Hello everyone.
I am new to this board but not to busting my knuckles.
I have a 92 Aerostar it is the 3.0l engineand am possibly looking into the job of doing a timing chain.
My problem is that the van just up and died on me one day and would not start, finnally did and got it home. but since then the only way that it would run again is to advance the distributor. Still runs crappy but does run.(I am not driving it presently)
It does have 163,00 on it. Are these chain know to jump a tooth? And still run? Or is this a problem that could be something else?
Bad distributor gear maybe?
Motor idle also goes up and down, but this has been a problem way before the timing issue.
I would love to here anyones opinion.
Thanks

 

Your story reminds me of what happened with my 92, Aerostar 3.0 liter. You may not have the same problem, but here's what happened to me.

It just died on the highway one day. I had it towed to a shop that wanted $900 to replace the timing chain. I told them I'd do it myself and had them tow it to my house. I paid them approximately $175 for two tows and a diagnosis.

Going by their diagnosis, I began to dig into a timing chain replacement, only to find the chain in excellent condition with the timing marks perfectly aligned.

I pulled off the distributor cap and cranked the motor by hand while my son watched the rotor. The rotor jumped and then stuck in one place.

Pulling out the distributor revealed that the vanes on the stator under the rotor were hitting the magnet and the shaft was distorted. The distributor had frozen and knocked two teeth off the gear (probably at highway speed). The gear also showed signs of wear.

Looking down into the distributor opening with a mirror, I decided as best I could that I didn't see any damage to the gear on the cam, even rotated the crank to make sure I was inspecting the whole gear, or at least the edge I could see of it.

I ended up replacing the distributor, and timing chain (already had everything apart). And, this was the hard part, dropped the oil pan to clean out the broken teeth. All this I did in my driveway with a fair amount of muffled cussing. I would not recommend the oil pan in the driveway part to anyone; it's involved.

Technically, I guess I should have replaced the cam shaft to be sure it wasn't the cause, but I took a chance. I wasn't in the mood or financial shape to rebuild my engine. Besides, I did inspect cam gear as best I could.

Well, that's my story. The van is running as well as it ever did, has good power and pickup, oil pressure shows good on the dash gauge, and it doesn't overheat.

I hope this doesn't scare you. Have a good day, and good luck with the van. -Sincerely, Bruce

 

Well actually this does'nt scare me as I encouraged to the thought that maybe the distributor is a weak point on the engine and I think I will look at it before I go and make more work than I need to do.
I don't think I will pull the pan though, I'll just drain the oil and hope any pieces fall out. Or get a magnetized drian plug.
Thanks for your story of experience.
Thanks,

 

I too had a similar experience with my '93, 3.0. I replaced the water pump and went to start the van after said pump....
I did hear a noise up front as the van was trying to start, but the timing chain had broke (the noise) so no starting of the van.
To replace the chain is not to difficult. The problem is taking all of the parts in front of the housing off to get to it. I spent basically the whole weekend on that particular job. You also state you have 163K on the vehicle. Mine had about 110K when the chain let go. The teeth that were left were very worn, almost sharp at the tips of the gears. It might be time to bite the bullet and do the replacement.
I am not sure about the '92 3.0's, but on my '93, front of the oil pan is attached to the bottom of the timing chain cover housing. Be careful during removal! It is cast aluminum and has a tendency to break(mine did). I had previously replaced the oil pan gasket and DID NOT want to do that job again. I think there was 4 bolts attaching the pan to the housing, just remove those and you should be fine. I believe that when the chain broke , that is when the cover also broke.
To answer your question, yes the chain can skip a tooth or two. You sad that you had to advance the timing and it still ran, although not very well. If you can do the advance, then the distributor is probably not the culprit.

reever

 

Thanks everyone.
I pulled the distrib out today and found that its in ok shape. So its the chain.
I already bought all the part an now I need to just decide to do the chain.
Anyone want an aerostar?
LOL
Thanks

 

You serious about getting rid of it? E-mail me if so...
dher4life(No Email Addresses In Posts!)

 

Actually yes.
But I think a friend may pick it up from me for $500
I just have too many toys/projects.
That how I got my name
Dadstoys2
But I will email you if he is not interested.