Well cookie I see 2 main problems here.
One it is a ford.
Two your dad scorned the astro for it.
Carma is a mo-fo. I am glad I live so far away. I don't want to be near that can of worms.

Hope you get something going soon tho.

 

Try this for a fix on your Frud.

- Start the engine with the van on a level or slightly downhill spot.

- Allow the Frud to warm up. Best to do this on a close to empty fuel tank

- Place the van in neutral

- Remove the gas cap

- Push the Frud down the street

- Push a Chev into it's place.

- Store the old Frud gas cap in a safe place in your garage.

- Go inside and stay there till the cops arrive and ask "What's your van doing down the street?" Tell them you had no idea someone must have attempted to steal it. They'll surely look at you funny because nobody would want to steal a Frud. But try and look convincing.

- Call one of those "We buy your car, running or not" places. They'll give you maybe $20 for the Frud and tow it away. Sell the gas cap on CraigsList for $1 and realize a $21 profit.

Hope that helps -

Lump

 

Try this for a fix on your Frud.

- Start the engine with the van on a level or slightly downhill spot.

- Allow the Frud to warm up. Best to do this on a close to empty fuel tank

- Place the van in neutral

- Remove the gas cap

- Push the Frud down the street

- Push a Chev into it's place.

- Store the old Frud gas cap in a safe place in your garage.

- Go inside and stay there till the cops arrive and ask "What's your van doing down the street?" Tell them you had no idea someone must have attempted to steal it. They'll surely look at you funny because nobody would want to steal a Frud. But try and look convincing.

- Call one of those "We buy your car, running or not" places. They'll give you maybe $20 for the Frud and tow it away. Sell the gas cap on CraigsList for $1 and realize a $21 profit.

Hope that helps -

Lump

:lol: :rofl: Very well thought out! :lol: But I was driving the Windstar, it took a turn for the worst. We found the plug the wasn't working, fixed it, and it ran great. Then it got bad. It sounded like a 4 wheeler running, hitching, bogging and such. It has a late, hard shift. Its running REALLY bad. Idle is all over the place. Up down, down up! I was getting scared, because I pulled out onto the high way, had the pedal to the floor, just barely gaining speed. Almost had to pull over, but finally got up to 55 MPH. It has no power at all. :roll: I'm not sure whether to work on the Astro, or the Windstar. At least the Windstar RUNS. :shrug: But, the Astro is my baby!

 

Bad CAT ?

If so the only fix is to put it on a pallet

 

Those pallets are worth something.

Lump

 

$10

 

Man, I remember back in the 50s 60s and 70s, when cars where simple. It was easy to work on them. Now they all have computers and such.

 

okay, you people have had your fun with poor cookie. The Windstar is probably one of the worst vehicles ever made. How ever let us stop cookie from disassembling the family's last remaining car.
Cookie, I really enjoy all your posts. You are a younger version of many of us. I am going to request you allow us to put the Windstar under the microscope here.
In order for us to do that we need ONE post with all the symptoms, theories, solutions, tests, results, what was replaced, what tested good, what tested bad.
I have a very good memory but I can not keep straight what was replaced and what is presently going on with your vehicle. Too many threads, focus, please.
We will not discuss anything except the Windstar in this thread. Step by step we need to go through it. One area at a time. Once one system tests good we will move on to the next. Do not work on more than one area at a time please.
First off, state the vans info, year, mileage, motor size, fwd, awd ect.
Unfortunately we are not familair with the Winstar, however basic mechanical theory applies to every and all machines. You can apply the scientific method to any problem.
So far you have stated :
The plug fouled.
What did the plug look like?
Any pictures?
Was the plug replaced or cleaned?
How soon did it foul again?
As a new (cleaned plug) is installed the problem clears up?

;

 

okay, you people have had your fun with poor cookie. The Windstar is probably one of the worst vehicles ever made. How ever let us stop cookie from disassembling the family's last remaining car.
Cookie, I really enjoy all your posts. You are a younger version of many of us. I am going to request you allow us to put the Windstar under the microscope here.
In order for us to do that we need ONE post with all the symptoms, theories, solutions, tests, results, what was replaced, what tested good, what tested bad.
I have a very good memory but I can not keep straight what was replaced and what is presently going on with your vehicle. Too many threads, focus, please.
We will not discuss anything except the Windstar in this thread. Step by step we need to go through it. One area at a time. Once one system tests good we will move on to the next. Do not work on more than one area at a time please.
First off, state the vans info, year, mileage, motor size, fwd, awd ect.
Unfortunately we are not familair with the Winstar, however basic mechanical theory applies to every and all machines. You can apply the scientific method to any problem.
So far you have stated :
The plug fouled.
What did the plug look like?
Any pictures?
Was the plug replaced or cleaned?
How soon did it foul again?
As a new (cleaned plug) is installed the problem clears up?

