Richard of Cortland, OH:

Bought used 95 Windstar with under 60,00 miles but already out of warranty for head gasket. Dealer salsman never said anything about potential engine problems. Of course head gasket blew at 66,273 mi. I only found out about systemic problem after going online. never got a clue frome dealer!

Repair cost me 1173.00. Called Ford customer Service. They will do nothing.

Michael of Neshanic Station, NJ:

My 1995 Ford Windstar blew its head gasket at 65000 miles. It cost me approximately $2400 to get repaired at the Ford Dealer where I bought the Windstar brand new. They told me it was not covered by Ford under any warranty or recall.

I spent $2400 for a head gasket car repair and evidently there was a recall notice mailed out and although I live at the same address since I bought the Ford Windstar, I never received the recall notice. At 65,000 miles, there is no way this major engine problem should have happened. My wife uses the van...local neighborhood driving only, regular servicing was done.... this has to be covered by Ford as an defective engine.

Lisa of McMinnville, OR:

Blown head gasket on 1995 Ford Windstar, at 86,000 miles. Ford will not cover the repairs even though they had sent a letter stating that there could be premature failure. To top it off, we just had it in the shop 3 weeks prior getting the fuel pump replaced.

The consequences are that it will cost $900-$1700 (or more?) depending on the extent of damage to the engine, since they could not get us in right away. So, right now it is undriveable. My husband has to drive me to work, a 30 mile round trip out of his way, since he works in the opposite direction, our only other option is to rent a car, which is prohibitive because of cost.

Laurie of Glasgow, MT:

My car -- a 1995 Ford Mustang with the 3.8L engine -- had to have the engine replaced because of the faulty gaskets at 30,941 miles. It was under warranty that time. Now less than 16,000 miles later the gaskets went again. I got a bill for $943 to replace them.

1995 Windstars, Taurus and Mustangs have all had the same problem with the same engine. Ford customer service was very rude and would not give any other numbers to call or write.

Lisa of Mt. Horeb, WI:

Defective Head Gasket on 1995 Ford Windstar MiniVan requiring replacement at 77,000 miles. Research indicates this part should last until at least 100,000 miles. Ford has numerous complaints about this very issue.

Repair bill of $1550.

Gary of West Des Moines, IA:

Only 15 months ago, in July of 1998, I spent $3,600 to replace the engine in my '95 Windstar only to turn around and find out that it now has bad head gaskets. The engine replacement was due to a thrown piston rod, which I suspect was caused by antifreeze possibly getting into the crankcase because of faulty head gaskets. Unfortunately, I had no way of proving this.

When I did reluctantly purchased the engine, I was told that it would come with all of the corrections that recalls had been issued for (the head gasket recall, as I understand, was issued in May of 1998).

This most recent problem started with a check engine light coming on. When I had my local dealer diagnose the problem, I was told that the oxygen sensor was bad. No big deal except that I had the same oxygen sensor replaced only 5 or 6 month's prior. Keep in mind that this was on an already replaced engine!

Upon further diagnosis as to the cause of the oxygen sensor going out, I was told that head gaskets were bad and that the antifreeze leaking was contaminating the sensor. I of course brought up the fact that the engine should have had new head gaskets since it is only 15 months old. This is when I was told that the engine doesn't have the new head gaskets required by the recall.

As you can imagine this is becoming a battle between the dealership and Ford about who's responsible. The engine has 23,000 miles on it, which puts it outside of the 12 month, 12,000 mile warranty. I have told my local dealership that the warranty should be of no concern because the proper head gaskets should have been on the engine in the first place. I also pointed out that even if they try to get out of it because of the warranty not being in effect, the fact still remains that the engine was recalled for this very problem. So far I have been told that Ford is sticking to the recall limits which were 60,000 miles or the work had to be completed by December 31, 1998. Therefore it no longer applies since the vehicle has 86,000 miles. This is absolutely ludicrous! The engine only has 23,000 miles.

Nothing was ever done by Ford or the dealership that performed the original replacement of the engine. I was forced to pay out over $3,600 to replace the engine. Now with the head gaskets going out on the replaced engine, this is putting a lot of mental and emotional pressure on me because I'm looking at going through this entire process again and so far neither Ford nor the dealership, once again, are willing to step up to the plate and fix the problem. I shouldn't have to pay for any of this. It isn't right.