When towing a trailer up a hill only got 15 mph max in 1st gear

D S HUDSON

MEMBER
2001 FORD WINDSTAR
55,000 MILES

Hesitation upon accelerating idle fairly smooth will hold speed once you get through the lagging and missing of the engine. This van is in great condition with 55,000 actual miles on it. We purchased last August with 45,000 miles on it and the van has presented no problems until now. We took a trip to the mountains last week and hit a very steep grade for 4 miles at which time with pop up camper in tow and 6 people aboard only managed 15 miles per hour with the foot to the floor in 1st. Gear at 2200 rpm. Van ran great right after we got back in to town. Any help would be greatly appreciated and am wiling to make a donation upon troubleshooting guidence. Thank you very much David Hudson

1 Reply

CJ MEDEVAC

MECHANIC
11,004 POSTS

CHECK ENGINE LIGHT ON?

HAVE YOU KEPT UP/ CAUGHT BACK UP WITH SCHEDULED/ PREVENTATIVE MAINTENANCE?

I'M GONNA SEND YOU A FEW LINKS (OF MY ANSWERS) TO LOOK OVER.....THIS WILL GET YOU A LOT OF INFO FAST.......AS YOU WILL SEE I GET CARRIED AWAY AND WRITE NOVELS!

https://www.2carpros.com/questions/2000-ford-focus-car-sitting-there-running-makes-many-strange-sounds-sounds-s

HERE'S ANOTHER

https://www.2carpros.com/questions/1993-acura-vigor-this-great-car-now-giving-little-trouble-exhaust-leak-on-loud

I'M JUST SORTA ATTEMPTING TO SHOW YOU SOME DECENT MAINTENANCE PRACTICES

...................IMAGINE "THAT LOOK" I GET, WHEN I 'SPLAIN TO PEOPLE THAT IT IS "THEIR RESPONSIBILITY" TO CHECK (OR HAVE IT CHECKED) THEIR "COOLANT LEVEL" AND "OIL LEVEL".....WEEKLY ! ! !.......YES, WEEKLY ! ! !......(OTHER FLUIDS/ STUFF GETS CHECKED ON A SCHEDULE TOO!)

YOUR OWNER'S MANUAL SAYS THIS ! ! !

.................................WHEN YOU "LET IT RIDE" FOR 3 MONTHS, AND SUPER DOOPER OIL CHANGE GUY DOES YOUR CHECKIN'...........YOU JUST MISSED 11, CHECKS!..........SO YOU ARE GONNA WAIT ANOTHER 3 MONTHS. THIS TIME BETWEEN "MISSED CHECK" # 3 AND AND "MISSED CHECK" #4.......A ROCK KICKED UP AND DAMAGED YOUR OIL PAN...........SUDDENLY, IN A WEEKS PERIOD OF TIME, YOU LOST A QUART OF OIL!............OOOOOH.......... NOOOOOO!!!!!!!!

SINCE WE AIN'T CHECKIN' IT.............AT WEEK 8.......THE ENGINE LIGHT COMES ON AND THE ENGINE STARTS KNOCKING.................JUST FROM THE OIL BEING LOW FOR WEEKS, YOU PROBABLY HAVE DONE SOME DAMAGE ALREADY!.........NOW IT MAY BE TERMINAL!

................................OK...........I KNOW I'M GETTING "THAT LOOK".........AND CANNOT EVEN SEE IT!

BACK TO CLIMBING MT. EVEREST WITH A MINIVAN, GROSS WT. 5550 LBS....WITH A POP UP CHASING IT....WITH UNKNOWN WEIGHT CRAMMED IN IT............6 PEOPLE......PROVISIONS FOR 6 PEOPLE........."REAL TIME" MAINTENANCE, MAYBE NOT FULLY KNOWN........

http://autos.aol.com/cars-Ford-Windstar-2001/specs/

.................................AND A 3.8 V-6 ENGINE...........THAT'S 232 CID.........EVEN THOUGH IT'S A MODERN ENGINE, AND FUEL INJECTED AND ALL OF THAT GOOD STUFF.........IT'S NOT A V-8!

EVEN A EARLY '70s JEEP CJ ENGINE (232 STRAIGHT 6) DOES NOT HAVE THE POWER OF THE EXACT SAME SET-UP, OF THE LATER USED JEEP CJ "258 STRAIGHT 6" (BASICALLY JUST BIGGER CYLINDERS) THE SAME ONE IN MY '77 CJ 5...............IT TOO, IS NOT A V-8 EITHER.......MY '46 WITH A FLAT HEAD 4 IS NOT EVEN CLOSE..................BUT A 26 CUBIC INCH DIFFERENCE IN THE TWO SIXES IS VERY NOTICEABLE!...........I RECKON YOU CAN TELL IMMA JEEP CJ KINDA GUY!

IT IS MY OPINION THAT IF EVERYTHING WAS IN ORDER........"I THINK I CAN, I THINK I CAN, I THINK I CAN" ("LITTLE TOOT" CLIMBING THE RAIL ROAD GRADE) MIGHT APPLY.................YOUR VAN WAS DOING ALL IT COULD DO!!!!.........MAYBE MORE THAN IT SHOULDA!

YOUR TURN

THE MEDIC

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