Problems with 2003 Ford Windstar ELECTRICAL SYSTEM

Started having wiper issues (intermittent did not work) randomly for a couple weeks, then headlights went out on highway at night with no other cars, first for a couple seconds off then on then off for good after a few more seconds. after another 10 min or so they went back on and stayed on. also wipers did not work, or radio, windows and door locks. another time during heavy rain in daytime the system failed again, wipers went off. this was on busy highway. luckily they went on again after 10s and i was able to see and pull over. very scary. happened off and on again. turned out forward control module was bad. dealer replaced one i got from junkyard, no more problem.

While highway driving, the speedometer, gas gauge, temperature gauge and instrument lighting became erratic and failed. a short time later the situation normalized. several months prior the tachometer malfunctioned and became inoperable.

Tl* the contact owns a 2003 ford windstar. while inspecting the vehicle, it was discovered that the subframe had rusted and a hole was present located behind the front driver side wheel. the hole was approximately 1.5 inches in diameter. also, the instrument cluster would randomly stop operating. the failure was not diagnosed or repaired. the local dealer (dick brantmeier ford in sheboycan, wi) was notified along with the manufacturer, but no assistance was offered. the failure mileage was 150,000.

While driving at night on the interstate or any other road, the headlights suddenly went off for about 10 seconds. i heard a clicking sound under the left side of the dash like the sound of a relay engaging. this happened several times. i had the battery replaced and it was ok for about 2-3 weeks then started again. driving during the day w/no lights on the a/c blower motor suddenly stopped working and then re-started. this also happened several times. i heard the clicking under the dash at that time too. i took the van to the ford dealer. they kept it for 5 days and found nothing. i was at church and came out to leave. i started the van and the wipers came on by themselves on intermittent and would not shut off no matter what i did. i turned the van off when i got home and the next time i started it the wipers were off. i was driving down the road with the a/c on and the blower motor suddenly stopped working again and also the radio, power windows, and power locks. again i heard the relay clicking sound. it stayed off for about 10 minutes and came on long enough to open the windows (it was 92 degrees outside). a couple of minutes later it went off again and stayed off for the rest of the day and most of the next. when i noticed a storm coming, i went out and started the van. thank god the a/c, radio, windows, and locks were working at that time so that i could shut the windows. i drove it to work the next day and all was working. i left the van with my boss (he's a mechanic) so that he can take a look at it. my rear axle was replaced under recall about 16 months ago. i'm frustrated with this problem. i bought the van used in july of 2015. it has meticulous service records and has been great up until this year. ford really needs to do something about this.

Tl* the contact owns a 2003 ford windstar. while driving approximately 35 mph, the abs, engine, and brake warning indicators illuminated. the failures recurred numerous times. the dealer diagnosed that the abs failed. the vehicle was not repaired. the manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. the approximate failure mileage was 160,000.

The speed meter gauges goes crazy

Tl* the contact owns a 2003 ford windstar. while driving approximately 40 mph, the vehicle stalled. the vehicle was able to restart. the brake and overdrive indicators illuminated. the contact stated that the failure occurred intermittently. the manufacturer was not notified of the failure. the approximate failure mileage was 144,000.

The gauges in the vehicle keeps going nuts. moving from one side to the other,tachometer, speedometer, gas, temperature, battery. the tachometer gauge hit the transmission selector and now that is pushed over to 1. it appears there a many fords that have this problem but ford refuses to fix the problem. the fix is well over $400 just for the instrument cluster. also they refuse to fix the power steering whining noise that all fords have. if this is a well known problem then how come the ntsa don't make them fix the problems.

Tl* the contact owns a 2003 ford windstar. the contact stated that the gauges on the instrument panel worked erratically and the lights on the instrument panel and the headlights illuminated intermittently. the dealer diagnosed that the wiring harness for the instrument cluster needed to be replaced. the vehicle had not been repaired. the failure mileage was 81,415.

Tl* the contact owns a 2003 ford windstar. while approaching a stop, the driver depressed the brake pedal and the vehicle failed to stop. as a result, the driver had to engage the emergency brake in order to stop the vehicle. the brakes, abs, engine, and door ajar warning lights previously illuminated intermittently. the vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic who diagnosed that the abs electrical module needed to be replaced. the vehicle was not repaired. the manufacturer was notified of the failure. the failure mileage was 110,190.

