I have a 2001 windstar 145k..

in the last 6 months i had this problem with the engine starting,,

is would get stuck and i would have to spin the engine backwards a few times to get to spin enough to start,

in 6 months it did it 3 times,

it would sound like the battery was dead but its a new bat..

it would go WOW-WOW-WOW-WOooo stuck, i could only spin it backwards..

SOOO today i get up to go to work and it did it to me... it took over a hour to get it started BUT this time the engine has a clunk clunk clunk when i start it,, it sounds like its from the lower end but im not sure..

any one out there have this problem b4?
what could it be?

 

Metal hitting metal. Not a good sign. Maybe the flywheel came loose or a connecting rod broke, or something else really nasty.
Those are all guesses based on your description.

blue

 

It could also be that darn flexplate connecting the engine to the trans. Probably broken.
Trans has to be moved/removed to repair.

 

Did you ever figure this out Blazz81?

My buddy has a 2001 Windstar doing the same thing. Loud clunk when trying to start it. We manually rotated the engine with the crank bolt, and can get it to rotate a bit, but then gets stuck on something.

We removed the front valve cover and see the pushrods moving when rotating by hand, so it's not the timing chain. Only thing I can figure is either a lower end failure, or most likely a flex plate issue. But before dropping the transmission, I'm wondering if you ever got your issue fixed.

Thanks!