  I bought a new 1999 Windstar and thank goodness I got the extended warranty.  Because after 36,000 miles, every five months something has gone wrong.  It has cost the warranty company over $18,000 dollars to date.  It is so bad they did not offer to extend my coverage.  Now the van has only 80,000 miles on it and my wife wants to get rid of it.  Why in the world would anybody produce a car and have it break down so often?  Here is some of what happened: 38,000 replaced transmission 42,000 replaced full rack and pinion steering 48,000 new head gasket 52,000 new left ball joint and strut, also checked weird thump on the driver side, did not find anything 58,000 new cold start valve.