Abs and "brake" indicator lights within dashboard turn on intermittently.

Dash abs, brake light on, speedometer, rpm gage jumps back and forward, cruise control accelerates, passenger window and rear side window doesn't work. *tr

Abs and brake lights come on within five minutes of driving.now the o/d off light is flashing on dash. *tr

Dancing gauge needles. *tr

The abs light is on all the time, the brake light is on most of the time. also the instrument cluster jumps erratically and the right brake light does not work. *tr

The abs light has been one for quite some time many months, maybe a year. the brake light intermittently been on or gone off, but has been on for some time - the last 6-8 months. we have a known brake oil leak, as we have seen the puddles and frequently refill it. this is very similar to the ford recall 09s09 but our vin # is not presently included. on 8/21 the all of the internal gauges "went wonky" and then stopped indicating anything (speedometer at 0, even though i was driving down the highway at 50-60 mph. this "wonky issue" has been present since the spring of 2014. also, the cruise control has not worked for a few months (about the same time we first noticed the "wonky gauges" which used to always accompany a rapid acceleration) since the last week, the gauges are "going wonky" on their own, even when i don't rapidly accelerate. we have read online about a brake oil leak affecting the scds and our issues seem very similar to those described in a recall! to recap, the "wonky gauges" have been an issue since feb/march but was only observed when depressing the gas pedal. now, since a much more severe episode on 8/21/2014 the gauges are acting up even at slower speeds, the gauges are "going out" and not registering anything at all for 10-15 minute stretches. a/c, radio, clock, windows, turn signals stop working. and abs/brake lights are illuminated. thank you for your consideration! *tr

Abs light. took my 2003 windstar with only 74,000 miles on it to an auto parts store to get codes as to explain the redundant abs light. there were at least 12 codes all pointing back to the abs module. this issue with the abs has been on going for 2+ years.

2003 ford windstar trouble codes c1185, c1198, c1194, c1254, c1246, c1250, c1243, c1212, c1210; abs and brake light comes on intermittently don't know if my abs is working when this happens. *tr

2003 ford windstar driving at speed of 40mph my abs and brake light indicator light up. garage did a code reset but the abs and the brake did not go away, garage unplugged the battery and plugged it back and the abs and the brake light disappeared. *tr

Rpm needle went all the way to right while driving and can't get it to go back wondering if ths will cause problems while driving. *js

A few days after buying the van the abs light started coming on, it goes on and off. my interior lights have flashed on and off, my passenger window no longer works! and the gear shifter is loose and sometimes hard to get into park. *tr

Abs (yellow light) and brake ( red light) stay on. brakes seem to work fine. *tr

Abs light and brakes light along with engine light and tire light all came on out of the blue. *tr

I was driving to the store and the speedometer needles went crazy and the abs / brake lights went on. after a couple of minutes the needles went back to normal and the abs/ brake lights stayed on. we changes the sensors that go to all 4 tires and the lights remain on. *tr

The abs and trac off lights have come on simultaneously and will not reset. the traction control switch does not work. *tt

The speedometer does not work on my windstar. it works on some days but others gets stuck or all the needles in the dashboard go back and forth really fast. it has caused one of the needles (for rpm's) to brake in order for me to put the windstar into park. *tr

Abs brake light will turn on and off at random times. also, brake (e-brake) light comes on, interior lights occasionally flash, all running lights and headlights have gone out (really bad when driving down highway at night), and loss of all electrical (radio, lights, heater fan, dash illumination, headlights, running lights, etc... all go out at same time). alternator and several batteries have been replaced. electric windows will occasionally stop working as well. obviously the huge issue here is the fact that the abs system may be disabled, dash warning lights randomly come on and off, and all electrical shuts off, with losing headlights and running lights being the biggest issue! *tr

The brake and abs light came on the day after i bought the 2003 windstar. i had to do some research to figure out that it needed a little bit of work because the previous owner lied about why they wanted to sell the van. they said nothing was wrong with it and it ran great. well now there are some major issues with the windstar. shortly after the brake and abs light came on the engine light came on. now i am trying to come up with the money to fix this problem. *tr

Abs, brake warning lamps lit, speedometer doesn't show the operating speed. *tr

My abs and brake lights on the dashboard come on and off at different times. sometimes they stay for a while (days) and then go off for (days). also, i have been having problems with the gauge arms on the dashboard all of sudden will go back and forth in a quick motion. then sometimes stick in one position and then back to normal and then sometimes not move at all for a while.

