from a 96xlt @ 238,500 kms......

These were original Ford plugs, I bought the van at 75,000kms.

Close up to show some combustion deposits, had a bit of a misfire but not enough to get the CEL flashing , apart from once on a cold snowy damp winter morning. However it cleared itself in about 5 mins, cat survived. Gap was about 100/1000".

She now has Bosch in & the van is at 295,000 kms & all is well, but next time it'll be getting Motorcrafts again. I've also just installed a set of new rotors on the front.... the 4th set during the vans lifetime (about 75,000kms each). The van also destroys flexpipes in about 2.5 years, I need to DIY these. Other than that I cant complain it's been far & away the most durable vehicle I've owned!

ATB Aeroman

 

the olde but goodie Aerostar, was but no longer built Ford tough by American workers

my originals looked the same at 100k miles when i changed them for no reason other than something to do and the book said to.
0.100" gap or wider. burned off non platinum tip on each plug. gotta love that bean counter idea of plat center conductor for one bank and plat. ground bar for other bank. must have drove the OEM parts chain and assembly crews crazy.
Double plats. from factory would have probably lasted for 250K miles or more.

 

This is an assertion that every owner makes about the car he chooses. But I'm wondering whether we're being myopic and tunnel-visioned? The very reason that this forum exists is that there are enough owners who have problems with their van, and come here to collectively discuss problems and solutions. It's great to be sure, but is this particular model really much better than others?

Has anyone ever hung out on a similar forum for, say, one of the Chrysler minivans, which we've all HEARD are much worse than the Aerostar, but few of us have actual experience with?

 

5 of them may be used after cleaning with sandblaster. One have to bad central electrode.

So as an experiment try to clean them, reduce air gap and use againe till U got missfire codes (P301-P306).

Seems to me they willl work fine for next 100K

 

> but few of us have actual experience with?

I have worked at the big three dealerships and have fixed plenty of different vehicles. I was working at Ford when the Aerostar first came out and I remember one of the worse flaws was the recall for the spars on the (cargo only?) vans coming undone from the sidewalls. But, after a few years, they ended up being a very reliable van, especially compared to the E-series. The weakness was always the automatic transmission.

When Ford decided to discontinued the Aerostar it was still selling over 100,000 miles a year and selling more units then the Chevy S-10. It was much more expensive to produce then the Windstar, it needed updated emissions, and it was robbing sales from the Windstar. So, it got killed. I do not think Ford ever intended to have two mini-vans in its line anyways. Windstar was the end of the Aerostar the same way Explorer was the end of the Bronco II.

 

Aren't those spars on the sides part of the body structure on all Aerostars? You just can't see them in the wagons, since they're covered with the interior panels. I hope they fixed that problem early on.

 

Its sad that the Aerostar was so much better built that the Windstar. If you ask me, the Windstar should have been dumped, and the Aerostar updated. The Aerostar technically wasn't stealing sales from the Windstar, it was the other way around, the Aerostar was outselling Windstar. With a new updated body design, dual exhaust banks, passenger side airbag and an interior redesign, it would have been good for another decade. A Mercury version could have also been offered, with all the bells and whistles, including a sunroof and a quieter interior. What was Ford thinking when they culled a winner, but they just almost killed the Ranger too.

 

Please don't tell me that xlt4wd90 actually might mean:

x=extra
l=long
t=time
4=for
w=waiting
to drive a
d=dodge
90=ninety will equal the years in jail we give you for saying anything else but Aerostar! Now if you are ever feeling this way ever again-you might need to turn in your capped avenger suit and put on your Ram horns hat because those are fighting words

 

LOL, I do have experience with the Caravan, several of them in fact. I do have a brother who swears by them, but he has never used anything else either.

 

Hey, that's pretty creative interpretation. But no, I know that historically Chrysler has the worst reliability of the major auto manufacturers, so I'm not anxious to own one.

