Ford Windstar Transmission and extended warranty question

[BIGISLANDHIKERS]

Took my Windstar for basic maintenance. When they went to change tranny fluid they said they found parts of a bearing in the pan. We have about 4,000 mile left on the extended warranty that we bought when we purchased the car about three years ago. Well, since the repair is over $1200 the company that Ford deals with needs to send an inspector out to see if it is normal wear or abuse.

The service guy at the Ford dealer said they have only turned down 1 in the last 25 or so. If I agree to play the odds they will tear down the trans for the inspector. If he denies the claim I will have to pay $2000 to have it fixed.


Does this all sound legit or normal??


Thanks
BIH

 

[prairiefire]

pretty normal, they send out inspectors fairly often with extended warranties. they usually take pictures of the failed parts, the vin #, odometer, inside of fender wells and tires and overall condition of vehicle. just my opinion but i doubt they will find anything inside that they could attribute to abuse, you drove the van to the dealership so the trans is working.i don't see them deny warranty for abuse too often. but it is still your call!

 

[BIGISLANDHIKERS]

Car is in good shape. About 80,000 miles, 2001. No accidents. Is in need of a new set of tires. Never hauled anything with it. Never had any indication there was a problem with the trans. What do they look for inside of fender wells?
Thanks
BIH

 

[prairiefire]

they look for chunks of rubber stuck to the inside of the wheel wells from your tires (burn outs). i guess you need to decide wether it is worth the risk or not in three ways (1) get them to take it apart and see if it is covered or not (2) if it is not covered is the $2000 worth putting into the vehicle (3) get them to just finish the maintenance service and keep driving it. i don't know your financial position but i think i would see if it is covered. good luck

 

[BIGISLANDHIKERS]

No burnouts I guess if it wasn't under warranty we would still put the $$ into it. Thank goodness we just got some tax refund back.

Thanks!!
BIH

 

[prairiefire]

get the trany fixed under warranty hopefully! then use your tax refund to buy new tires for the van after you smoke them off leaving the dealership parking lot. :cheese:

 

[BIGISLANDHIKERS]

Heard from the Ford dealer and they are covering the transmission work!! Feel like I was just given $2000. Prairiefire, thanks for the advice and info.

BIH

 

[prairiefire]

no problem bih glad to hear it worked out! they really don't deny too many warranty claims for such things because it can be very difficult sometimes to determine if a failure is abuse or not. if they can't prove that it was 100% abuse then they can't really deny warranty. now go out and buy something cool with your tax return :coolsmile:

 

[blades]

The small automatic from Ford has an apx life span of 100k or like yours 80k. The two areas of concern are the bearing in the back end like yours which is only splash lubricated and the over drive bands which give up in this mileage range. So here is a heads up make sure the over drivebands are replaced also or you will be back rather quickly. I was lucky mleage wise 150K the only indication I had was when I went to check the tranny fluid it was black instead of red and no burned smell. I had to replace the case as well as the rebuild as the bearing was grinding its way out the backend. $2700 later back on road, been running well for the past year.

 

[fatotto48]

You are lucky you had coverage. Everything went wrong with my windstar, I am not kidding. Trade it in or sell it. If you don't believe me search some forums.

 

[homebrewz]

The small automatic from Ford has an apx life span of 100k or like yours 80k. The two areas of concern are the bearing in the back end like yours which is only splash lubricated and the over drive bands which give up in this mileage range. So here is a heads up make sure the over drivebands are replaced also or you will be back rather quickly. I was lucky mleage wise 150K the only indication I had was when I went to check the tranny fluid it was black instead of red and no burned smell. I had to replace the case as well as the rebuild as the bearing was grinding its way out the backend. $2700 later back on road, been running well for the past year.

It does seem that some Fords have automatic tranny issues. The last two I owned, I only bought after I knew they had already replaced the trans. One always slipped a little bit in a cold start from 1st to 2nd, the other I killed the tranny in (my own fault.. broke a line without realizing it and kept driving). Its important to follow the recommended fluid change interval.

