Well this a confirmation of my worst fears....I have replaced spark plugs on this beast and if I remember rightly the head could be removed by removing the cowling over the back of the engine. My disability is not mobility related more breathing related...smoked too much during the '60's....HaHa....na just the legal cigarettes, so I can do a lot of stuff, just have to move real slow....a couple of years ago my son's 1991 T'bird with the 3.8 blew a head gasket and I assisted him in the repair.....of course he had to replace the heads...(his choice) but the point I'm trying to make is this seems like it may be a design problem with the 3.8 motor...not just windstar but all 3.8L v-6's if so why hasn't ford addressed the issue. In the late '70's the infamos 350 GM Diesel was palgued by bottom end problems and eventually GM alerted all 350 diesel motor owners to return to dealer for complete engine replacement....what's going on here.....this vehicle is awesome in every other respect except the "sponteanous" headgasket failure....In the days when I was working on cars, head gaskets didn't just "fail" something made them fail, like shaving heads to increase compression, failing to retorque headbolds after warm up, dirty surfaces, overadvanced timing,(detonation...which took out pistons too). I routinely used CRC Copper Coat on both surfaces on any rebuild or repair I performed and had amazing results. Build a couple of 15 second machines in the late '60's and never had a head gasket just "fail". Now all I have to do is find a place to tear the beast apart and start pricing 'QUALITY" yet economical parts. Can anybody give me a few of the particulars involved in this repair. It's been quite a while since I tore a motor apart but the basics never change. I'm looking for the "secret" tricks, like should I buy new headbolts, cut the head off of a couple to use as guides, any simpler ways of scraping head gasket surfaces clean or is still the old fashioned metal scraper with handle don't imagine much has changed in the major repair field but I know the emmission and tune-up field has changed a bunch due to the ODBII, fuel injection, and all the other "emmission" related stuff....
"Tim G" wrote in message news:jVthc.47464$B% snipped-for-privacy@fe2.columbus.rr.com... Patrick,
Sound's like the head gasket has failed. esp with the misfires on plugs. with a gasket leak you will create a lean condition and that will cause the misfire.
While cramped to work on and I don't know your disability you can do a replacement on the gaskets. I would check the intake gasket first though you can lose coolant but you might not get it in the engine. it also will cause the lean condition.
Intake gasket is a little easier to repair. the head gaskets can be done but honestly I haven't done them in a windstar so I don't know if the motor has to come out.
Another possibility is you lost a freeze out plug and with overheating and loss of coolant you will also get a misfire. While it is uncommon it could happen.
I would do a compression test first on your heads and see where that takes you. Let me know the results and I can advise further.
Tim "Patrick Gilmore" wrote in message news:Nvohc.3199$ snipped-for-privacy@newsread1.news.pas.earthlink.net... forgot to mention.....check engine light flashed most of the way home.....codes p301,p302,p303.....misfires on cylinders 1,2,3.... "Patrick Gilmore" wrote in message news:4gohc.3173$ snipped-for-privacy@newsread1.news.pas.earthlink.net... Well i've been a fanatically satisfied ford windstar owner since mid1997 when I bought my current ford windstar. Always took meticulious care...oil change every 3000 miles, coolant every year or two at the most. the majority of the 137,000 I now have on the vehicle has been highway. Don't drive it much in town. This afternoon I checked the oil, water, brake fluid, etc, etc, etc....everything was primo..
22 miles after I left on my highway trip....I passed a car and heard a rather pronounced pinging....I checked my gauges, no oil presure warning light, temperature approximately 1/3 of the way up the gauge, (normal for the life of the car) and an otherwise "clear" instrument cluster. I pulled off the freeway to discover that my car was smoking like a bandit..popped the hood and holy shi
**......steam and stuff coming from some where near the "rear" of the motor.....radiator coolant bottle OK......but after letting the engine cool for about 1 1/2 hours I opened the radiator to discover NO Coolant......filled radiator with water and started home......Am I a victim of the infamous 3.8 liter windstar sponteanous head gasket failure....no water in the oil.....but I think I can see a little white foam in the radiator...(it was dark when I got home so I just shut it off and will check all the particulars in the morning) any and all help will be apprecieated. I am disabled and don't have the funds to rebuild this whole engine, but I do have plenty of hand tools and the ability to do some fairly complex repair, in my younger years, I did the typical hot rodding and even a little mechanic work for a while) any suggestions besides Bar's Leak and prayer????