Six problems related to alternator/generator/regulator have been reported for the 1998 Ford Windstar. The most recently reported issues are listed below.
On December 16th 2009. I was driving down west 117th towards madison/lakewood in cleveland, ohio and was trying to come to a stop (slow down and stop) to allow an ambulance to pass (there was a car in front of me that was also slowing downa nd that came to a stop at the street lot)this is on a major street near an highway intersection. I put my foot on my brake to slow down the vehicle and come to a stop but it would not slow down or stop. The brake had went out. I ended up hitting the car in front of me hard (an SUV) and doing quite a bit of damage to my vehicle. The other driver vehicle was so far as I could tell undamaged. On my vehicle the front light is broken, my bumper is damaged, and my hood is damaged. I, myself and the driver I hit could have gotten seriously injured. So far we are bothfine and no injuries occurred. However he may turn around and come after me if he decides to. And I now can not drive my vehicle. I received a recall notice on my vehicle brake about a month ago around early November. Maybe in end of October. The very day of my accident (happened around 12:15 noon) I was going to go home and call Ford about the recall. There is a worldwide recall on my vehicle model and many others. And I have had nothing but problems since I bought it. I have had to make numerous repairs on it and still had problems and this accident. Ford should be held responsible for this and should compensate me with another vehicle in good condition especially since I have spent so much time and money into replacement parts for this Windstar. Or give me my money back or something. I'm glad my kids were not with me when this happened and that the man I hit was also alone and is ok. What can be done about this? I have had to replace the following items since I got this vehicle: O2 sensors (both), alternator, belt, windshield wiper blade, and make back blades don't work at all, the transmission, the steering column box, door handle and components inside and more!.
From the rear of the alternator comes a high pitched squeal. Mechanics are telling us to replace the unit which is not under warranty. Shouldn't this part be a lifetime warranty? why did it fail right after the 36000 mile warranty ran out?.
The engine was making a noise and it was reported and supposedly fixed by local dealer. However, within one month the alternator failed as well as the power steering box. Since it isn't under warrenty (36,000), dealer won't repair without cost.
No summary.
A "beep" noise was coming from the vehicle, no warning lights on the dash, and dealer cannot determine where the beep noise came from, then a fire started due to alternator wiring burning. Finally, dealer insisted that the beeping noise was an indicator for a problem, but not part of the instrument panel.
Alternator failed. Nlm.