Abs and brake dash lights come on at anytime....driving,stopped at red light,turn engine on..going over a bump in the road...etc,etc,etc. *tr

When driving up hills the "od off" transmission light will begin to flash and though i depress the button on the shifter the light will not stop flashing. only way to make it stop is when i turn he car off and then turn the vehicle back on. *tr

The abs and brake lights come on. the brakes have been checked and our mechanic informed us they are fine. the indicator lights come on once the car has warmed up or it is rainy or hot outside. this problem has been going on for approximately 3-4 years.

Abs and brake light stays on and all gauges won't stop going crazy. making by battery die. *js

While driving, turn signal would not turn off after turn was made. i could not manually turn it off. all gauges began to go crazy. speedometer and tachometer revolved from one side to the other then settled at the bottom and did not register speed or rpm. fuel gauge settled to the bottom and the temp gauge did the same. odometer went out (it is digital) and the van heater ceased to function. in about 2 minutes or so all gauges began to go crazy again and they settled back into a state where everything registered normally. the heater came back on. this happened several times while i was out. i reached my destination and was out of the van for about 1 1/2 hours and returned to the van to go home and everything started up and worked normally all the way home. this has happened sporadically over the last couple of weeks. *tr

It was a cold night -35 f, when i was in canada. when i started the car the next morning, my emergency flashers came on. i pushed the emergency flasher button to turn them off but it didn't work. i continued to push the button but it didn't turn them off. there is no fuse to shut them off. they are still flashing. this problem has virtually killed my battery. now i have to disconnect my battery so it won't die, if i don't use the car for an more than a day or two. i went to a mechanic to replace the signal light / emergency flasher unit. he said that he couldn't fix it because when he disconnected it, the emergency flashers on the dash were still flashing. so he charged me for labor only and returned the part, at no cost to me. he said he saw another case like this on google (think it was wisconsin). the same thing happened after a cold night. worse of all, he said that the entire instrument cluster had to be replaced to fix it. this cost was around $1,200.00. this vehicle is only worth about $1,500 and is only 11 years old. i believe that this defect should be covered by ford. it doesn't seem to happen much but it basically makes me have to drive with my emergency flashers on all the time, unless i pull out 2 bulbs in the rear and a total of 3 fuses (in the car and under the hood). this latter situation, ultimately, leaves me with no signal lights. i use hand signals. i think they are still allowed by law. *tr

Braking distance suddenly increased. abs light on, on dashboard. brake light on, on dashboard. recall work was done. *tr

Tl*the contact owns a 2003 ford windstar. the contact stated that the exterior lights, turn signal lights, odometer and sliding doors failed without warning. also, the contact mentioned that the check engine light illuminated on the instrument panel. the vehicle was taken to the dealer. the technician diagnosed that the total intergraded power module failed. in addition, the contact stated that the anti-theft system failed. the manufacturer was made aware of the failure. the vehicle had not been repaired. the failure mileage was 200,000.

Abs & brake light on all the time and the systems don't work when light is on therefore they aren't never working and my odometer quit working and my other gauges go crazy like it's an electrical problem gone crazy. i don't know what gauges actually work and which ones don't cause they seem to go crazy and read different all the time. but, my abs & brake light stay on all the time no matter what. *tr

Abs/airbag, tire gauge lights on - ebcm module failure. *tr

Rear axle completely snapped in two. also, the van has the abs and brake lights are on took in for a code read and nothing. the electrical acts very strange music and lights fade in and out and the cruise control is very jerky. *tr

Speedometer & odometer stopped working. abs light on (which has been happening intermittently for several months). *tr

