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Ford WindstarIntroduced in the mid-1990s, the front-wheel-drive Ford Windstar minivan campaigned with an emphasis on, and reputation for, safety. And in the hotly contested family minivan market of the time, that was an especially solid piece of ground to be on. As long as buyers didn't need to haul adults in back on a regular basis, the Windstar served a family's needs just fine.
So I've been working on this 1995 Ford Windstar, 3.8L that's been working like crap. Someone brought it in for an engine change because they thought the engine was bad. I replaced the engine and it still acts the same. the symptoms are, it backfires through the intake, the back exhaust manifold gets cherry red, it runs like hell mis-firing all the time. I've tried another ECM, coil, bunch of electronic stuff on the engine off another good working van and it still does the same stuff. Anyone have any idea what might be the problem? I unhooked the exhaust thinking a cat may be plugged up and contributing to the problem, but that didn't make any difference at all.
I'm just thinking out loud.
Doesn't the air pump, pump more air into the cat so that it will burn exhaust gasses more completely? I think that is in response to the O2 sensor.?
I suspect it has something to do with the O2 sensors and the air pump.
There are two O2 sensors on that bank. One in the exhaust manifold, and the other just after the CAT.
....the symptoms are, it backfires through the intake, the back exhaust manifold gets cherry red, it runs like hell mis-firing all the time. I've tried .....
Your vehicle is certainly not running normal and that ought to trigger codes. No codes would mean the PCM is not computing/receiving/sending vehicle's status at all...my guess is a bad PCM or a bad connection to/from PCM!?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fiero Owner
Well, there are no codes to pull, it doesn't give any codes.
I posted to this thread before but it didn't post not sure why.
I spotted right off that you say you don't get any codes. This is a problem. If everything was running correctly you would get a system pass code. This would either be 11 or 111 if you're not getting any codes you have a short to your ECM or it's bad. Check your ground to your ECM or for power. If you're getting the same problems with different engines and ECM this indicates a wiring problem. Could be something else but this is where I'd start.
OldF150,
Great post! I completely missed that.
Now we can wait to see if he returns to clarify the issue or not.
Glad to have you on the team!
I am sure that I will learn from you.
BroncoJoe19
Hey guys, haven't really tried anything else on this van lately, taking a break from the thing. When I get back to it I'll check for grounds and power feeds to the computer and I sure hope that fixes it. I think I'm gonna have to give up on it real soon. Thanks so far.
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1995 Windstar Problem 
Linear Mode