On the other hand, I see plenty of problems that Aerostar owners on this forum have, and I've heard of similar problems from plenty of others outside of this forum. This is a great vehicle in many ways, but I have to be realistic, it's not perfect. I've spent an awe full lot of time under my vans fixing an assortment of problems that just seem to constantly pop up.

At this time, it looks like the Moog cargo springs that I installed in the rear about 5 years ago are starting to sag already. They have only about 30,000 miles, and the rear end is looking a little low compared to the front, with the original springs. And the AC is not cooling so well either; I think the compressor is failing.

But I do occasionally wonder about what kind of problems the owners of those other brands run into. What problems do they discuss on their forums, if they had one?

 

go over to the FTE Super Duty diesel forums. the 6L and 6.4L forums will scare the hell out of any one thinking about by a Ford with the International V8 diesel.
went Dodge/Cummins

still think the Aero is the most dependable least problem rig I've ever owned or driven.

 

I must admit. Before I had a total love for the Aero I swayed to the dark side. I bought a 1987 GMC Safari. It was our second van and for awhile I gave the 1990 3.0 extended to my wifey to have as her own. I was back and forth with comparisons. One the one hand the Aero was the family vehicle that I had always wanted and then there was the Safari. It was the short base one so I got racing /white letter tires for it and did some tweeks here and there to soup up the 4.3 ltr . I was born into pontiacs (1964 Catalina was my first high school car) and then over to Chevy Nova's so GM pretty much ran the show.

I still have the Safari. He is sitting in my back yard. Will in run?--one simple crank of the starter and the single port EFI squirts into the cylinders. I'm so used to seeing the big aluminum glove of our multiports staring back at me that this other van seems-I don't know-the word prehistoric comes to mine. My son drove it before he went into the Army and now it sits wanting to run again. I doesn't shift out correctly. Heck, maybe just a filter and fluid flush of the tranny would do it. The only other thing though is the engine. While I was in Korea the second time from 03 to o4 I told the wife that the fluids leak a bit and to check them. She ran out the antifreeze and the oil. Most vehicles would die after that righT/--especially after a hard winter when this happened. NO----She had it towed home--it sat there for 7 mos. in the dead state that it was in. I got home-surveyed the situation. I changed everything out to the best of my ability. Guess what? Summer of 2003 when I used my mid-tour (month off) I moved my family from Missouri to where we are at no win the Pan-Handle of Florida. I boomed down a 17 ft. U-Haul full of weight and not to mention what I had in it. Drove the 1000 miles to get there-didn't skip a beat. Got my family set up. Drove back to my folks in Illinois for 2 days to catch my flight back over the pond. I parked it in the drive way. My dad was supposed to go out and start in occasionally for me. Did he do that?-no. I got back in Feb-04. Ate supper with my folks-did he start up?--YES!!!!!! Drove it back down to Fl. ---I feel out of love with it when I saw the Eddie BAuer. Does that make the Jimmy bad? Heck no--its just that "DRIVING A COUCH (aero) IS MORE PREFERRED!

The GMC sit sup high. It is more like a truck than the car/cat prowse of the Aero.

My GMC sits waiting to be drivin' again but will it? HUMMMMM--Its just that when you have other your driving the one that gets ignored is the one that has the most problems to repair. I do have the trans filter and gasket--maybe I should fix him?

So the answer to our issue here is what makes our Aero better?--Really nothing. Its just that we tend to spend allot of time with something and a kind of allegiance/bond forms. It could be the worst vehicle ever made, but would that really deter us? No-it wouldn't. we would put the neh-sayers in their place and then take up sides with the Yugo's when someone tried to take their money in the school yard--hahahaha

 

BOZ should be a writer, maybe editor, 'army times' ???

 

Almost 230k on my Aero. We all have some problems, but how many late model-ish vehicles last almost 20 years? I loved my old Saabs too (2 900's, one 9000). They lasted forever until GM destroyed them.

 

i'll still say it till the day i give up on cars... but if honda could/can and is doing it for the civic for the past oh.... 30+ years??? why couldn'tve ford?

i guess it has to do w always having to do things the hard way. yet they've stuck w their F series for who knows how long.... weird.