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small-list Digest Sun, 16 Apr 2000 Volume: 2000 Issue: 051

In This Issue:
Re: Cure for boredom 2
Re: Tires for Aerostar: Tim's piece
Fixing that Aerostar
Re: Resetting the Aerostar speedometer
Re: Cure for boredom 2
Re: Cure for boredom 2
Re: Cure for boredom 2
AW: Re: EGR code!

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Sun, 16 Apr 2000 08:24:45 -0700
From: Richard pacbell.net>
Subject: Re: Cure for boredom 2

Dave wrote
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What are some things to watch for in a used 4x4 Ranger or AWD Aerostar
and would the van survive the rock and dirt roads I'd be driving on in
the
mountains of E. WA.

My reply
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Do not buy an Aerostar for this purpose. Maintenance effort and costs in
an Aerostar
are incredibly high. Check the Car Talk section of cars.com for the
money part. There,
for '91, for example, I found Fords to be above average in maintenance
expense, and
Aerostars running twice! the cost of all Fords. Many jobs in the
super-cramped engine
> compartment are just this side of impossible.

Yeah, I like my Aerostar -- driving, that it. I curse Ford's engineers
and bean counters
fairly often (and certainly in this list). My solution is similar to
what I used to tell some
customers when I was in the custom stereo business -- people for whom
we'd fixed
Sony and Fisher junk and all department store brands (and, alas, some
Yamaha, too):
treat it very gently and it will last for you. My feeling is that the
Aerostar, despite it's
being a truck, with a few heavy-duty exceptions, is really a light-duty
product. Not
for driving on rocks. An the other hand, if you want to enjoy all the
rattles that develop
as you quickly drive it into the ground on on the dirt roads, you can
call it quits when
the puny automatic transmission gives out. I wish that this weren't
true, but I'm afraid
that it is.

Richard


------------------------------

Date: Sun, 16 Apr 2000 08:45:45 -0700
From: Richard pacbell.net>
Subject: Re: Tires for Aerostar: Tim's piece

Tim,

I really enjoyed reading your reply to my Aerostar tire post. That list
of tire/ wheel variations
is really something: it appears that all eighteen variations boil down
to just two almost-identical
tire and wheel sizes! And what in the world is a "5-passenger" Aerostar?

Further, what about those Aerostar commercial vehicles I've seen around
Berkeley fitted
with undersized tires? As an aside, I really do see a lot of Aerostars
in commercial service, including fleets (AT&T, Univ. of Cal., etc.) and
wonder if the owners know something I
don't. I mean, don't they have the same maintenance nightmares that I
do? Then again, the
shop that did my 3.0 head gaskets said that they've done a lot of head
gaskets and trannys
in the fleet Aerostars, too.

I did think about Bridgestone, but probably should have tried calling
them up (my Japanese
mechanic at the time didn't like them). When I was considering
Bridgestones, I had one of
those really sour experiences at Wards. There, the salesman swore to me
that his "Turesna"
was a standard Bridgestone model (note the spelling: the standard
product is "Turanza.").

When I call Michelin on the phone, the people there really seem to know
the characteristics
of their products. I was able to discuss qualities such as ride,
cornering, wet traction, etc., and get intelligent comparisons with
which to home-in on what I needed.

But here's the nagging question in my mind based on Tom Ucen's
experience: What about
Cooper tires? He really likes his.

Richard


------------------------------

Date: Sun, 16 Apr 2000 08:56:23 -0700
From: Richard pacbell.net>
Subject: Fixing that Aerostar

I wrote
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

> I can get really fond of the Aerostar.
> Until it comes time to fix it, which is too often. Then the cursing
> begins and continues and continues.

Tim Turner replied
----------------------------------------------------------------
For you AND the technician involved.

Me again
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yeah. I have an emotional conflict here.
Having been in the repair business myself (it was stereo equipment), I
have
a twinge of sympathy and dread whenever I bring my A'star to a mechanic
for repair. You've got to, let's say, replace a junky motor in a Sony
cassette
deck to truly know how manufacturers design their products to be
virtually
unfixable. Even so, it's been hard for me to accept that an auto company
would
design a car, or especially a truck, this way.

As I've said here, I like driving it (as opposed to parking it -- you
can't see your clearances at all), and it offers a couple of unique
physical
advantages for me.

The dread is my fear that the mechanic will become so achy, scraped, and
burned
that he will be frustrated and angry, and maul a few things while doing
the fix. Believe
me, I've experienced many times in my life mechanics damaging my car. I
wish this
weren't true, because I have a lot of respect for good mechanics, and
certainly for Tim.

Richard


------------------------------

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