;

Ok, here is what a Windstar looks like:



***Those pics are not from our exact Windstar. But these pics are:


Its a 2003 Ford Windstar, fwd, 3.8L. It has 226k miles. Paid $300 for it a few years ago. We found the plug that was messing up, so we replaced that one. We also replaced the three in the front, as they were easy to get to. They were not fouled, but they are old and worn. There was a check engine light, but it is out now. It is skipping on one cylinder, and it has no power at all. It also runs rough. :ty:

 

Can you pull the codes? Can we get a close up of the fouled plug? Was it coolant, oil, fuel. Was the bad plug fouled? So after replacing the plugs the problem remained or did it improve a little? Did the van overheat? How is the coolant? How is the oil?
It is important to see the plugs because that could show us a possible head gasket leak.
Is it smoking at all?
Can you do a compression test? At least on the bad cylinder? Can you tell me if this van has a pcv valve?

 

Can you pull the codes? Can we get a close up of the fouled plug? Was it coolant, oil, fuel. Was the bad plug fouled? So after replacing the plugs the problem remained or did it improve a little? Did the van overheat? How is the coolant? How is the oil?
It is important to see the plugs because that could show us a possible head gasket leak.
Is it smoking at all?
Can you do a compression test? At least on the bad cylinder? Can you tell me if this van has a pcv valve?

The only way I can pull the codes is if I go to Advanced. None of the plugs where fouled, they were just old and worn out. After replacing them, the problem did remain. The van never overheated. Coolant is where it should be, and so is the oil. It is due for an oil change soon. No smoke, but it is running rich. I have no idea what a compression test is... :shrug: I'm pretty sure it has a PCV valve.

 

$10

Is that with or without the Frud attached?

Lump

 

Only $5 with the Windstar cube.

It sounds kind of like the problems I was having which lead me to this awesome site. Mine was a clogged CAT, I pulled one of the 02 senors and it ran a bit better, new CAT and it was back on the road.

 

Only $5 with the Windstar cube.

But Lumpy said I would make a $21 profit! :naughty:

 

Only $5 with the Windstar cube.

It sounds kind of like the problems I was having which lead me to this awesome site. Mine was a clogged CAT, I pulled one of the 02 senors and it ran a bit better, new CAT and it was back on the road.

But it happened so suddenly! He left the house, stopped at the stop sign, when he took off there was no power. Thats it. It had power and was running good at the house.

 

Oh, I missed that part, never mind

 

A compression test is where you screw a spark plug with a pressure gauge into the engine. It tells how much pressure your engine is making. For an engine to run it needs:
1 compression
2 spark
3 fuel
4timing
Without those it will not run. To me it is sounding like an intake gasket blew, but let us narrow down the problem first.

I thought my timing chain jumped, turned out the cat was clogged.

 

A compression test is where you screw a spark plug with a pressure gauge into the engine. It tells how much pressure your engine is making. For an engine to run it needs:
1 compression
2 spark
3 fuel
4timing
Without those it will not run. To me it is sounding like an intake gasket blew, but let us narrow down the problem first.

I thought my timing chain jumped, turned out the cat was clogged.

Thanks. We are about to go get the coil tested. Someone said it might be the coil. When we where pulling spark plugs to see which one was bad, most of them had a nice strong blue spark, but one had a very weak spark. This...this reminds me of the Astro. Oh damn! I parked too close to the Astro again! The disease spread!

 

There was a TSB out on the 3.8L windstars. The factory coils had these holes in the top of them, very small. But the problem was that when it rained, the water might channel down and drip right onto the coils, get in the holes and create a short. It would take a couple days to dry out and they would be fine.

Many times the coils would test correct when dry. And usually, if the van stalled it would sit for an amount of time allowing the coils to dry out.

The holes I'm talking aren't very big but anytime I ran into a set like that, the fix was just to replace them. And that was from Ford.

 

. How ever let us stop cookie from disassembling the family's last remaining car.

;

Very good, sir. You owe me a new keyboard. Electronics and monster don't mix too well.

 

You know what really gets me? Theres no freakin check engine light! Come on Furd! One cylinder not firing and there ISN'T a check engine light!? Oh well, my Astro doesn't even start, and that thing didn't have a check engine light. My Astro is lazy, and it wanted to sleep a couple days I guess.

 

Idea for the Furd - figure out how to put an old carbed 302 in it.....computer problems GONE!

 

Idea for the Furd - figure out how to put an old carbed 302 in it.....computer problems GONE!

I think its the coil. But thats not a bad idea... :ugeek:

 

http://troubleshootmyvehicle.com/ford_i ... coil_1.php

 

Thanks for your help guys. It was the coil. I just changed it and the Windstar ran like new again! Now time to wait for my fuel pressure gauge...pretty soon both vans will be running, my dad will have the Windstar and I will have the Astro!