I was driving home from whitefish montana which is about 20 miles from my home when the van just stopped, it kept running but would not move so i shut the van off and it wouldn't start unless it was jumped, so we jumped it all the way home. we ended up replacing the battery and the alternator the van ran good for one day and than my o/d light started flashing and the van was running really rough and would not shift our of first causing me to only go 35 mph in a 70 mph, not fun at all. got it home and looked up some information on line and they told me to check the #19 fuse in the fuse box under the hood and sure enough the fuse was blown so i drove it around the block and it blew again. so we put in a 20 amp fuse and i made it home but this morning i went out to go to work and it started and it drove but than just stopped there was nothing there, i turned the ignition off and tried to restart it and nothing, no noise no nothing so i had to push the van to my house, just imagine what could of happened if i would of been in heavy traffic and my van did this. i love fords but this is ridiculous i can not afford to fix all these issues that continue to arise what next a fire under the hood. please someone help me with this. *tr

Abs and brake light come on intermittently, abs system does not work when light is on.

Abs, brake light stays on for no reason. spent several hundred dollars having it diagnosed. replace many parts. no resolution. drives often with a miss especially during acceleration. *tr

The abs light and brake light come on during the spring and summer months not in the fall and winter months. *tr

Purchased new in 2003. this vehicle has electrical problems and yet we are being told that we have to eat the financial bills instead of ford. from sensors failing, to interior lights flashing at us, and the vehicle sputtering while we drive down the road. ford knows that the 1999- 2003 windstar have serious safety and electrical failures, yet they do not want to correct the problem at their cost. ford would rather pass on their problems onto the consumer and at the consumer's cost. 2013 at our cost of $1,000.00+ we replaced the coil assembly pack, egr system with brackets, oxygen sensors, spark plugs, and wires. now we are replacing them again. the abs system, the traction control, and the cruise control all interwoven and all failed in 2009 and we were told that it is not important by the dealerships. we placed our obd scanner on our vehicle and this is what we pulled. p0302, p0305, p0316, c1235, c1185, c1198, c1194, c1254, c1246, c1250, c1242, c1214, c1210, c1103, c1410, c1404, b1318. we were told by many "service departments" a while back that these codes were not important. they cleared the codes every time. their response to these codes were to clear them every time. why are we having to replace the coil assembly packs, wires, egr system with brackets, oxygen sensors,and plugs so often, when we are being told that these platinum plugs and wires should last 150k? we honestly believe that ford should have recalled this vehicle years ago. ford should compensate us for our troubles, instead they increased our financial burden, and ford should have placed us into a safer vehicle all at their cost. this is our only vehicle. when it fails, we have to pay thousands to get it repaired at our cost. ford should take on the financial responsibility when they know that this vehicle has these issues. major repairs= 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2013, and now 2015. *tr

For a few years, the abs warning light has been intermittently coming on. it has mostly been during the warmer months of the year. also, the brake warning light has been intermittently coming on. sometimes the two lights come on together sometimes individually. also, the low tire pressure warning has come on numerous times when there was no issue with tire pressure. now i have a new issue- the speedometer is reading incorrectly. this is very unsafe because i am teaching my son how to drive and he is very nervous already, now he has no idea how fast he is going! this problem is also intermittent but happens 80 percent of the time the vehicle is driven. mostly, it is indicating about half of the vehicles actual speed. i also got an airbag warning yesterday for the first time. i assume this issue will start to show up more often now. this vehicle is unsafe to drive with all of these erratic warnings and indications. please help the nation out by mandating a recall of the ford windstar wheel speed sensors & vehicle speed sensors. *tr

Tl* the contact owns a 2003 ford windstar. the contact stated that after having the vehicle serviced under nhtsa campaign i.d. number 12v195000 (suspension), the vehicle started to display electrical failures. the contact did not take the vehicle to the dealer or a mechanic for diagnostics. the contact called the manufacturer and the manufacturer recommended taking the vehicle to the dealer. the failure mileage was 115,000.

Battery was dead all of a sudden... jumped it and all the lights started flickering... dome light dash lights... windshield wipers came on and they were turned off... driving down the road everything shut down until the gas was pressed and then it all came back on... called several places and no one can tell me what is wrong.