96 Windstar Coolant leak

I learned the hard way that these Ford 3.8's have a bad history of head gasket leaks which could explain your coolant leak. Your car was probably covered by a recall regarding this issue, however there was a 7 year limit so you probably just missed it. My symptoms were similar - difficulty starting (especially when cold), coolant drip overnight, occasional need to add coolant - and I had missed the recall by a few months when I discovered the issue. The car was a beater so I just drove it until it died, but you might not feel so carefree about your vehicle or passengers. My fix was to get it towed home after it's inevitable demise, buy a Nissan, and donate the carcass to a local cancer research charity after stripping the stereo; however good luck in finding a less expensive solution. In retrospect I wish I had just traded it in and let it die on some dealer's lot, saving myself a grand or so and the headache of towing it after it died. I had foolishly put some money into earlier repairs though which made me hesitate to do so.

A google search on something like '+ford +3.8 +lemon +"head gasket"' will reveal oodles of further info including ways to narrow your possibilities down. The issue affects everything from Windstars to Cougars that had this particular 3.8 V6 in the mid 90s.

Dave

The '95 in particular ate head gaskets.

I tightened a couple of studs on the timing belt cover & the coolant leak seems to have dissappeared. I even parked it outside last night (9degF) to make sure. No puddle.

The starting problems have also gone away since I changed the lower intake gasket.

However, I'm getting error codes indicating a lean condition. Most often on bank 1, but often on both banks. These happen while it's warming. My handheld code reader shows the O2 sensor not ready when these codes are registering, so how can it know it's too lean?

With the way the gaskets are built, it's virtually impossible to create an intake problem. I've checked all the vacuum hoses & everything is hooked up. I'm about ready to replace the O2 sensors, since the van is close to 100k miles anyway.

-Jeff Deeney-