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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.
My first post as a new member! My wife's 2000 SEL needs new headlamp assemblies; both are clouded and the passenger side has broken clips. I purchased 2 OEM parts on eBay; one is a 1999-2000 part. The other is a 2001-2003 piece. The only differences I can see are:
1) 1999-00 part has a built-in bubble level in the bottom of the main lamp reflector. (you can see this when you look down at the lamp) 2001-03 has no level indicator.
2) 1999-00 part has 2 adjustor on the rear side: one for up/down & one for side-to-side. 2001-03 part only has up/down adjustment. Where the side-to-side adjustor was on the old part, it just has a flat piece covering where the adjustor would have been.
3) The headlamp bulb is rotated in a different orientation between the 2 units. Same bulb, but the flat portion of the bulb socket is not in the position that would make it a mirror image from the other side. I did not confirm that this may be the way my 2 original units are already configured. This I assume is a non-issue, as the bulb shouldn't have an up or down to it. But it is keyed only to go into the housing one way, so....
Otherwise, the 2 parts look identical. Mounting points, clips, lens, etc. all the same.
Which boils down to the $20,000 question: What is the Ford procedure for headlamp adjusting on the 2001-2003 Windstars? I have the 2000 OEM Ford shop manual and all it says is to move the up/down & side-to-side adjusters until the light are aimed properly. Did Ford decide that the side adjustments weren't necessary in the later models? If so, I *should* be able to use the newer part in my 2000 Windstar.
If It fits on the van, use it. I almost never have to adjust my side to side adjustments.
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1998 Ford Windstar GL 3.8L 253,100 miles
2005 Toyota Prius Package 6 1.5L 135,000 miles
2006 Toyota Sienna LE 3.3L 36,000 miles
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Update: I installed both headlamp units yesterday with no issues. The bulb orientation as mentioned in my #3 point was OK - the original unit and the newer year part are the same. All that's left is the actual alignment, but the rough alignment I did looked OK.
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2001-2003 Headlamp Install Guide 
Linear Mode
