Three problems related to catalytic convertor have been reported for the 1996 Ford Windstar. The most recently reported issues are listed below.
When parked in driveway (thank god) I stepped on brake and pedal went to the floor. Looked underneath and fluid was flowing off of the catalytic converter. Had vehicle towed to nearest dealer (allstar Ford, praireville, la) to fix. They advised subject line failed due to corrosion (I have the line and it is corrosion). Failure fits nthsa recall 02v101000 except that vehicle was purchased and registered in louisiana, but I have childern in NJ and PA and spend time there each winter and have experienced snow and salted roads many times. In any case there should be an implied contract when you purchase a car that a critical component will not fail due to a preventable design error, or if it fails not be repaired by the manufacturer. I believe any vehicle with this failure regardless of place of purchase or registration should be covered by this recall.
Bought car 3/01-immediately replaced cat. Converter. Overdrive lt flashing-needed new transmission, torque converter, planetary gears, solenoids; had to realign;speedometer off by at least 10 mph; need new rack & pinion-power steering fluid leaking; nothing but problems have spent so much money and also been without car for over a month -only had it 7 months!.
Nothing but problems since purchasing 1)door ajar light constantly illuminated-all doors checked none ajar 2) engine check light occasionally comes on-happened right after purchase and catalytic converter replaced obviously didn't fix problem 3)occasionally power windows/locks and a/c will go out unless adjustable fan speed turned to high 4)recently front passenger door will open at random usually during a turn-luckily no one sits in that seat 5)speedometer will occasionally flicker higher while driving at speeds greater than 65mph all of these problems have surfaced in the past 1-1. 5 yrs and have continued since then.