I'm angry at Ford!

Been the story of used vehicles for longer than you have been alive, so what's your point?

Man made not of Devine nature is one explanation of such poor reliability.

Lots. Get over it.

You did, but did the original owner? Did the orginal owner drive it like a animal? You dont know, it was USED.

Damn, that man made thing again.

Guess you are pissed off at your self for not buying the insurance.........I mean "warranty policy".

No, but they do, sort of a part of life.

There is not a automobile manufacture that has not had "major problems", you know that man made thing?

It's cheaper than a therapist, go for it.

Buy new next time.

Oh, it was my pleasure.

Tom

"Thomas Moats" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@corp.supernews.com:

In some strange, twisted way, I found your response to be helpful. Thank you!

Welcome to the club. This past fall, our 1999 Windstar LX needed a new transmission with only 38K miles on it. I have two other friends with Windstars that needed new transmissions with low miles.

Windstar... never again for me.

"JJ" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@comcast.com:

This is one sucky club to belong to! We had an Aerostar before this that ran and ran with no big problems. So I'm finding this to be particularly distressing. What next for you? Japanese?

dont switch manufacters just because of one problem with one car.... how much was the extended warrentee?? For my new f250 i think it was like $1000 dollars... may or may not be worth it... i didnt pay it...

as you can see it may have been worth it in your case because you got a lucky automobile with a serious problem... i say screw the warrentee because in most cases the cars last quite a while....

Buyer beware when getting used.... I say buy new... youre better off...

I have heard a lot about the windstars.. maybe do some research find out if it seems like a common problem... maybe there was even a recall? having some facts to refer to in your letter to ford may be able to make you hold more ground in requesting a discount or a free service...

By the way for what they have to do that sounds expensive... then again it is the dealership... check around at other places for other prices.. before letting the dealership just do it.

Actually, it is a truck.

I wouldn't buy an extended warranty. I mean, how many vehicles have you bought? And, if you bought extended warranties for all of them, how much would you have spent? I bet a lot more than the cost of this repair. Besides, if the vehicle gets crashed or stolen with 35,999 mi on it, do you get your money back?

Yeah.

No. I would find out how many other vehicles have this problem. Find out if there are Ford Technical Service Bulletins on this. If there, are you have more of a case to request a service discount or even free service.

I would also look around to other transmission shops and see how much they want and compare the warranties for say 12,000/12 months down the road and longer. It might be that you are better off getting this fixed by the Ford dealer so that Ford will back the repair if it breaks down again.

Regardless, after you have all the information about this problem that you can find, then I would go and talk calmly and nicely with the service manager at the Ford dealer. If he doesn't seem to think you should get a reasonable discount, I would very kindly as to talk with the factory representative.

Ramble away. There are those who say I ramble away a lot, too.

Anyway, this does not sound like an expected event for any vehicle.

BTW, my transmission (Contour 5 Speed) is factory sealed and requires no maintenance.

Jeff

================== I bet you saved in the long run a lot more than the price for that trans by getting a used van..............If you bought it new it still could have shit on you at that mileage and it still wouldnt be under warranty. One thing you could do is double check that price from another dealer, sounds a bit high. Also, subtract the $ amount from the new trans that the warranty ( and deductable) you could have bought and look at it that way. Insurance and extended warranties are just like gambling, odds are you will win, you were just not lucky this time.

Matt wrote in news:Xns9491CB5EDEBD4mjrdjr2000yahoocom@66.133.130.30:

If you take the Dodge Caravan transmision into the mix, you actually got a lot of miles out of your's before it needed rebuilding.

Sorry to say, but few vehicles made lately are truly reliable to the point where repairs won't exceed the extended warranty.

Touch a couple of engine mounts and a water pump or some smog equipment or - and $1000 just flew right by in the rear window.

I'd honestly not buy a GM or Ford without one.

You think Windstar trannies are awful, try a Chrysler minivan sometime.

IMO all the domestic minivans have fatal flaws in them. For the above two it's their transmissions, and for GM it is the 3.4 intake manifold gasket + awful crash test scores. Despite this I have to look at minivans this fall (lucky me!), I plan on looking at the new "redesigned" GM vans, the Toyota Sienna (probably too expensive), and the Nissan Quest (the frontrunner). Probably the Mazda as well, but I have a feeling it will be too small for our needs.

Excellent point, but on the flip side of the coin if he'd bought it new he could have had the "flush and fill" done on his tranny at 25k and it could still be like new. It's probably a waste of money, but I flush and fill my cars' transmissions every 25k and I've *never*, in 20 years of driving a variety of cars, ever lost an auto transmission. I look at it as cheap insurance.

One of the main reasons I ended up going with a loaded 2003 Hyundai Santa Fe. It's only the wife and kid and me. And a standard 100K mile warranty for the original owner. Hard to chose a Ford Escape after comparing prices, options, service and warranties. It makes all the difference in the world. It won't be too much longer before Ford and GM are in seriously deep(er) sh*t due to the quality and service offered by more imports. It's sad, because I work for a Steel Mill. We get hurt by imports, and everyone says buy American. But, who wants to buy an inferior product ( in some cases ). It's hard to do when you know you'll only be setting yourself up for failure.

Is she cute?

Major transmission problem? Ford? No way! ;)

What could go wrong? The tranny, that's what. It's a FORD! There's a reason people say "found on road dead" .... they're talking about the trannies.

Yikes. Paid ~$1300 for my shot Ford tranny.

