Another reason for getting rid of this Windstar is a safety factor. If your Windstar is from a state where salt is used on the roads in the wintertime, these Windstars suffered from rear axle failure. The fix was either to use an epoxy to affix plates to the rear axle or for Ford to buy the vehicle. If your vehicle has not had the recall performed, you might investigate to see if Ford will buy it from you as part of the recall program. My son had a 2000 Ford Windstar. Ford did the fix for the rear axle, but he would have been happier if Ford had decided to buy his vehicle.
At 250,000 miles, you may be near the end of the life of the transmission, ball joints, etc. I think it is time to abandon ship.