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Getting 117K miles out of a ford transaxle with no ATF changes is pretty good actually! Especially on a big/heavy windstar with the AX4S/AX4N transaxle. *Most* shops dont consider an ATF changeout "normal maintenance" so it probably never got done for you. The horrible noise you heard on startup was probably the tranny pump tearing itself up. The transmission fluid in my 2001 looked & smelled BAD at 34000 miles- when I first changed it. The ATF on these vans NEEDS to be changed regularly- like every 25K miles if you want it to last. If you want someting that will go 200K miles for you on minimal maintenance, (and you don't mind smaller) get a honda CRV or toyota RAV4. G/luck!
Sorry you had to dump $2K into the winny!
Joel
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2016 Subaru Forester 2.5i base CVT
2016 Nissan Quest SV
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