I am on my second Aerostar AWD 4.0 and just love them for daily transportation and winter driving. Both of them average just under 20 mpg on the open road but when used only around town on short drives it is more like 12. I have been wondering if there are any mods that can help mileage a little, like different airbox ect.
I did run taller, skinnier tires (205 75 15) on the 93 and am planning on putting them on the 97 this week. I think they helped a little. The 97 has 3.55 gears

 

Unfortunately, the only mods that can noticeably improve around town mileage is your driving habits. Stop-and-go driving in general is bad for mileage, unless you have some kind of regenerative braking system to capture the energy that the brakes normally dissipates into heat, like on most hybrids. Heavier cars suffer more, as it takes more energy to get them up to speed, which you scrub off at your next stop. You can save a couple hundred pounds by removing the back seats, and any other load that you don't need to carry around with you. Fast starts and stops make it worse, so you can try anticipating stops by letting off the gas early when preparing for a stop. The stupidest thing I've seen all too much of are those people who actually race to a stop; not only is that dangerous, but it also wastes a lot of fuel.

Around here, many communities implemented what they call "traffic calming" strategies to slow people down. What it actually is is timing the traffic lights to force you to stop at every one of them. I personally find it more frustrating than calming, but the DOT has already shown that that strategy is very wasteful of fuel. So in a roundabout way, you may be able to improve the in-town gas mileage of your entire community by convince your city council to implement synchronized traffic lights.

 

the heavy Aero is NOT an intown high mpg rig.
my AWD Ext. weights over 4000 empty.

several of the smaller towns, cities around here have went to the traffic slowing light chain timing system, I refuse to go there.
most of the freeway on ramps now have the 1 at a time on ramp lights. lots of stop and go.

makes more hwy gas tax money for them to spend.

will never be enough roads, maybe they should fix the ones and the bridges they have now.

rough roads here destroying the front end and shocks on my Aero, the pot holes in the pavement are worse than the logging roads i take for my photo. trips.

slow, light and easy on the throttle and coast to stop in intown driving is the ONLY way to get any mpg out of these. wife can't get 10 mpg out of the Aero intown suburia

 

We had a '93 with the 3.0 that got ~20 in town and 23 to 25 on the highway.

 

I remember Atlantic City switched over to that system a few years back, dunno what they're using now. I stopped for the first 6 lights - then was finally convinced that they were timed intentionally to stop traffic, and made like the taxicab beside me and ran the next 14 red lights straight.

Hey, it was 3AM on a Wednesday morning. Sue me.

 

This is a small town and the only traffic lights are on the main highway. I pretty much do all the old man driving stuff, coast a lot, easy on the go pedal. Lately I've been thinking maybe I need something different for around town driving. I had a 98 Merc Gran Marquis that never got less than 20 around town and 28-31 on the highway. It had to go away, long story.

 

WB,
12 mpg seems low, even for a 4.0. My 4.0 averages around 15-16 mpg for in town driving and 20 highway. I do find the seasonal gasoline mixes with ethanol really knocks the mileage down. I can across into Wyoming and fuel up with straight 85 octane gas and the mileage improves by 15%.

It sounds like your engine may be stuck in the cold operation mode. As the engine warms up, various sensors come online to fine tune the fuel/air mixture. A bad sensor such as the engine coolant sensor, will keep the engine in the rich, cold mixture. This causes poor mileage without thowing any engine malfunction codes. Workshop manuals and an ohmmeter can help sort out sensor issues.

A dirty Mass Airlow Sensor (MAF) can also cause mileage issues. The tiny, delicate element can be easily cleaned with spray electronic cleaner... with observed caution.

You might try a can of injector cleaner with each of the next few fill ups to see if that helps.

Keep trying.

 

I'll have to borrow the scanner again and read the data on the sensors, see if I have any lazy ones. I was thinking maybe clean the injectors. What brand of cleaner do you prefer?
Years ago there was a lot of plenum cleaning being sold. My brother had an old efi 460 and it seemed to respond noticeably to a plenum clean. I'm wondering if it might help.

 

I've been trying to locate the MAF on my 3.0 but there doesn't seem to be one?

 

Thats why I own several cars. The Aerostar is a great at hauling loads, and the economy isn't too bad on the highway, and weight doesn't affect the mileage much when you are at speed.

At the end of the day, these vans are not built for economy, they are built for utility. Since I don't need utility all the time, I own several cars, some of which are easier on fuel.

 

Between the air cleaner box and the big "snorkel" tube leading away from the air cleaner is metal section with a flat, black, plastic item about the size of matchbox with a multiple wire connector. There are two security type torex screws that hold it in place. Remove the connector and two screws and CAREFULLY!! pry the Mass Air Flow sensor upwards. If you peer in the end of the MAF you will see a tiny heat element that resembles the kind in a light bulb. DO NOT touch it. Use an electronics spray cleaner and give it several shots from both ends. Replace with care and remember to hook up the connector.

The tiny element is a heated wire during normal operation. Air crossing the element cools it and the change in temp is converted mathmatically to a voume (mass) of air available. The engine control computer uses this info to determine the correct fuel injector settings.

 

Seriously, it's a heated-element MAF sensor? Pretty high tech for an 80's ride!

I'll have to check it out. Also cleaning out the throttle plenum.

 

Maybe it's a speed/density system, which has no air flow sensor.

 

amazing what elected officials do behind the backs of the people that elect them. That's why I'm voting for The Prez. But be my guest, vote for whoever you please. I live in a neighborhood where all the lights are mostly green one after the other, and traffic flows continuously, hardly any stopping unless one light turns red. So much money wasted installing traffic lights that date to the middle ages. I have heard about "smart traffic lights" that sense when there is no traffic in any given direction, and turn green for the side where there is traffic. But don't expect them in the US of A of course, over here we are slaves to the State Governments who tax us at every corner and we do nothing about it, except blame the Federal Government. BTW: if you are moving to Florida, it will cost you $400.00 to register and re-title your Aerostar the first time you do. What a racket dear! I said to an arrogant old woman at the DMV when she arrogantly proclaimed: "This is Florida honey, We are different here".

 

Smart lights are abound here in Jersey.

...so are red-light cameras. Motorists beware.