2000 Windstar Transmission, Brake and Exhaust Issues

I'm starting this to pull it off a thread that was more about just a particular transmission problem and fix since this has spread into other issues my van is having that are popping up at the same time. The original thread was here

http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=1086735

Where I am now is, Van had a hard 1-2 shift that was fixed by having a tranny flush done by Jiffy Lube. I was also having a clunking rear drum noise when stopping after changing all components. This noise went away when I put the old drums back on so apparently the new drums were out of round.

While taking the van for a test run after putting the old drums on I noticed an exhaust rumble coming from the back of the van, the "OD Off" light started flashing, a "Check Transmission" message came up on the message display(it's an SEL) and it would not go into OD. Stopping the van, turning it off and starting again would get rid of the flashing OD light and message but it was still not going into OD and the flashing light and message will come back after say driving more than 5 miles. I checked and the tranny fluid looks a bit low so I'm going to have JiffyLlube check and refill later today(they told me to bring it back to do this after a few days, I guess when they flush it it's really still in a cold state) and see if that does anything to solve the no OD problem. If not I'm thinking I may need to replace all the shift solenoids in the near future.

Pulling into work today the tail pipe scraped on the concrete driveway ramp, and when I walked around to look at the tail pipe I couldn't see it below the bumper like normal so I think this rumble is just that the tail pipe in the center is either off a hanger or has broken somewhere. Hopefully a simple rehanging or maybe at worst a pipe break repair.

She's almost got 170K miles and I hope to get another 30K at least so my wife will quit bugging me that our '97 Chevy truck has 200K and our previous '90 Chevy truck we sold running with 312K and I think I still see it around town every now and then although quite a bit rustier.........wish me luck!

Yea rattle and scraping were that the 2 rummer doughnuts that hang the converter had broken so fixed them at lunch. It's good to have an auto parts store near work and work only be a few mile from home!

Pressing OD button with no change in gears makes me think flashing "OD Off" light is just letting me know that after driving more than my 4 mile commute And although fluid may be low I have a hard time believing that is causing this. I'm thinking either the OD solenoid has died(this happened in my '03 Focus when it had less than 100K miles) or what ever trash was causing the hard 1-2 shift has found a better home in the OD valve!

get your fluid topped up - that's first. 2nd, have you mentioned about the TRS? (transmission range sensor). I don't know if it's been replaced or not but this is a common cause of flashing OD lights. Happened to me plus others I know. Before digging any deeper, I'd be researching the TRS.

Yes Northern Piper I saw your post on the TRS and was thinking that might also be it. My cruise control kill switch on the Master Cylinder did leak a bit before I replace it but that was probably about 7 years ago (before ford admitted it was the same bad switch used on the trucks so I paid for it, if I'd had a truck I'd have gotten it for free, pecker heads!)

Is there any way to test the TRS, like resistance between pins? I googled a bit about the TRS and found a nice video on youtube a guy made on how to change it and what to watch for here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3inAO9gORh0

and here's a thread for Taruses that tells you how to align it if you lose neutral that may be aplicable for windstars as they seem to use the same tranny

http://www.taurusclub.com/forum/82-maintenance-repair/135116-adjusting-transmission-range-sensor.html

There's a Jiffy Lube near an O'Reilly's so I'm going to get the fluid level checked and see if O'Reilly's has a code reader that can read any tranny codes and maybe get that switch. I guess I could compare resistances between mine and the new one.

A flashing O/D light is like a "check engine" light for the transmission.
I would try to have the codes read using a OBDII code reader, many auto part stores will read them for you for FREE.
The critical step that you need to do is to write down the actual numeric code that comes up.
That code may tell you specifically what is wrong.
Many transmission codes are part of the OBDII code set.

Transmission Range Sensor (TRS) seems to come up a lot as an issue, particularly on 1999 and newer windstars.
You can buy this part at many auto part stores.
They often call it "Neutral Safety Switch" on the part store computers.... as it also performs that function.
There are MANY contacts inside this switch that perform a number of different functions.

Fluid level. The fluid only needs to be very slightly low to be an issue.
The process for checking fluid level is to check it with the engine warm....Engine running.....Gear select in PARK.
It is better to be very slightly over the full line vs slightly under....however, don't get carried away.

Your rear brake drum issue.....I ran into a similar issue....bought new drums as Napa....put them on...and the vehicle shook at speeds over 45.
Balanced tires, rotated tires...triple and quadruple checked my work.......finally, put my old drums back on.....problem solved.

I sold my '96 a couple years ago....had just over 229K miles on it. Primary reason was pressure from family worried about me tooling around in such an old vehicle.
Last I knew......someone else is still tooling around in it to this day.

Jiffy Lube topped if off, it was about a quart low which I'm thinking is mainly due to the flush and fill kind of cooling the tranny off.' Anyway, no change, still no OD. I'll try and see which parts stores might have a reader that can pull tranny codes and see if that gives me a direction to go. I check and O'Reilly's has a TRS for like 38 bucks so that might be cheaper and easier than replacing the solenoids, but I'm leaning solenoid just based on my Focus.

My 2000 Win is not shifting to OD as well. The problem is in OD band, which is gone. If you take the OD servo out, you can press the piston without the spring to see, if it goes so deep into the transmition. I have welded 6mm of iron to the pin to make it 6mm longer and now trany shifts to OD, but deluxe kit has just come to me and trany is going to be rebuilt soon :-)

Had codes read. Had about 10 codes for the abs! I drove to one place OD light wasn't flashing and the guys reader didn't read tranny codes. Drove a bit to second store after light was flashing. His reader read them even though he had to turn off engine to read them so I think the first guys just could't read them. After I left store OD light wasn't flashing and after just a mile or so pushed the OD off button to see if driving without it would still through a "check transmission" message. It never did even though I drove further than I did to the store and even hit the interstate for a couple miles at 65/70. So I think that till I fix it I might just hit the OD off button just to keep it from trying to do something it can't.

