So there I am driving along in my crap Ford Windstar an bam, the Overdrive LED begins flashing. I do a google search an find out it usually means: "If the O/D OFF indicator light is flashing on and off repeatedly when the vehicle is started or does not come on when the O/D OFF control is pressed, it means that there is a transaxle electronic system malfunction. You should contact your dealer as soon as possible or damage to the transaxle could occur." Well here I am with no money because of my job that matches the crap car I own. I calculated my finances an I make around 225 each week, 500 bi-weekly. To me this sounds so sad as to be worth dying over. 10.70 an hour with benefits off, taxes. What do you guys think? The overdrive LED will blink but it doesn't always, sometimes it's fine an nothing seems wrong with the trans. When I was driving home last night the thing started blinking, then no matter what I did acceleration-wise I couldn't get above 40 MPH. It seems like the thing cannot make up it's mind if the trans is messed or not. What do you think it'll cost to fix this? What do you think, is it worth fixing? What do you think about my job, shouldn't I just quit when I can't even take care of my car? My expenses are like 200 a month for psychiatric meds + allergy meds, then 120 for gas, then psychiatric bill of like 40 an therpist of like 40 (cuz of the insurance). Then another 200 for rent to my parents. It seems like this isn't working out, I may as well be homeless Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Tell me what to do with life!
Make some radical changes to your life. If you were in Europe I would tell you to ditch your car and go by bicycle, but you live in America. Change jobs. Get your own appartment. But you live in america.
` As far as the van goes, try to find out if it's a defect for which vehicles of that model were recalled. They might fix it for nada. It's worth a shot, anyway. It seems to me that it sometimes craps out & sometimes doesn't because it's an electronic system. When it's on the fritz, your transmission is probably not shifting, hence the inability to accelerate, and the warning of possible damage. The cost to fix it might could be anything from comapratively little to catastrophic, depending on what specifically is wrong. It could be something like a sensor, which detects the speed of the motor, and shifts accordingly, or something more involved. You'd have to get a more elaborate diagnosis than the dashboard light. Some auto parts stores feature a free diagnostic check service which might help you pinpoint the problem. I can't recall which, but it's a big chain store like Auto Zone. If it's some electrical gizmo, they might even carry the part. Whether or not it's worth it to fix depends - IMHO - on the age of the vehicle vs. the cost to repair it. Or you might call a Ford dealer & ask to talk to their service dept. Run the situation by them and ask what they think it is & what it might cost to fix. As far as life, I'd have to agree with the esteemed spurious one and suggest some changes, but I'd advise against quitting this job until you have something else lined up, or at least a way to pay for the meds & doc, unless there is some alternative which will do so...
Put some tape over the light and don't drive on the highway. How can your parents charge you rent? Do they think that's fair? That's messed up.
To side with Killjoy, you need to have it checked for sure and you really don't know how much it'll be till a qualified tech lets you know. The best advice I can offer is to talk to your parents about your tight budget, and your overall situation as well. I earn the same as you, and I had to negotiate some things at home: I promised to buy milk and eggs and other supplies every so often as long as I don't have to help pay any bills or stuff like that. For the rest, I hope your therapist has something insightful to say about your situation. I kinda miss going to the therapist, but not really.
What they call "electronics," since the early 1980s, is in fact an on-board computer. It controls the mix in your fuel injectors, the timing of your ignition, the opening and closing of your thermostat, and many other things including the combination of speed and load at which the transmission changes gears, which is what your problem seems to be centered on. The software in these computers is pretty well designed. With millions of copies of identical programs running under more or less identical conditions, a software defect will be noticed rather quickly. But the hardware is another story. Imagine bolting your computer into a vehicle that's going to be subjected to bumps in the road, temperature extremes, precipitation, engine fluid leaks, and the occasional rodent colony looking for a warm place to spend a winter evening. . . and then expecting to take its reliable operation for granted for--in your case--eleven years! Do you see what I'm getting at here? I had a 1989 Porsche whose computer began to fail in 2004. Fifteen years, not too bad, I suppose. But before that I had a 1982 Pontiac whose computer began to fail in 1987. That was crappy. The symptoms are exactly what you're experiencing: the classic intermittent, unpredictable effects of computer hardware problems. They never fail hard at first. But eventually they do. When that happens the car will keep running, the engineers had enough sympathy for you to ensure that. But it will smoke, run about seven miles on a gallon of fuel, have a top speed that's barely safe on the freeway, the warning lights and instruments will go beserk, and it will get stuck in the wrong gear. (In your case it won't shift into overdrive, which is just a slightly more complicated version of having one more gear.) A new computer for my Pontiac would have cost about $1,000--twenty years ago! I was too chicken to even price one for the Porsche and I would probably have had to pull one from a salvage vehicle that was just as old as my own. I'm not a mechanic and even if I were I could hardly diagnose your car from an internet posting. Perhaps something simpler is wrong. But if not, then its performance will continue to degrade until you reach your frustration point, and you probably can't afford to replace the computer.
Yeah, fraggle has it I think. We needed a new electronic part for our 4x4. The performance slipped over time, until it became a bit of a slug. Turned out the air intake sensor needed to be replaced. As soon as it was, vrooom! the Turbo was back. Shame your computer controls your gears. Automatics suck, stick shifts rule. The only advice I would give you about life is this; Buy a car with a stick shift.
