2000 Windstar SEL Towing

[beman1956]

I have a small 8ft. pop up camper can this be towed by my Windstar? I found a wiring harness in the right rear utility pocket. Does this mean I have a towing package? Is ther another way to tell if I have a towing package? Am I asking for trouble trying to tow with this car.


Thaks for the help.

[car17fan]

Hi,
I have a 2000 SE and had bought a new pop up from a RV dealership. They installed the hitch and electric brake controller. No problems until last summer when I think I over did it. Two different long trips in one week was just too much. I believe I had the van loaded too much and too much stuff in the pop up. On the way home from the second trip ( about a 3 hour trip) I had only stopped once and was going slightly over the speed limit. Well when I was almost home (3 miles away) the OD light started to flash. Well I started to pray that I would just make it home. About a mile from home I started to smell leaking transmission fluid and the thing started to slip. I pulled in front of my house, put it in park and watched the fluid puddle under the van, it would not move forward or backwards.After 2 days of just letting it sit there and worried that I would have to buy a new transmission, I decided to get some Lucas fluid and ATF to top it off. It took a whole gallon of fluid. Now it has been almost a year, and it runs just fine and no leaks. No idea where the fluid leaked from but its not leaking now. So yes you can tow a pop up, but my suggestion would be to take it slow, give the transmission time to cool down and if you are able, get a transmission radiator. As far as you already having a harness, I don't know. When the RV place installed mine, they had to get a special harness from a Ford dealer to finish it. I have read in the past of people havind a lot of problems towing with a Windstar, due to lightweight transmission, but if you abide by the weight limits in the owners book, I don't think you would have any problems. Steve

[fury0693]

I had that same problem, except my trans only lasted about a month before grenading, and yes i put in lucas and the fluid level was full, ive given up on my van, im parting it out, if anyone needs any parts other than the trans, give me a call, my name is chad, number 6166340564, thanks

[CnlK]

I've towed a 10' pop-up, infrequently and had the tranny rebuilit at 102K. Torque converter clutch failing to engage. The 100K mile mark seems about average for tranny problems even for those that don't tow. I would recommend installation of a tranny cooler and annual fluid/filter changes.
Also, on hilly terrain or fighting a nasty headwind take tranny out of overdrive. I also would like to find a 8' pop-up.

[wiswind]

Verify that your low speed radiator fan operation is OK.....
With the engine running, A/C ON, the radiator fans should be ON.....and STAY ON.
If they are not.....the common failure is the radiator fan low speed dropping resistor.
A link to one of several pictures of this on my '96
http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2458...11220610ybouky

This will keep your transmission MUCH cooler in stop and go traffic......with your A/C ON....to keep the fans running.

An auxillary cooler and yearly fluid changes, as mentioned, is also a VERY good idea.......one that I do.