I've run into the broken center track too. My opinion is that once the rollers wear you start slamming the door to close it, which increases the stress on the track, which was already not the strongest design. This makes it more prone to breaking.

 

I put a little oil on all the sliding door bearings of all three of my Aerostars a few weeks ago and was amazed at how much smoother and easier they working now.

 

Is anyone still monitoring this post?
94 Aerostar
Sliding door stopped opening, had a yellow clip break off.
We were able to get open with the interior panel removed, using the latch rod and outside door handle, now nothing is working.
Any suggestions?

 

is the rod still connected to the latch located at the rear of the door?

if yes, one of the spring legs inside the latch may have slipped and is no longer exerting spring pressure on the top catch, this is a known issue with these latches.

if the trim panel is off, you might be able to reach the latch "lever" and pull it, it will be at the bottom of the latch.

 

BTW:

the sliding door Latch is the same part used in the front doors and the rear hatch;

the rear hatch latch has a plastic cover over it, the front door latches are installed from the inside of the door, otherwise all 4 latches are identical.

 

Did the Yellow clip look like this?

Dorman® Help!™ 75473 - Door Lock Rod Clips | O'Reilly Auto Parts

If so you need to replace it so the rod will work. Dorman makes a replacement assortment that will work which can be found pretty much anywhere.

 

Can you detail the repair to keep spring in place? My sliding door has that problem once in a while; the top part doesn't spring all the way open, so closing it jams things up.

The Windstar side door latching system is better, one on each end of the door. They must have also beefed up the rollers and such, as the slider on my Windstar works nicer than my Aerostar, despite the Windstar having more miles, and the same age.

 

I'll give it a try; The top spring and "locking tang" seem to get the most use and abuse, and that's why those latches fail. It's the top spring that causes the problem.

the top spring (there are two blue springs), has a "leg" that when the spring gets sort of "sprung", keeps popping out of its place and the spring stops creating tension to move the locking tang. So the idea is to "trap" the leg of the spring so it doesn't go anywhere anymore.

take a 2" inch long (more or less), piece of stainless steel under 3/32nds thick, (1/8" thick is too thick to bend, 1/16" thick is too thin), bend one end of it into a closed "J" about ½", slide the bent "J" over the edge of the latch casing, then shape it over the outside of the case of the latch, then drill a small hole at the other end of the sheet metal piece and screw in a short screw, a self-drilling screw works great.

take some thin pliers and compress the "J" end over the casing's edge so it will stay tight.

now you need to grab the "leg" of the spring and put it towards the inside wall of the casing, while pushing the bracket towards it to trap it in place.

there is a thread in another Aerostar forum with better pictures if you want to check it.

How To: Replace a defective sliding door latch. - Page 2 - Ford Explorer and Ranger Forums "Serious Explorations"®

 

I have to do this maintenance periodically to keep the latch mechanism working on the sliding door:

https://plus.google.com/photos/11555...67774490549511

The bell crank that the inside and outside handles actuate becomes sluggish returning to its resting position. This is worst when the door is locked (lock pin up), so the lock pin can not be pulled down into the slot to allow the bell crank to engage the pushrod that opens the latch on the rear. Usually if I can get some kind of cleaner/lubricant into the pivot, it frees up, and works for a while.

This time around, I finally got the trim around the window off:

https://plus.google.com/photos/11555...67774490549511

I actually did it by removing the nuts that held the steel clamp to the window frame using a ratcheting box-end wrench. I did that after unsuccessfully struggling with a screwdriver trying to pry the lip on the trim out of the clamp. It wasn't until after I lubed the latch bell crank that I decided to shoot a little WD40 onto the lip. And amazingly, that lip just slipped right out of the clamp. Now I know...

 

I thought I had this beat a while back, but guess what I'm doing today. The rod flops from being fully jammed, to fully free floating, but never doing anything on mission.

Fyi, the threaded sheetmetal nut that holds the striker post is accessible from inside but the style is such that it can not be removed.
I'll probably change it to a conventional flange nut for future rescue ops.

Meanwhile that latch is in Big Trouble once I get my hands on it.

>>> The Fix