Our 'other' car, a 2001 Ford Windstar, The Wart, has done its thing for which they are famous -- or Infamous.

One of their Known weak areas is the glass transmission. Under normal circumstances they are said to give out between 50k and 75k miles we were told. Our van has 129 000+.

This is not a vehicle either of us would have actually paid money for, but when his mother decided she shouldn't drive anymore she gave it to us. So it was a free car. In fact, that's the Only thing it's had going for it since we got it.

Neither of us care about this car. In fact it's the only car either of us, ever in our lives, have had No feelings for at all. It's an Appliance vehicle; like a toaster.

Last August my husband had the trans oil changed and discovered it was "badly burned," in his words He said it was time to find another household vehicle while there were still a few miles in this one. We continued to drive the wheels off it, paid it little regard, put in gas and changed oil as required, and to its credit it kept right on ticking.

Household vehicle acquisition is his department so that's when he started haunting Craig's List and found my Jaguar. Not exactly a candidate as a Main car, but after several months' work and tinkering it's a Fine Second Car which I'm now confident to take anywhere there are civilized roads.

With the upcoming Show & Shine on Saturday in Ione, I had cleaned and polished Nix till she glistened! I had to go out yesterday evening, Tuesday, and since it was evening, and it's Spring, and we live in a buggy area, and every evening I take her out she comes home with a face full of bugs and bees, I drove the van for the first time in several weeks.

The transmission was slipping SO bad! That had to be the problem, it kept surging and hunting and jerking! I didn't even know what was going on for several miles, having little experience with Failing Ford transmissions. I was concerned that I might not get where I was going and home again. But having AAA towing I pressed on because it was an important meeting.

When I got home I checked the fluid level, it was OK. I told my husband he might want to have the transmission checked because I thought it was slipping. He said if it's slipping it's toast.

At this point the question in my mind is, These things don't come out of the blue! How could you not notice there was a problem over the past 3 weeks??

So now the hunt is seriously on for another car. In the meantime, several Jaguar projects are on hold because for the moment it's the only road worthy car we have!
(';')

 

Hi Elinor, easy on the husband. My jeep gave no warning at all,it had a trans fluid change and solinoids 3000km earlier. Just decided it wouldn't select 1st or reverse,putting your foot down was like being in neutral ,would drive fine in second.
Once it warmed up to normal running temp it would kind of work in reverse and first(not good with my drive).
My wife drove at least once in each of the two previous weeks and it worked fine,you would know it if it was slipping parking in the garage. The pic was taken standing in my garage door(I have a great place to test brakes and transmissions). Only ever had one brake failure at the top of the drive in 17 years.

I can see why you call it the Wart, it's not a model ford bring out here.

 

Thank you, Clarke,
I'll ease up on him a bit, I've got used to the idea by now.

And it's not like I'm marooned out here without wheels! Nix is in Fine running order, the weather is good for At Least the next 3 months, Plenty of time to find another car.

Besides. I have a Show to be concerned about right now.
(';')

 

He got a written guesstimate of the cost for labor and parts. Under $2K! He was thinking it would over $3K.

Monday morning the Wart goes to the hospital for major surgery. Although he doesn't like it very much, one has to make car payments once in a while even if one owns it outright.

Instead of a monthly payment, it's working out to about twice a year. But we know what we have.
(';')

 

Every Jaguar owner needs a utility vehicle as a parts chaser and for avoiding dings in tight parking lots

 

Yes, thank you, Plums, and not only that, one needs a Jaguar for when the Other car bites the dust for a while. <giggling>

This van has caused Way more trouble in the last several months than my Jaguar has. It's been towed more, cost more to repair, and is much less satisfying to drive.

If, after driving Nix for some weeks, I drive it to avoid said parking lot dings, it's like herding a pig!
(';')

 

I feel your pain - in my case the Jag is getting her tranny rebuilt also no signs of problems until it just went.

 

Ah, the mini-van. At least it was given to you. I actually paid real, hard earned money for mine! Not too much, though.

I have an 02 Pontiac Montana all wheel drive POS. We got it years ago when our boys were young enough to need baby seats. It was nice for the rear DVD player, and the auto sliding doors are great in parking lots. Even now, pushing a button to open them and not worrying about the kids giving adjacent cars door dings is worth something. The wife also liked having the space in the back with the 3rd row of seats removed for going to garage sales. Kids like big toys!

Unfortunately for me, the "Lumber Wagon" as my wife refers to her as, has become my DD. She drives a little Cavalier 80 miles a day taking our 2 boys back and forth to school (open enrolled in a nearby school district).

Our plan now is to lump the XJ6 SIII with a LT1 and make it into my DD, sell the van and live happily ever after. My next conversion will be putting a 350 SBC into my '48 one ton Chevy. Then we will have a fleet of vehicles suitable for any occasion. Just in time for the boys to need their own cars (sigh).

Good luck with your Windstar adventure. I couldn't agree with you & plums more, we all need a vehicle that we have little to no emotional attachment to.

 

You'll like your Lumped SIII. One of the Jaguar club members has an SIII with the stock engine, my SII has a 20 year old 350/700R4. In March we did a tandem drive on a mountain road ( highway 101) on his home turf.

Even though he KNEW the road having grown up there, all its curves, hills, bumps and dips, and I had never been on it before, I had enough more power to easily catch him on the straights when he got a bit ahead of me on those unfamiliar curves. Now he wants to lump his SIII.

Any car we get will require a consensus; which means I would have to like what he would buy. We have such Vastly divergent taste and requirements in cars, that seems highly unlikely. So we'll probably keep the Wart because we dislike it equally.

The mechanic says the car is sound otherwise, and we can probably get several tens of thousand more miles out of it before something else goes wrong.
(';')

PS. I thought Eastern Montana where I grew up was flat. It's positively Mountainous compared to Iowa if that photo of your barn is any indication of the topography.
LnrB