I believe he said it was Mosture in the distributor cap.

I would check for a crack in it.

JaY

 

Thanks everybody it's a 3.0 L I'm going to pull all the connectors and clean the contacts before I start using it. I'll check the distributor too. So far it's started every time for me, in the driveway. We live in florida on the beach so it probably has some corrosion of contacts.

 

once a dist. cap carbon tracks inside or outside from moisture and spark arc, it's shot....all the cleaning and sprays in the world will not return it to original spark insulating specs....the surface insulation breaks down for some depth....it's the hard sealed surface of a dist. cap that does all the work
also, the metal contacts corrode and breaks down deep in the wire plug sockets, raises the resistance of the metal and connection to the point the spark is delayed and reduced in intensity
salt water marine enviroments are the worst on distributor systems, GMC's HEI system was worthless on salt water

 

Here's what it was, and thanks everybody. First of all, I my wife got in and goosed the gas while I sprayed the garden hose under the hood. Front of the motor was fine, I got it good and wet. Then I sprayed up under it to hit the distributor and it killed immediately. So I pulled the inside cover and changed cap, rotor and wires. I also found a pinched gasket in the connector at the back of the distrubutor. I straightened that out and I used dielectric grease on everything. I think the original cap and rotor might have been OK as I didn't see much carbon tracking in there but you never know, more about that below. While replacing the wires a couple hours later, I felt water drip on my hand. I noticed it dripping right on the distributor. HMMMM where's that coming from? It turns out the heat shield (dirty fiberglass) was holding water, and caused it to all settle right over the distributor. The shield went in the trash can.

Result is, we unloaded the garden hose under the hood and absolutely no problems. My wife who a few hours earlier had been reading me the riot act about taking another piece of junk, then said, "well I think I like this van, It's really not THAT big, I think it's MINE".

The people who owned this van had it towed to the dealer three times, complaining it wouldn't start in the rain. It has 150K easy miles. The cap and rotor were original, and I bet the plugs are still originals. No one at the dealer ever did anything to try to fix that van, probably because it's no fun to work on. They just took the old folks money and sent them home hoping maybe they would buy a new one. Old folks bought a buick instead.

 

One more thing, the cap and rotor (sorenson) from advance auto looked a little light compared to the original ford parts, but they worked and fit fine.
The Autolite wires were probably not as good as OEM and the original wires looked OK, but they are gone now. I also removed and cleaned the coil. It looked fine.

 

good trouble shooting and repair
Autolite premium ig. wires are fine...150k mile 14 year old plug wires, rotors and caps have all the goodie drained out of them....rotors and caps, especially the heat soaked ones like Aero's at back of van engine need to be replaced every 2-3 years

isn't it a shame that dealerships are more interested in selling a new rig than working on and repairing off warranty vehicles that they have sold in the past....and to prey on old people on a fixed income is a Ken Lay type sin

just think of all that "good lovin" and "good vibrations" you're going to get from your wife for fixing HER Aero

 

I change my plugs, cap, and rotor every 2 years when the vehicles need to be smogged. I think it helps pass the smog test and the cars could use the tune up.

 

Good idea.
we don't live in smog areas, and this is off the thread a bit, but for what it's worth when I did have to pass smog in North Carolina several years back, I was a little worried about my 83 ford ex cop car with a 351.

I had removed the Variable venturi carb and replaced it with an 81 ford two barrel from TOMCO. It turned out to be the cleanest running car they had ever seen.

Aerostar gave me a little worry yesterday right front brake bound up and got hot, but it's Ok today, it's probably just a liitle rust binding up the caliper. It sat for quite a while.

 

nosy,
please pull the wheel off and check that caliper slide and piston, can ruin a rotor, pads, hub and bearings in just a few miles
plus NOT safe
we want you Aero cruisin for thousands of miles to come

 

already planned to do that this weekend, 96-4wdr do you happen to know any thing about the abs system, is it easily removed / bypassed. light is on, but brakes are good.

The van had a some mildew smell but I found that air-conditioning vent cleaner sprayed on the carpets fixed that. (chlorine dioxide)

I understand now why some people like these things. Once I got the tires aired up and the cobwebs out of it it drove and handled very well. Has surprising power too.

I'll be pulling the wheels all the way around and inspecting things this weekend.

tip 4 you 4wd, you get snow up there and you have hills and you have 4wd.

I had a jeep cheokee chief up in virginia and was sliding downhill in snow and ice into a busy 4 lane highway, brakes were doing nothing. Cost me a transmission but I locked up the wheels put it in reverse floored it and then let off the brakes while going forward at about 45 mph. it stopped in time.

 

1. never squeeze brake fluid backwards into system by compressing caliper piston or cylinder on ABS RABS systems, always loosen bleeder and allow pressure to bleed off to compress

2. they need to be completely flushed every 2-3 years, search Aero forum for directions, the old timers have written it up several times

3. check fluid level switch in bottom of master cylinder to make sure it is working

4. there is a switch in top of combination valve in brake line just after MC that corrodes up, remove and clean

5. some replace RABS valve and combination valve units with new manually adjustable proportioning valve, search aero forum...i am still running factory original setup....works great for me even towing 3,500 lb trailer and GVCW of 8,500 lbs

complete troubleshooting section in Ford service CD avail free online, search forum or on eBay
RABS system will output trouble codes from its computer just as engine ECU will, details in CD manual

if more RABS questions?, please start new thread

 

Same problem on a 1993 3.0L I just purchased. Anybody pinpoint the exact cause, or do I just start replacing all the above said items hoping one of those will get it? Like to replace the right one and save a few $$$ if possible.Thanks!

 

About ABS. You do not want to bypass ABS. The light is on and that means there is a problem. Someone most likely already compressed the calipers and damaged or plugged the proportioning valve. It can be fixed, but make sure someone who does not know how to service ABS systems ever gets near your van. Bypassing the ABS does not prevent this issue from occuring, and bypassing the ABS can make your vehicle much harder to stop if the road is slippery.

 

I once had a caliper sieze up from really old fluid boiling from too much stop-and-go driving. A full change of fluid and it worked much better.

 

Hi Robby:

Welcome to our FTE forum