve - check under valve too to make sure there is not a restriction in the exhaust port

If this model has an EVP sensor - replace it…the sensor sits on top of the EGR valve

You really need to clear the codes and drive it around until the light comes back on then recheck the codes.

http://www.trustmymechanic.com/auto...tar-check-engine-light-on-egr-valve-code.html

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And this seems to have some helpful info, though much of it is over my head

http://free-auto-repair-advice.blogspot.com/2007/08/understanding-ford-dpfe-and-egr-system.html

Well first things first. Don't pay ford $75 to do the diagnostic. You should be able to buy your own code reader for under $150 from a parts dealer (such as partsource or drivers etc.), which you can use again and again on your vehicle. If you are going to be keeping this van for a long time, it's an investment that will definitely pay off (especially if you or your dh are mechanically inclined) I bought one for mine and feel it was definitely worth the investment. (Just remember once they have been plugged into your vehicle they are not returnable for cash refund, only exchange if they are faulty).

EGR repairs are so fun :evil grin: . Our old 86 1/2 ton's been having trouble with this, and some lazy mechanic hasn't done a thing about it yet. Before you get to excited about doing expensive repairs, check a couple of the basics. Check your air filter, and make sure it is clean, and replace if dirty. Then if the problem still persists, change your fuel filter and run some gas line antifreeze through the system. If you have water in your fuel system (fuel filter will be full of water or ice when you change it), ethanol blended gasoline will help clean it up, but will cause a decrease in fuel economy. Good luck.

THANK YOU so much for the reply.

My friend had water in her gas tank on our cross-country drive from Virginia to Oregon and she used a gas treatment product called IsoHeet. Would that be a good idea? In the last day or two the news has been talking about how all Oregon gas stations will be mixing 10% ethanol into the gas to held reduce our dependency on foreign oil, so I actually don't think I'm going to have a choice whether or not to use an ethanol blend. That means my gas mileage will get wose? Ugh.

I'll show dh this thread when he gets home from work. Thanks again!

The Isoheet looks like it should do the trick for cleaning up water. Just make sure the temperature is above freezing for a few days, to be sure the water isn't a big ice cube on the bottom of the tank.
Ethanol generally causes a reduction in fuel economy (3% average), but it varies from vehicle to vehicle. Premium fuels are not regulated to have Ethanol, so many fuel makes have their premium ethanol free, however the savings may or may not pay to run premium in your vehicle.

We had a 99 Windstar for awhile too. We really liked it, but did have some problems with it. The techincal stuff is over my head, but we had a few times where it wouldn't start in cold weather. It wasn't a dead battery, it was something else, I think the fuel pump.

Other times it would sort of just lose it's steam while we were driving, and we'd pull over and then it would stall. It sounds kind of similar to what you're describing. It would sometimes start sort of shimmying a little then lugging when we tried to accelerate.

I'm pretty sure most of our issues were with the fuel pump. The check engine light would come on, then within a day or so, we'd have the issues.

We got it fixed several times, but it was already up over 100,000 miles and we were thinking of a new van anyway. So, we eventually got a new van instead of fixing it.

It was a good car otherwise though, I really liked it. A couple of times, the mechanic was able to give sort of temporary fixes that cost much less and helped out for the most part without us having to pay a ton of money.

It was kind of over my head, but I thought I'd respond since it sounds like you're having similar issues. I hope it works out without having to spend too much $$!!

I have a 2000 Windstar. It has about 166,000 miles on it. It has started not liking cold mornings. I just got the starter fixed this week. The mechanic said that I will be putting a lot of money each month now, if I want it to keep running. I feel like I have to keep it on life support! I do not have money to buy a new car, and hate payments. But still, we have started looking at cars.

jmm3 said:

Other times it would sort of just lose it's steam while we were driving, and we'd pull over and then it would stall. It sounds kind of similar to what you're describing. It would sometimes start sort of shimmying a little then lugging when we tried to accelerate.

I'm pretty sure most of our issues were with the fuel pump. The check engine light would come on, then within a day or so, we'd have the issues.

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My 95 F150 was doing this all last winter. Sadly it was ice in the fuel lines :crying: , which is really difficult to get rid of in Saskatchewan winters. I tried parking it in underground parking for the afternoon, but all it did was add condensation. This winter I've avoided heated parking, and ran ethanol fuel for the fall to clean out any water, and haven't had any trouble with it yet this winter :thumbsup: . Last winter I found that turning the overdrive off helped minimize this issue, due to higher fuel flow, but it also really hurt fuel economy.

My parents 98 or 99 Windstar started doing the same thing, I think it was a faulty oxygen sensor and cost $50.00 to fix.

We haven't had any problems with our 2000 Windstar (yet!)