 

[bjr23]

I'm a Ford person, but here in the Pacific Norwest they're considered road kill as a lot of people simply cannot come up with $2000-$3000 it takes to get one repaired and wind up selling for the price of the tires. In some cases they're just trying get what the owe on the loan to get out from under the payments. I allmost bought one before I found out what the shops wanted to fix a transmission. There was a place I think it was in Phoenix AZ that had decent prices on exchange transissions has anyone dealt with them? bjr23

 

[blades]

Does not matter what name plate is on vehicle, they all run in that same cost area. Cost of 2-3 grand has been with us for awhile now. I remember a ex brother inlaw had one of last full sized caddies( 90's something) , tranny went 3+ grand to fix, few years later my dad brought the same type car used, warned him about it. I do not remember but he did not keep it long same issue. Still cheaper to rebuild than a new one. Sometimes not by a lot. On mine a brand new one on line from a ford supplier was about 500 more than the rebuild. Rebuild had better warranty than new. 18 months or 15k? miles(can not remember miles but I am still in warranty) on rebuild. Only one year or 12k miles on OEM.

 

[BIGISLANDHIKERS]

Got the van back last Thursday. It seems really loud now. Kind of sounds like a muffled can a pennies being shakened when I excelerate. Also, the very moment I hit 3rd gear(i thinks its 3rd, about 40mph) the vans excelaration hesitates momentarily 3 or 4 times and then goes back to normal. I will be calling the garage and have them test drive and see what they think. Does it sound like I am describing what could be issues with the new transmission? It didn't do this before, infact it was very quiet and smooth.


Thanks
BIH

 

[blades]

Something is not right. The pennies rattling could be anything like a loose line or something else rattling around unless you are experiencing some shake along with that. There are some exhaust shields that can make that sound. 40mph is about where the shift point is for overdrive, but it should just shift smoothly not be searching after a rebuild. It will drop back to 3rd if you drop below 40 and the as you accelerate above the shift point it will want to switch gears. Find an area where you can set the speed control for 40 preferable with out much in hills and see what happens. Normally it should shift into OD and stay there as the drop out speed is around 35. This varies some with each vehicle.
On mine if i push it a bit the shifts are very positive 1-2-3 and then if you back off a bit it slips smoothly into OD. In fact I have to watch the tach to know that it has gone to OD

 

[fatotto48]

I had super loud rattling noise, it was a loose oxygen sensor. go figure, you would think they would never come loose. Also lost all of the heat shields from down under. A bad throttle position sensor will make it look like tranny problems.

 

[BIGISLANDHIKERS]

Got the van back last Thursday. It seems really loud now. Kind of sounds like a muffled can a pennies being shakened when I excelerate. Also, the very moment I hit 3rd gear(i thinks its 3rd, about 40mph) the vans excelaration hesitates momentarily 3 or 4 times and then goes back to normal. I will be calling the garage and have them test drive and see what they think. Does it sound like I am describing what could be issues with the new transmission? It didn't do this before, infact it was very quiet and smooth.


Thanks
BIH

Ford checked out the two new issues.

They said the rattling is from a loose baffle on the intake manifold. $560 to replace but it is under warranty, so $100 for the deductable.

They think the hesitation is from the exhaust pressure sensor. $170 to replace, not covered under warranty.

It's just weird. Before the transmission was replaced the van was very quiet and there was no hesitation. Apparently no connection to the previous work they performed.

Any other ideas?

Thanks

BIH

 

[Flatbedford]

I would avoid that dealer in the future.

 

[prairiefire]

sorry you are having issues. the manifolds on these vans do rattle the internal baffle comes loose and rattles, not always that noticeable in the vehicle thou. easy way to check the manifold is lean on it with your hand pretty hard while someone revs the engine a little and see if the noise goes away, if it does the baffles are loose. your exhaust pressure sensor (d.p.f.e as ford calls it stands for delta pressure feedback exhaust) measures the "back pressure" in the exhaust and sends the signal to the computer to help decide when the e.g.r valve comes on. i suppose it can give you a hesitation but generally they fail because of exhaust moisture contamination and don't work at all which would mean your egr valve won't open and it is actually the egr valve opening to soon or too much that gives you the hesitation. is your check engine light on? i would guess they left something unhooked like a vacuum line or connector. removing the trans from a windstar although not hard is a bigger job than you may realize ( i mean as for how much is disturbed in the engine bay). most guys will hang the motor from an engine support bar with hooks or chains then the subframe and some suspension and steering parts are lowered down in one piece then the trans is removed repaired then put back in. so lots of room for a mistake, unexplainable coincidences do occur sometimes after a repair but my guess is they left something disconnected. good luck