The vehicle has a blown head gasket.

- Rosamond, CA, USA

Blown engine head gasket.

- Washington, DC, USA

Timing belt and oxygen sensor changed, causing the "check engine" light to come on, during repair mechanic noticed failed head gasket which was causing engine overheating.

- Washington, DC, USA

Vehicle was parked in a carpart and noticed oil staines on road. And there was corrosion inside of engine compartment. The vehicle has excessive rust underneath. The dealer under stated the odometer reading when the consumer purchased the vehicle.

- Cypress, CA, USA

Headgasket replaced under recall. Water pump gasket replaced at owner cost. Vehicle is now running poorly (suspect same failure or failed engine crank and bearings) and leaking oil from main seal. Another 1000 dollar repair according to dealer.

- Rolesville, NC, USA

Head gaskets failed at 52,000 and at 103,000 miles. Would like to recieve compensation from Ford Motor Company for this obvious defected product.

- South Lyon, MI, USA

Vehicle was sold to consumer with a manufacturer's recall for head gasket on Nov. 30, 2000. Program ended in October, 2000. Dealer has been contacted.

- Apple Valley, MN, USA

Head gasket went out along with the starter & believed to be water pump also went out..all with in 2 days....no notice at all engine light came on when gasket blew.covered with a lot of smoke which filled my whole backyard.I turmed the van off and it would not start...I contacted paydays South where I purchased the van when they directed me to ricart Ford in columbus, Ohio.they had believed it was still covered under factory warranty.I spoke with a kevin daniels at ricart who was very nice and is going to set up a appt for us....also when we replaced the starter..we attempted to start the van and it made two very loud clanking noises.which left me very concerned about the damages done to the engine.

- Columbus, OH, USA

I recently have been experiencing problems with my heating system and my car overheating. I've been told it's a head gasket failure, and Ford motors will not fix it nor reimburse me. They have told me that I am 18000 miles over the allowed limit. I feel this is a manufacturer's default and there should be a recall or a unlimited extended warantee.

- Ipswich, MA, USA

Ford has agreed to repair a blown head gasket via their ownership notification program. I would like to see this handled as a recall instead of an onp, since (1) I have heard of many people that have had this same problem, and (2) there would be no 7-year expiration date of the notification.

- Raleigh, NC, USA

This is a known Ford defect, 3.8 lt engine with faulty head gasket. Our engine self destructed 400 miles from home. Ford is un co operative as far as what they accept responsiblity for, unnecessary cost are being incurred by owner of these vehicles, head gasket failure causes coolant to enter the engine fouling out the spark plugs, and oxygen sensors, when engine self destructs as mine did Ford, to refuses replace plugs, wires, and gaskets. The Ford dealer that "repaired" my vehicle also charged me labor costs to install the parts that Ford refused to replace due to the engine failure.

- Creal Springs, IL, USA

Our head gaskets failed on the vehicle. The only warning was an erractic tempature gauge. We are air force officers serving in the uk and transported the vehichle with us. We are only allowed one vehicle, and we are now without a vehicle for a very long time due to very short supply of parts in the uk. It is very disappointing to find out that Ford was and is well aware of this failure, yet refuses to pay the cost. I would never sell my car to someone else knowing full well the headgaskets are going to blow, so Ford has knowlingly stuck all windtar owners with this huge bill. Ford should be held responsible for a recall of this vehicle due to thier knowledge of the problem.

- Apo Ae, AK, USA

Nothing new to ntsa: Head gasket failure, timing cover rotting, engine check light on, door agar light on, etc....you are very familiar with 1995 Ford Windstar and related problems!

- Pittsfield, MA, USA

The head gasket failure was instantaneous and could have resulted in injuries if it occured at highway speeds.

- Palmyra, PA, USA

Head gasket went, repaired under warranty but Ford will not take responsibility for the radiator or timing cover gasket which are both directly involved in the damage done by the head gasket failure. The radiator is separating at the seams due to fuel getting into it from the blown head gasket and the timing gasket is also damaged by the introduction of fuel into the coolant system. They wanted us to pay $1,400 to fix even though it was the defective head gasket that caused the damage. How can I get them to repair the damage done?

- South Plainfield, NJ, USA

We previously had head gasket replaced on this vehicle through a Ford recall. Now, the engine has spun a rod bearing at the crank shaft. We believe that there is a problem with the manufacturing of the 1995 Ford Windstar engine overall.

- Burtonsville, MD, USA

I have had 2 head gasket failures on my 1995 Ford Windstar. The first one was repaired by Ford under warranty @ a cost of $2378.60. It failed again 38,000 miles later. I had it repaired by an independent mechanic at a cost of $2,003.97. I contacted a Ford dealer and called their customer service organization but they would not cover the cost of the second failure. I believe that the Ford dealer did not properly make the repairs the first time resulting in the second failure. I don't know where to go for a solution. Please help!!

- Chagrin Falls, OH, USA

Head gaskets: Van purchased in March 2000 from a used car dealership - mileage 91,000. At 102,637 head gaskets blown & possibly cracked head. Notified Ford they stated the previous owner was notified of this possible problem in May 2000 and because we were over 100,000 miles there was nothing that could be done. Now it is costing us $3,500 for a new engine because this problem was not corrected and we were not notified that this vehicle had a recall. Dealership says there is also nothing that they can do. I spoke with our local Ford dealership they said to speak to someone at Ford headquarters that they were the only ones that could override the 100,000 mile warranty. The woman I spoke to at Ford hq was extremely rude and really couldn't care less. I informed her that it was unfair that this letter was sent out in may (when we had already purchased this vehicle) and yet because the previous owner received it we have to pay for it. She again told me that a letter had been sent out to the previous owner there.

- Tallahassee, FL, USA

This is a problem known by Ford and the fact that the Ford dealer in my area will not fix the head gasket, but will only replace the engine is suspectible. This repair could cost me 4000 dollars versus the typical 1000 to fix the head gasket.

- Fredericksburg, VA, USA

On 9/15/00, after about 3 days of research, jerry's Ford of annandale (703) 256-5000 concluded that the noise I was hearing at 35-40mph, 50mph, and 60mph was due to a leaking piston and that the engine would have to be replaced at only 85,548 miles. My invoice read: needs engine. Ford offered 50/50 split. Owner advised. after I was told that failure was not imminent, I decided to wait. By November, the noise had worsened, but jerryS Ford could not get a replacement engine until January. I called sheehy Ford on 11/3 and made an appointment with david garrett for 11/6. I told david about the 50/50 offer from Ford on the invoice, showed it to him on 11/6 when I dropped off my van, and faxed a copy that day. He called me later and said all the work would not be done until noon on 11/7 and that irene berry, the Ford regional rep, had not answered their calls about the 50/50 promise. I called sheehy daily and was told that they could not get hold of irene. On 11/15, I asked for the phone number of ireneS boss. He referrred me to FordS North american customer service center. They said Ford policy denies customer service access to the phone number of irene berry or her boss. They promised to send irene an E-mail about my predicament and mention my request to be reimbursed $233.91 for a rental car due to her delay in contacting sheehy Ford. On 11/16, sean told me that irene had to talk to jerryS Ford to refresh her memory on the 50/50 pledge. I called fred javier at jerryS. he said irene had left a message for him to call her without saying why. I explained my dilemma and 9-day wait and asked him to call her. Later, Ford customer service called to say irene approved the 50/50 payment, but refused to pay for the rental car. I picked up my van on 11/16. How could an engine fail at 85,548 miles?

- Fairfax, VA, USA