Anyway the Tranny only had one P0734 which according to the Autozone repair guide

http://www.autozone.com/autozone/repairguides/Ford-Windstar-1999-2003/Diagnostic-Trouble-Codes/3-8L-V6-VIN-4-Auto-3/_/P-0996b43f8036e589#hd1-1-7

Means; Incorrect Fourth Gear Ratio

Possible Causes:
4th Gear solenoid harness connector not properly seated
4th Gear solenoid signal shorted to ground, or open
4th Gear solenoid wiring harness connector is damaged
4th Gear solenoid is damaged or not properly installed

Not sure how they can rule out other causes of the OD not kicking in. Like 4 gear valve body has a lot of crap from the tranny flush you just had done and won't move!

Anyway I guess the good news is I may have guessed right, the bad news is I got to pull a bunch of crap apart to get to them.

Think I might buy a sets that has all of the solenoids, lock up and EPC doo hickeys

http://www.transmissionpartsusa.com/AX4S_Transmission_Solenoid_Kit_1998_ON_p/290-0029390aa.htm

since they are all under the same cover and replace them all while I'm there.

I'll post after I do anything and let you know what happens.

Thanks for everyone's input!

I bet my trany was throwing the same code. The problem is definitely mechanic, OD band is finished in my case :-(
There might be another stuff to check, the OD servo. It's retainer clip should be broken. Check this out before you start burning your many in a garage...

I fiddled with the 1-2 servo thinking that might be causing my hard 1-2 shift but my e-clips were intact and in fact put them back in after I fudged up the new pin (see previous thread I linked to in initial post. Still need to get pictures of the broken pin posted!) The e-clips on mine looked a bit beefier than the one that broke on Northern Piper's. I hope it's not the OD servo cause it looks like you might not be able to get to it with the tranny in it's normal position.

My thought with blaming the solenoids is that I assume they just allow fluid to pass to a valve that the fluid is supposed to be able to move. How do they know it's not that the valve is stuck?

My guess is it's a just a matter of starting at the top of the sequence of operations and working your way down.

I wish us both luck!

This guy fixed a P0734 code on his Explorer by changing his MAF, How bizarre!

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=193002

And in this thread in a Land Rover the MAF also fixed it!

http://www.discoweb.org/forums/archive/index.php?t-13531.html


I've got some special MAF cleaner...might be worth spraying it with a shot or two although it sure seems like a bad MAF would cause noticeable drive ability problems more than keeping the tranny from shifting.

Hummmm strange!

We have a 2000 windstar that was running fine then one day there was a clunk from somewhere underneath the vehicle and now we have only reverse, no forward anything. Since the only garage in our little town went out of business does anyone have any idea if we need a new transmission or does this sound like something that can be fixed by a mechanic with adjustments? We have to have it towed quite a ways so I would like some idea of what I'm looking at. Thanks Guys

Read or have someone read codes and see if they point you in a direction

Well on the drive home last night from a stop I heard a clunk and then no go in drive, reverse still worked. Similar to when I goofed up putting in the servo. Had it towed home and read here

http://www.justanswer.com/ford/5z6v8-ford-windstar-ax4s-trans-no-forward-gears-trans.html

That pulling off the external connector to the shift solenoids will let you limp forward in 3rd. So that is a nice thing to know. Wish I'd known before have the tow but my insurance will pick up that tab.

Anyway I think I'll try pulling the pan and looking for junk, revisit the 1-2 servo and maybe the 3-4 is the problem with no OD. I also bought a set of solenoids so I'm hoping to change them too.

Hopefully one of these works as I'd like to keep the van till it hits 200k. I recently paid off my house and would like to go a year or so with out a house or car payment since I have one kid in college and a few more to go!

If not I think I'm going to look into a 2-3 year old camry or accord as a replacement. If so I'll post it so if someone in the RDU area of NC is looking for a parts van they can have it cheap!

I'm not an expert on transmission repair or their operation, but I think there's a good chance you may have lost a servo band. There are two servos, one for the forward gears and one for the reverse. If a failure occurs that prevents the forward band from gripping the gear assembly then you loose all forward gears. This failure occurred on a GM vehicle that I drive, due to the forward band breaking. If that is the case for your Windstar, then you can only repair by removing the transmission. However, if the problem is due to the servo itself, a solenoid valve or a problem in the valve body, you have a chance to repair on the vehile.

I recently looked at the 1-2 servo and initially I put it on wrong, broke the piston rod, and had the same situation where I had R but nothing forward. (see earlier in this thread or this thread about fixing the 1-2 servo http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=1086735)

Didn't know about the pulling the solenoid external connector to get a limp mode 3rd gear. Would have saved a tow maybe. But anyway I'm talking to my dad into selling me his 2008 Taurus to replace this van and then I may try a few in van fixes so maybe I can get a little more for it if I sell it or I may just let someone have it cheap and let them fiddle with trying to fix it or use it for parts.

And it had occurred to me that my lack of 4th might be due to the 3-4 servo being messed up but since my daily commute is only 5 miles one way I wasn't too concerned about not having 4th. I was just concerned that the tranny was slowly dying and now it appears that it wasn't as slowly as I thought!

Well I'm going to buy my Dad's 2008 Taurus to replace the van so if someone in the RDU area of NC wants this Van cheap, I'm thinking like $500, let me know.