'93 Aero, 4.0L, 220K miles, extended.
Wife will be visiting her mom in a week and she will put on about 2500 miles round trip with three kids. When all accessories are on, lately the voltage has been a little lower than I'm comfortable with.
So...I thought I'd do a preemptive strike and replace the alternator, the belt and battery. Alternator was original, battery has been in service since '04. Belt that I took off was a NAPA unit. Looked decent, but had quite a few embedded pieces of small rock. (We live on a gravel road) I felt that it was better to do it now than when she is in BFE and would be at the mercy of a strange mechanic. I took a chance with a Duralast alternator and belt. I know I should have gone with Motorcraft parts, but the idea of replacing it came up pretty fast and I didn't have time to order either one. The belt was a little shorter than the one I took off and I had one h3ll of a time getting the new one on. I'm curious to see how much it will stretch. I figure a week's worth of driving before she takes off will give it a chance to do an initial fail if it's going to happen.
Volt meter appears to be more steady, but that's probably just the new battery doing that. I'll get a voltage reading from a hand-held DVM in a few days after the alternator brushes have seated.
Your critique is welcome. Fire away.

 

I understand your being concerned.

Did you have the old alternator tested at where ever you bought the new one?

You should keep the old belt in the van for an emergency spare. I think you can use a tire wrench to lift up the tensioner in an emergency replacement, but you might want to keep a special tool with the van for that as well.

I once took a belt off to do some work, and just could not put it back on afterward. They aren't supposed to stretch, but apparently they do. And when you release tension on them, they creep back. I'm just not sure how I installed it in the first place.

 

x2^, remember to mark which way the belt faces when taking it off. They can take a set.

 

I did not test the alternator. It was still doing it's job, although it would have been nice to see how many amps it was putting out. I'm pretty sure it was the battery that was getting near the end of it's life. I actually kept the old alternator and gave them a different one for the core return. I may just throw in some new brushes and bearings and keep it as a spare.
The belt will be kept as a spare also.
Things are working good so far.

 

Always good to be safe than sorry. New belt should have gone on easy.


Dick

 

Just a little followup if anybody cares.
Wife is back.
Alternator, battery and belt worked great.
HOWEVER, during the trip, the van developed a miss and had to take it to the Ford dealer. Dealer diagnosed a "misfire" and recommended new wires and plugs. Old wires were Motorcraft and plugs were platinum Autolites that had about 20K/2 years on them. His tech really wasn't sure what was the problem, so both wires and plugs were replaced.
It was kind of hard to say no when the service adviser was about 600 miles away, so I said yes to the tune of about $550. $380 was for labor, the rest for (cough, cough) parts. Dealer held the van overnight to let it cool down as this was in south Texas with 110+ temps. I can't blame him there.
She had to rent a Chrysler Town & Country in the mean time and said it didn't nearly have all the room. Anyway, our Aero runs good again.
The wife still tells the story where she rented a Toyota Camry a few months ago and the tranny failed with 1700 miles on it, so stuff like that happens even to new vehicles.
Anyway, I'm glad to have it back to hitting on all 6. I guess it would have been worse.

 

Glad I do all my own work. No way I would pay those prices and feel good in the morning..LOL



Dick

 

I normally do all my work too. Unfortunately, when the van is 500+ miles away, it makes it a little hard.
Those plugs and wires were put in my me the previous time. Anyway, I'm just glad they are all safe and back.

My wife did think it was funny at the Enterprise van rental. When she was getting the replacement van's paperwork, they gave her a special rate because of the Ford dealership referral. The guy behind the counter (for some reason) had to put the disabled vehicle's make and model into the computer and he couldn't find "Ford Aerostar" for a selection. He asked my wife if she was SURE that she drove a Ford Aerostar. The other person doing the training told told the trainee that they quit making the Aerostar, so that's why it didn't show up on the screen. They just added Winstar. So I guess now the Winstar's reputation just took another dive.

 

Winstars are royal junk...I work on one for a neighbor from time to time..Junk.

 

$91 for each plug and wire. Sheesh!

 

kruse,

$300 of that bill was for a blood transfusion for the kid mechanic that they stuck on the job. none of the old guys that remembered the Aero days would touch it. poor kid, send him a box of band-aids and a picture of your Aero for Christmas.

glad it all worked out for your family.

agree, the Windstar is Ford's Worst Idea. they crossed a good car, the old Taurus with the Aero, Ford's best mid van and produced a piece of road dog garbage.