Vehicle
Ford Windstar
The front-drive minivan that replaced the Aerostar, and the 3.8 Essex V6 is what these are known for — its head gaskets fail often enough that a coolant-loss or overheating complaint on one should be treated as that until proved otherwise, and the repair is expensive enough that the diagnosis needs to be right. The 3.0 Vulcan alongside it is a much less troublesome engine and is shared with the Taurus and Ranger of the same years, so their material applies. Later cars were also the subject of a rear axle corrosion recall, which is worth checking as history rather than diagnosing as a handling complaint.
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Generations
-
First generation 1994–1998
The 3.8 Essex V6 and its head gaskets are the defining subject.
- Body styles
- MPV
- Platform
- Ford VX54
- Engines
-
- 3.0 V6 — VULCAN · petrol · 112 kW (150 hp) · Vulcan
- 3.8 V6 — ESSEX · petrol · 116–149 kW (156–200 hp) · Essex
- Transmissions
- 4-speed AX4S automatic
- Drivetrain
- Front-wheel drive
-
Second generation 1999–2003
Same engines; the later rear axle corrosion recall is worth checking as history.
- Body styles
- MPV
- Platform
- Ford VX54
- Engines
-
- 3.0 V6 — VULCAN · petrol · Vulcan
- 3.8 V6 — ESSEX · petrol · Essex
- Transmissions
- 4-speed AX4S automatic · 4-speed AX4N automatic
- Drivetrain
- Front-wheel drive
Service information
Information, not instruction
CarGeek is a reference, not a service manual. Its pages are written from public sources and from what other people have found, never from a manufacturer's own service information, so they can be wrong or incomplete for your particular vehicle. Some of what they describe carries real risk: high voltage, fuel under pressure, stored energy, hot and moving parts.
Have anything you intend to act on checked by a trained person against the manufacturer's own procedure for your vehicle. Nothing here replaces that procedure.
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What makes one worth reading:
- The car — make, model, year and engine. The same fault behaves differently on each.
- What you measured, not only what you replaced.
- What actually fixed it — or that nothing did, which is worth knowing too.
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