Neither do I. Ever. Yes it's a major problem for Ford. You may still be able to get an extended warranty somewhere. I had a 97 Ford Taurus, junk junk junk tranny, among other things. That car almost nickel and dimed me to death, it's like almost every time I drove it something else broke (and no I'm not exaggerating). Like the time my mechanic had it to fix one thing, he took it out to test drive it after he did his repair, and something else broke! I kid you not! Never again! My Chevy has 177k+ miles and still going strong (knock on wood).

PS I do agree with others posts about Chrysler having similar tranny problems, my friend has a minivan (I think it's Dodge I'm not certain) and the tranny has already been rebuilt once and still has problems. Fortunate for him it was under warranty.

-GV

=============== Dude, I get the point but that statement is crazy. How do you thing they make their money? The extended warranty isnt there for you, its there for the company's bottom line.

Well, report back when your trannie goes out and tell us how long it took and how good the service was. A warranty means NOTHING until you have to use it and see what kind of service you get. Will you get your 100K worth? Time will tell. From what i hear its the little things that will nickel, dime and irritate you to death on a korean car. When yours is 4 or 5 years old, report back how happy you are with it.

Bob

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not a Ford hater or anything. I also own a 1989

5.0 convertible Mustang with 90,000 miles and a 1994 F150 with 221,580 miles. The T5 in the mustang puked at about 60,000 and cost $480 to rebuild, as I removed it myself and took it to a shop. The F150 is still going strong with the only failures being a front u-joint at the 219,000 mile point and a serpentine belt idler pulley around 221,000 miles. No complaints at all. Hell, the F150 should be on a poster for Ford reliability. Maybe you should check out these recent Korean cars. I had my doubts also, but quality has vastly improved since they started importing these cars years ago. Remember the Honda motorcycles that first started coming to America? See how they improved? Remember the Hyundai Excel when it first came to America. Hyundai has likewise improved. Although they had serious issues years ago, it's not true any longer. Do you realize Hyundai Corporation in Korea is like General Electric in America. HUGE. This is no small fly by night company we're talking about.

Another part of this decision was the fact we looked for a car for the wife back in late 1999. I wanted a new car with a warranty and she wanted a cute car. Typical woman. She fell in love with a 2000 Hyundai Tiburon. It now has

58000 miles on it. It's been to the dealer for three things under warranty. At about the 12,000 mile point the transmission sometimes would not shift out of top gear unless you turned the car off. This was due to a faulty frequency modulator. Replaced (under warranty) within an hour of going to the dealer to have it checked. Then, somewhere around the 15,000 mile point the AC button and the driver window button started sticking. No big deal, but we were in the neighborhood so we stopped at the dealer to get it checked. They had to order the parts. They called us 3 days later to let us know they arrived. Once again, we dropped the car off, went and had lunch at the local food court, and were driving home from the dealer after an hour and a half. With 58K+ miles on it now, I have NO complaints. And, lets not forget the three times my wife locked herself out of the car. Warranty includes roadside assistance, which includes locksmith services. 10 year 100,000 miles is the only way to go, at least for me nowadays. They've proved themselves in my eyes. It's a combonation of Quality, Service and warranty that will win me over as a customer. Your results may vary.

"American" more and more isn't. Where it is made is where most of the money stays. Also, due to outsourcing, if the components are assembled in the U.S., it counts as a "Domestic" component/part towards the parts percentage. Some cars have very high - well over 50% foriegn parts if you backtrack the entire supply chain.

Also - Ford's mandated 5% cost redustion per year is insanity. It will mean poorer and poorer cars that just net Ford more money - because it's not like they would ever *lower* the price on their cars.

GM - their plans to make Cadillacs in China and ship them over here pretty much does it got me as well.

5% mandadated cost reduction per year is part of it.

Soon, a Hyundai will be better made.

Here's some math: Say a $10K budget car like an Aveo: Figure $8K in parts and materials and a $10K selling price.

25% seems like a good margin - I can't imagine they'd sell it for less and still remain able to pay for the labor and such.

Take a Ford Focus. $12K in materials and a $15,000 price. (give or take - this is a basic example, not an exact quote) It's a better car - 50% more spent on raw materials and parts.

Fast forward 5 years. Figure 2% price increase per year for materials on the Daewoo and 5% decrease per year(mandated by Ford or else you are dropped) on the Ford. Daewoo passes the cost on to the consumer. Ford keeps their price exactly the same(not likely, though - but I'm trying to be as nice as I can).

Aveo: $8,800 cost. 20% increase. $11,000 selling price. Focus: $8,821 cost. $15,000 selling price.

Ford makes lots and lots of money. Shareholders are estatic. The car, unfortunately, is $3000 more than the Aveo and now made with the same $8800 in components. The only way Ford's distributors can stay in business is to outsource themselves to Korea and China. Ford plays the parts shell game to get it claimed as a "domestic" vehicle, or the outsourcers lie.

Nodoby can tell Chinese steel from high-tensile strength new Japanese/American/Euro steel without a lab and tests, afterall.

And you wonder why the transmissions fail so often.

It used to be - but with Ford's cost reduction and other business practices that they basically lifted from Wal-Mart, it's hell on the suppliers who end up making the cheapest crap they can to satisfy the 5000lb gorilla breathing down their neck.

I've not known of a single person who got a 70-80K warranty on a Ford or GM or Dodge that didn't need more than that in repairs at the 6-7 year mark.

They make money because they have your $3K or so up front for 5-6 years to invest. They end up turning $3K into $5K and then shell out $4K at most on your car.

It used to be a scam, but with cars being so unreasonably expensive to fix nowadays and quality dropping, the smart money is to get the extended warranty if you plan to keep the car until it falls apart. Piece of door trim or radio knob or engine mount or... All those small things also get fixed - a plus.

Shoot, the A/C on most cars doesn't last more than 5-6 years and is $500+ right there.