wow, this site is quiet.. could it be??

I say, tongue firmly planted in cheek, could it be that all the windstar problems are solved??? :runaround:

we've all given up??? :rofl:

our beloved vans have made their final journey to the wrecker's back 40?? :crying:

or, :disappoin is this just the calm before the storm....

The last one to leave: .... switch off the lights!

I'll be back.......

I say, tongue firmly planted in cheek, could it be that all the windstar problems are solved??? :runaround:

we've all given up??? :rofl:

Nah it's just that with cooling temps we rolled up the windows and can't hear chirps anymore :tongue:

No, some of us are still here. Doing a water pump and timing cover gasket today on my 96.

Did the cover gasket about 6 years ago for a water leak, this time it's an oil leak from the oil pump supply passage in the cover. Last time around the entire job took me about 7 hours, this time it took me 7 hours just to get it torn down.

2 of the long studs were frozen to the cover, no mater how tightly I double nutted them the nuts would loosen without the studs turning. finely managed to get 1 loose by heating the cover, Welded a nut to the other one but no luck.

Wound up breaking the stud just inside the water pump, had to cut another one that was already loose so I could get the water pump off. Once the water pump was out of the way I had about 3/4" of broken stud to work with, welded another nut on it and with about 10 torch/cooling cycles and 1/2 a can of penertrating oil I was finaly able to rock it about 1/4 turn.

Another 1/2 hour of rocking it I got it out.

I should mention that last time the studs came right out and when I reinstalled them I coated them with never seize, the never seize was so hard that I had to run a 3/8 drill thru the holes in the cover to get it out. This time they are going in with only some thread sealer as they to enter the water jacket. This is assuming that Ford has the replacment studs in stock.

You could not pay me to do this job, I would have just let it leak but I just had my driveway redone and it already looks like crap. This van never leaked a drop of oil till the driveway was done then it let loose so bad I have oil spots on the rear window.

....
You could not pay me to do this job, I would have just let it leak but I just had my driveway redone and it already looks like crap. This van never leaked a drop of oil till the driveway was done then it let loose so bad I have oil spots on the rear window........

So....do you like belt drives now?

So....do you like belt drives now?

I do not get it but 3 more hours today to put it back together, thats in addtion to the 2 hours and 75 miles I drove to get the mounting studs

Started the morning by going to a dealer about 15 minutes from home we will call them dealer # 1, they told me they did not have the studs. I then drove another 3/4 hour further away from home to dealer # 2, they did not have the studs but their system tells them dealer #1 has 16 of them in stock and they gave me a photo printout with the part numbers.

Me being the dumb a$$ I am figures that I have already been to Dealer #1 so I am not going back there so I drive back past dealer #1 and home to dealer #3, they did not have them either but also told me dealer #1 has 16 in stock. So back to dealer # 1 I go, I give a different counter man the print I got from dealer #2 and he checks his computer. Yes I have 16, how many do you want. He pulls them from stock and then asks "werent you here this morning"

He was sorry the other counter man screwed up and discounted me to the trade price, it still wound up being almost $40 but at least I had the parts.

Everything went together fine and with the exception of a chirping belt from being driped on by the various fluids during disassembly all is well.

Cam-belt drive engines do not require the oil-bath enclosure ("front cover") for the chain drive ... therefore the coolant pump can be bolted directly to the block, eliminating the coolant passages thru the front cover that are forever troublesome. Of course on some engines that have chains, the pump is put on the back-side of the engine ... ala Duratec!

Cam-belt drive engines do not require the oil-bath enclosure ("front cover") for the chain drive ... therefore the coolant pump can be bolted directly to the block, eliminating the coolant passages thru the front cover that are forever troublesome. Of course on some engines that have chains, the pump is put on the back-side of the engine ... ala Duratec!

I got it now, I do have another vehicle with timing belt but they also require some maintenance, recomended replacment every 10 years. If they break you can kiss the engine good bye as the valves that are open when the cam stops turning will be hit by the piston on the upstroke.

On the 91 escort the belt has to come off to replace the water pump so it's on it's second water pump as a you might as well while you are in there.

Anyway the Windstar is running great, not a drip anywhere. Now to work on geting the oil stains off my new concrete driveway, any ideas??

It's expensive, but "Pour-N-Restore" (yes, the same stuff from the infomercial) actually worked really well for my driveway. There is a fairly often-used concoction with Simple Green but it's more work. They carry it at my Ace Hardware store but you can get it on amazon.com for the same price.

It's expensive, but "Pour-N-Restore" (yes, the same stuff from the infomercial) actually worked really well for my driveway. There is a fairly often-used concoction with Simple Green but it's more work. They carry it at my Ace Hardware store but you can get it on amazon.com for the same price.

Thanks

Will have to look next time I am in Ace, love them infomercials, how about the one "IT'S A HANDYMAN IN A CAN"

:evillol::sarcasmsign:it is the calm before the storm

Mine 96 is having some noisy drive belt issues even the drive belt is new one. But it was definetely not a reason to spam this forum :-)

But I'm looking around to buy a 2000 version soon so after that prepare for an issue storm :runaround: