Hi all, and thanks for the help with a previous problem. Now I have another.

Van: 1996 Aerostar XLT 4.0L, 195,000 miles. It had a standard "tune-up" about 25,000 miles ago that included spark plugs.

Symptoms: Cranks normally and "catches" but will not start unless I depress the gas pedal while cranking. Thereafter I must hold the gas pedal down a little to keep the engine running, it will not idle with the foot off the accelerator. After the engine has gotten thoroughly warmed up (10 to 15 minutes in warm weather) it will idle OK without touching the gas pedal.

One more interesting thing is that the "check engine" light has never come on with this problem.

Any suggestions about what to check and in what order would be most welcome.

TIA,
Dave

 

Have you found anything out about this? I'm also having trouble getting my aerostar to idle without conking after plug/cable and fuel filter change. Been looking for timing info and plug gap specs.

Jeanne

 

Check the Trottle positon Sensor or Fuel pressure regulator

 

I am having the same problem with my 99 Explorer XLT 4x4. It has 160,000 miles and runs well.
When the engine is cold it will not stay started unless I keep the gas pedal depressed. After doning this for about 5-10 min the engine runs perfect.
Could it be a "cold start sensor" or something in the cold engine system?
Any help would be apperciated.
Thanks Mark

 

After searching a little harder I have found this to be a fairly common problem. Acording to several posts, it may be the AIC, Air Idle Control. This regulates the amount of air that is allowed into the engine. I looked in my manual and it had a step by step process on how to test the unit and the circuit. My valve and circuit tested fine so I cleaned the unit and reinstalled it.
This is easy to do and only took about 15min total.
I will let you know what happens.
Mark