three clips on the Driver's Side of my 4.0 liter Aerostar are missing, I can't find replacements, obsolete/nls. Not even a part number is to be found.

while doing the Upper Intake Gasket repair in my Aerostar I found the Driver's side spark plug wires were routed under the plastic intake manifold on their way to the Coil Pack, so that's how I re-installed them.

However, all illustrations in the Ford 1997 Service Manual and All-Data show the wires routed on top of the Driver's Side Valve Cover and behind the engine with one "Double" and two "QUAD" retainers.

Does anybody know a source for these clips? (Green Sales does not have them either).
Thanks for any help.

I found the following picture that shows the Single and Double clips but not the Quad.

 

As with a lot of parts for the Aerostar, I would try the local scrapyard to look for replacements.

I'm not sure why there would be a quad wire separator, since there are only 3 cylinders on each side. On my 90 model, those 3 wires go to the back of the intake manifold, where there are 3-wire separators that hold them in place.

 

I am reading the word "quad" from the Service Manual illustration and from the All-Data illustration.

I agree it should be 3-wire clips, not "quads", but that's what it says.

yes I have checked salvage yards but they're either missing, broken, or melted.

 

Jose--

Just finished plugs wire etc on my 93 4.0 EL. The drivers side does have 2 Quad clips. Obviously 1 slot is not used. If my memory is working, (its been 4 days, my memory is played out in that amount of time ) there is a quad at the rear of the drivers side valve cover, and one of those quad "floaters", that holds the wires as they come down from the coil on the pass side. Its just at the rear of the pass valve cover and lower rear of the intake. Mine were routed behind and below the intake to the drivers side quad on the drivers valve cover. The wires did not go under any part of the intake. Mine was all OEM and I replaced with motorcraft OEM wires. In fact, the drivers side wires, the long ones, all had an inch or two extra length and worked nicely.
Besides the 2 quads, there was about 2 double clips which had one vacant also----will attempt to verify.
I think the pass wires all had single clips on the valve cover, but I did not worry too much about using them all. Kinda ran short of blood and was getting tired!.

Now after all that, one headlight bucket had the nylon adjuster holder broken----more engineering to do. In the process of retrieving a headlight screw, I hit the front bumper cover with the palm of my hand----and the da** thing split. Does it ever end?

 

Have you tried Napa? My local Napa has a lot of little detail parts. I haven't tried looking for these, though, so I can't say that they have them. Not all Napas are the same and your success can be very dependent on the quality of the help as well as the size of the store.

 

thanks Mikeman, I'll check with Napa;

Benshere, I think the headlight Adjuster Clip is available in the Dorman-Motormite line of "HELP" parts. Depends if you are talking about the Vertical adjuster with the 6" long Torx screw, or one of the horizontal nylon brackets for the buckets which is also an "adjuster";

I broke one of the horizontal bucket brackets/clip and I ended reinstalling it reversed, the rear part towards the front. worked perfectly and is still working.

 

Unfortunately these are all to often missing. Heat takes its toll, and sometimes past mechanics who worked on the vehicle did not use care when working around them and snap them off. I have used silicone universal holders with good results. The main thing you want to do is prevent the wires from rubbing against things causing them to short out. Just so long as you can do that, other options will work. As I said, I used silicon ones, there are plastic ones too. I just secured it with a zip tie to the original location so it wouldn't move anywhere. My '97 had all the clips intact.

 

I'm headed to a salvage yard today to see if I can find any, going to check Rangers and other Ford trucks to see if they used the same retainers.

 

Problem with looking in the yards, is they will not likely come off. When I rebuilt my mom's '95 motor, I tried to use the retainers off the '97 motor, and they wouldn't come off. I had full access to a machine shop, the problem is they are one way snap in connectors and they are very brittle. Unless you want to swap a whole valve cover, I don't think you will have any luck in a wrecking yard. They are nearly impossible to remove intact.

 

I went today and managed to pull a double clip intact, then I tried pulling the one in the back of the valve cover which is a 3-wire clip and broke it.

