Horrible cooling system design flaw (rant)

I just have to make this rant here just to show my further increasing hatred for this curse of a vehicle.

So this past...sunday...we ran into a nice little bit of drama while on the road in regards to our '96 windstar. And it just proves how many horrible design flaws plague this vehicle.

So we had left to go on vacation this week. Had the whole van packed to the brim and had about 5 bikes strapped to the rear hatch and 5 people crammed in. Left from Warren, Ohio. Come up to the west side of cleveland on I-480 just outside of North Olmsted and had a major backup of cars. Come to find after the one guy slammed on his brakes and swerved right in front of us that someone lost a large mattress in the middle of the highway. Couldn't spot it in time and ran right over it, got caught and wedged on the drivers side between the two axles. Long story short we finally got it wiggled out and drove a few hundred feet before the thing started to overheat really bad. Some massive drama, paranoia, and antifreeze poured right down the drain, we find there's a coolant line running naked to the road right along the drivers side to the rear for the rear HVAC controls. When the mattress got stuck, we figure it ended up pulling it in the process, thus letting the whole coolant system drain out on the road till it was bone dry. To make things worse, we had the AC running, van was sitting still while we tried to pull the mattress out, and this was in 80-90 degree weather.

I would THINK, from a normal person's point of view with a decent IQ that having such a vital fluid line open to the road and SO close to it at that, calls for the designer to get his ass fired on the spot. And this is just the tip of the iceberg as far as design flaws on this vehicle is concerned:

- Drivetrain transplanted from a Taurus sedan (that right there introduces it's own SLEW of problems)
- Upper intake design problems in earlier years
- Sliding door contacts sending the chime/dome light into a hissy fit constantly unless fixed.
- etc..

Anyone got their own rants they wanna spill here about this curse?

Feel better? Sometimes it really helps to let it out!!!

Regarding Windstars, I have a '98 w/ 130Kmiles that has been damn good to me. Have friends driving Chrysler, Toyota, and GM vans who wish they had a reliable van like mine. Both Toyota's developed major engine problems, the Chrysler's needed transmission rebuilds, and the GM....well that actually isn't too bad (besides the fact that it looks like a dustbuster).

Haven't had a repair yet that I couldn't do myself. Guess I just want to let you know that there ARE satisfied Winny owners out there.

Oh. I have no doubts. In fact my mom has said this is the first vehicle she has owned that has outlived the payments on it. Before this she had a handful of vehicles from a Mitsubishi Galant to an Oldsmobile Cutlass Sierra, as far back to an old '90-ish Chevy Blazer. This Windstar is the only one that's really lasted past the payments for her. So it has proved to be pretty reliable.

It's just when these little snags decide to rear their ugly heads, it really makes ya wonder. Feels like the thing is literally held together with duct tape sometimes. It holds well, but you get paranoid wondering when the next piece is gonna fall off or something.

It takes paranoia to make a good preventative maintenance person.

The Winnie cooling system came a bit more of age in '99. I think that was the first year to have the pressurized plastic reservoir. The too-low hoses are probably still there tho.

The worse part is there's probably head gaskets in your future.:banghead:

My windstar had an overheating problem a couple of years back. W/in two weeks my wife broke down & I had to do the head gaskets in my driveway.
What a waste of a weekend, but the shops that would touch it wanted $2k.

Atleast no one got hurt! That could have been a really bad situation. In regards to the rear HVAC, that's the nature of the beast. All makes/models is so equipped, have exposed coolant and refrigerant lines from front to back. Being the low spot of the cooling system, you will loose most of your coolant if a line breaks. This is the very reason I try to avoid vans with rear HVAC.

Joel

Hello

I have 222,000+ miles on my 95. I love the rear HVAC. I had a Carvan without the rear Hvac.....hated the fact that it too so much longer to respond to heating and cooling. I use about a quart of oil in 3000 miles and 18-20 mpg.

Yes...there are bad things about the Windstar....I don't like the fact that the oil drains onto the engine mount when the oil filter is removed...at the moment I can't think of the other items.....

I always say....all vehicals cost money to buy, to drive, and to fix....

I got my 95 real cheep from a friend from church. He said...the second set of head gaskets have blown and he didn't want to repair it and wanted 500.00 for it if the heads were useable. Otherwise, he didn't want anything for it. I've had to do a fare amount of repairs...but what can one expect from a "used up" vehical.

I got it with 177,000 miles on it. 50,000 of comfortable driving.

You drove over something in the road and broke the heater lines that are located above the frame rail and you think it is the Windstars fault.

If you where driving with proper distances between vehicles you would have known what was going on up ahead. You said traffic was backed up, Just how fast where you going???

I have been unlucky and hit a thing or so on the road while in traffic.
No place to swerve without hitting someone.....no time to stop.
Hopefully the engine did not overheat too much.
If so, the head gaskets should be fine.
There are other things that could have been damaged.......oil pan, transmission pan, half shafts, etc.
All vehicles have their weak points.

I came across a pallet of concrete bags in the middle lane of I-94 near Skokie Road in Chicago......fortunately, I saw traffic swerving around it ahead of time and was able to change lanes safely ahead of time.
I called 911 (or the local equivalent for that freeway) on the cell phone and reported it....but I'll bet at least 1 person was unfortunate enough to hit it before anyone got there.
It is amazing what can pop up so fast where you least expect it to be.