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We bought the Windstar from my MIL last year. She had bought it a few months before that from a friend and then said she didn't have a need for it so sold it to my husband. Apparently, whoever owned it before her took out the check engine light so we can't ever tell if the light is on. We were getting ready to get new plates on it and we did an OBD scan and we came back with a code for the purge valve (sorry don't remember the code). We had a neighbor who is a mechanic, replace the part but it took us a while to get back to trying to renew the plates. Three months later, my husband decided to try to get plates again so he had another OBD scan done and it still has a purge valve problem. (I believe it's stuck open). Since my neighbor replaced it we've had a sort of feud going on so we took it to another mechanic who worked on it as a side job. He called and said that the purge valve was fine so didn't need to be replaced. But while looking under the engine, he had found a few bad vacuum lines. He said he replaced the ones he could. When we went to pick up the van from him, he couldn't get it started. I think after a little toying around he figured it out but when my husband drove it home he said it drove like crap. It has a really rough idle now that it didn't have before and it hesitates (a lot) to accelerate. The mechanic claimed he did an OBD scan and it came back with nothing but just to be safe, I stopped by Autozone and had them do another one and now it has six codes. One is still the purge valve. The others are P0171, P1538, P1537, P0301, and P0174. The cashier asked me what kind of mileage I was getting and up until the van was fixed I was getting 400 per tank. The first day we had it, my husband filled up the tank, drove to work and back and to the store, a total of 78 miles and it has a little over half a tank.
Needless to say, my husband is ticked. We looked under the hood to see if we could find anything and low-and-behold, I found a piece of vacuum tubing that should have been plugged in somewhere sitting at the top of the hood (like it had been taken off, set aside, and forgotten). We found 4 sections of vacuum lines that look like they have been cut or broken in two. Can't say for sure if it was or wasn't like that before the van was "fixed". We replaced the vacuum piece to cover whatever port it went on and then the van didn't idle as rough. I took my husband to work (this is our only working vehicle) and while going 70 down the interstate, the van stalled out and jerked real hard. Then it was okay for a few seconds before repeating. I pulled to the side of the road and the OD off indicator light started flashing. My husband checked out the engine and couldn't figure anything out so we continued on our way...going 40mph on the shoulder. It acted fine for a while. I got off at the next exit and continued on the back roads. It remained fine while going at slower speeds. I had to get back on the highway to go home and the van did fine going 70 (my husband said I should see if it still acted up) for about 10 miles and then stalled on me. The rest of the way home it was pretty iffy. If I stayed under 40, it was fine.
Any help in figuring out to fix these problems!?! My husband is extremely ticked right now. We have 5 children so we can't afford any huge problems out of the van. Could the guy who "fixed" the van messed up something?
Needless to say, my husband is ticked. We looked under the hood to see if we could find anything and low-and-behold, I found a piece of vacuum tubing that should have been plugged in somewhere sitting at the top of the hood (like it had been taken off, set aside, and forgotten). We found 4 sections of vacuum lines that look like they have been cut or broken in two. Can't say for sure if it was or wasn't like that before the van was "fixed". We replaced the vacuum piece to cover whatever port it went on and then the van didn't idle as rough. I took my husband to work (this is our only working vehicle) and while going 70 down the interstate, the van stalled out and jerked real hard. Then it was okay for a few seconds before repeating. I pulled to the side of the road and the OD off indicator light started flashing. My husband checked out the engine and couldn't figure anything out so we continued on our way...going 40mph on the shoulder. It acted fine for a while. I got off at the next exit and continued on the back roads. It remained fine while going at slower speeds. I had to get back on the highway to go home and the van did fine going 70 (my husband said I should see if it still acted up) for about 10 miles and then stalled on me. The rest of the way home it was pretty iffy. If I stayed under 40, it was fine.
Any help in figuring out to fix these problems!?! My husband is extremely ticked right now. We have 5 children so we can't afford any huge problems out of the van. Could the guy who "fixed" the van messed up something?