For the first time in years I almost had to pay someone to fix one of my vehicles.Then I discovered this forum and after a little review and questions I fixed the dang thing. Too bad mr dealership guy 95 bucks an hour flatrate guy....You wont pay your kids college tuition with my money this time........

 

That sounds great, but our obvious question is: What did you fix?

 

I fixed a hard to start, skipping. lack of power,stalling problem,,,,,,,a major tune up and broken vAC LINE HIDDEN BESIDE THE TRANNY. She purrs now and Im going to the coast for some fall fishing ..................

 

That sounds great, but our obvious question is: Which coast, what fish?

 

The NC/SC coast and Im lookin for any kind of fish action I can get from a pier. I prefer a couple coolers of spots

 

nothing better going fishing in an Aero with the back end full of poles, gear and beer
something a woman will never understand or appreciate

 

Thats one of the things I like about an aerostar.......it can do the things that a new SUV type van can do for a fraction of the cost too. Before I got my first one I asked myself what would the perfect vehicle for my needs be,,,,,,,the answer was aerostar. I compared ASTROS to them and the aerostar won.

 

I know I'm going to get it, but the Astros are not half bad. I rented one once, and it ain't as bad as I heard.

 

They have good ride, but they are aweful vehicles to own, because they are terribly unreliable. Typical lifespan is 150,000 - 180,000 miles or 10 - 15 years, whichever comes first. Compare to the typical lifespan of the Aerostar at 200,000 - 350,000 miles or 15 to 25 years.

 

If I analyze the acronym SUV, and try to get some meaning out of them:

Sport - Face it, all SUV's are just pickup trucks with covered rear cab, but I wouldn't call any of them sports cars. Even the newer ones that are presuming to be "sporty" and more car-like are no sports cars.

Utility - Most SUV's just do not have the storage capacity to carry people or stuff of a van that covers the same ground space.

Vehicle - That's about the only true description...they're all vehicles.

I tend to believe that people who want functionality (utility) would get vans, and forget any pretense of "sport".

 

This forum is the best one out there for your fix it woes.

Lets see when I owned my Aero:

Slider broke would not open-fixed with help with these guys. could close with a finger after that!

Cylinder lock broke-fixed with help from these guys.

Temp sending unit-" "

changed plugs how to-" "

running a tad rough-" " (cleaning MAF, seafoam treatment, that was fun)

General tips and tricks-These guys!

never once had to rely on a mechanic to fix the darn thing. I had to get rid of it with a small mileage of 178,000 and got 1,500 on a trade in and they sent it to an auction yard saying the brakes were shot. The brakes could stop on a dime and had brand new (2 years ago anyway) calipers, bearings and pads, rotors etc and a complete fluid flush by my brother in law who is ASE certified brake guy. Someone got a good running van. The only thing wrong with it at the time I traded it was the power steering leaked and just hadn't go to tear it out and put new seals in it. We got rid of it cause the wife wanted something newer and we just didn't need the room as one kid went to college and frankly and she got tired of driving it. The van still got 22-24 mpg.

L8R

Aaron

 

I rode in one for 4 hours with some friends on the way to Reno and it rode nice, but they had troubles with it. I think they are a tad bit smaller than the Aero, we can load that Aero with camping stuff for 7 people, haul 5 kids including us and it still fit. Couldn't see out of the back window but it hauled it.

Our friends Astro had a rear end broke, water was ran out and the motor bout went, other electrical gremlins kept it down a few times. It didn't help that the guys wife never looked at the gauges much less maintain it. That was probably the main problem right there.

Aaron