Yes, they are impossible to remove without breaking them. I did notice that the Ranger uses the same clips, so I went through a bunch of Rangers, and same story. a bunch of broken clips trying to pull them. I gave up.

Would be nice to find them new.

 

Jose, you will not be able to route your spark plug wires around the head, they are too short if you used the recommended wires for the 97.

I covered this HERE!

I went with the earlier plug wires and so far no issues. I routed them like the pic you posted in THIS THREAD.

And if you look at this image:



they show routing the wires through the intake for 97+ OHV.

As for wire clips, I could not find any OEM ones, and the ones at the junkyard are so heat soaked, they are too brittle to try to remove.

I went with this OPTION. Hard to beat $4.99 and just placed them in similar places as in your diagram.

 

Doorman does offer replacement headlight adjusters.

I have used THESE in the past and they work well.


Also Jose, my drivers side valve cover only had a two slot wire holder in the center slot, and a single one right under the A/C compressor. There were brackets for them on the rear of the cover and back of the cover. I would say they were never installed on the '97.

 

93nighthawk--

I didnt realize there was so much difference in these engines. My wire holders are in completely different locations apparently. I wondered what the heck people were talking about when they said "under the intake". Quess my info to Jose was not real useful ! I think he knows a bunch more than I do about these things and was not confused. I did take his advice and reverse the broken nylon clip in the bucket and it seems to be working fine-----think I will leave it alone. May go ahead and get some of these other adjusters to keep on hand, just in case.
So far am very happy and a bunch relieved about my thermostat and W pump replacement. This sucker runs between the N and O and is very steady. Mid summer will tell. Coolant level is good all the time. Now for that clunking Upper A-arm bushing -----plenty of info on that.

 

1991/97 Aerostar 4.0L spark plug wire retainer clips:

FOTZ-12297-A .. Dual aka two wire clip, mounts to rocker cover / Available from Ford.

FOTZ-12297-B .. 4 way clip / Obsolete ~ 18 available NOS

FOTZ-12297-C .. 4 way locking clip / 15 available NOS

FOTZ-12297-D .. Single Clip / Available from Ford.

1991/95 Aerostar 4.0L:

E7RY-12297-A .. 4 way locking clip-attaches to rocker arm / Obsolete ~ 1 available NOS

NOS ~ pick the ones you want, I'll list the sources.

 

93nighthawk you are correct.

1) my '97 4.0 is a Feb. 1997 build, which corresponds to the spark plug wire measurements that you posted in your other (linked) post.

2) same as your Aerostar, it also has a Single Clip/ spark plug wire retainer at the front, behind the a/c compressor, and a Clip/retainer BRACKET at the Center of the valve cover. The Double clip at the center of the Valve cover does not appear to have ever been placed there, there's only the welded bracket.

3) mine also has the clip bracket on the rear of the engine, as seen through the doghouse, but no clip/Retainer either, and no evidence there ever was any there.

4) the 3 Driver's Side spark plug wires were routed under the Upper Intake Manifold as shown in the drawing you posted in the other thread.

Based on the above, trying to find the original Clips/Retainers will serve no purpose with the current length of the spark plug wires, which are the shorter wires used in 1997 based on your study. I will leave them routed under the intake manifold as I found them. Thanks for your help.

Benshere: I spend a day at my local salvage yard looking at Aerostar and Rangers, Broncos, Expeditions, and you name it, all with the 4.0 engine and similar black plastic intake manifolds as mine; There are so many configurations for these wire clips and spark plug wire Lengths, it is mind-boggling, seems to change year-to-year even though it is the same engine, no consistency.

As for the headlight-adjuster clip, I inverted/reversed mine, it has been like that for over a year and still working fine, actually I think it will outlast the original "normal" position!

If you look at 93nighthawk's linked thread above, you can see the 3 Driver's Side spark plug wires routed under the Intake Manifold in the drawing, (there are two cavities or "holes" under the black plastic Intake Manifold through which you can run the driver's side wires to the Coil Pack), and that's how mine were found.