Have it bougth yesterday. Aerostar 97' XLT 2WD and, the mystery is solved, with 3.0L vulcan engine. I took yours advises seriously, listening to the engine running smooth, no erratic shift operation, no rusty inch somewhere on the body, OD working well, but strong vibrations from 70mph upwards, it's comming from the wheels i guess. Here are some pictures:


Front, lightboxes made of plastic, no sealed beam.


Front corner


Left side, note the nasty wheels, time to renew


Other side, the road-space-shuttle alives


Engine compartment, clean with factory supply battery still charging


Interiour

Drove it home from sellers yard some 170miles away from my hometown. No problems so far. Except hi-beam is not working. Strange, the hi-beam indicator lamp is always on with the headlight-switch in head position. No matter which mode is choosen with the multifunction-switch, hi- or low-beam the headlights itselfs are always in low-beam. I work on it, have checked the headlight-switch with a multimeter, also the multifunction-switch, both are ok. Connector for headlight-switch shows no wear or molten. But one of the multifunction-switch is partially melted down, here's the picture:


Port No.3 turn signal lamps (LH) and No.385 feet to flasher are melted.

Tomorrow the Aero has a date with FORD licensed garage, we will do a diagnostic check -let's see what's up with.

I'll keep You posted about the ongoing-process

joe from germany

 

beautiful clean shiny old Aero, almost cherry new.

vibration above 70 mph. old wheels and tires put on for sale. make sure all the tires are the same size and tread design to start. have the wheels and tires dynamically spun balanced.

common for the multifunction switch, its socket or the pull out headlight switch or its socket to burn or melt. too much current draw for contacts and conductors used.
wire in relays on the low and high beam circuits under hood to supply batt 12v directly to the bulb sockets. use the OEM in veh. HL wiring only to activate the relays.
common 30a SPDT auto relays work perfectly
search the Aero forum for how to instructions.

polish the headlight lens with auto scratch/polish compound

if the tranny ATF is not new, have a shop do a complete 12 qt change along with pan clean and filter change. critical for long A4LD life.
use only a MerconV rated ATF.

new high pressure air shocks and front roll bar poly bushings really helps the ride of these Aeros.

 

Yes, as expected this car is generally in a good condition at the first sight. But in second sight "behind the scene" the truth always comes thru. Some poor electric "modification" was made by the previous owner. With the lack of knowledge about US-cars, that is common here in europe even from certified technicians. Nevertheless, Hi/Lo-beam is working now. I have to rebuild some parts of the electrical wiring to factory specs. Backlight wiring f.e. is looking like a nightmare - taped lamp-sockets, broken copper wires and so on. Fortunately i found somebody today who is selling parts in original condition from his wreck. And last but not least this forum is a great source! Especially the many lamps-relay threads are very usefull!

But next to do is ATF complete drain an refill, filter change etc.. don't want to loose one more transmission since the one from my chrysler has gone over the jordan couple of weeks ago. After this, new wheels and tires are top priority.

Thanks for Your help and advises!

Joe

 

That looks just like mine..haha Just mine is a floor shift.

 

do the headlamp swap with ECE aprouved. european headlamps are brighter. no TUW related problems. add relays for headlamps.

melted connector, yeah - clean terminals with any contact clean spray and bent them with screw driver to imrove contact and no problem later.

Fortunatly EU licensie plates fit aero. no reason to use custom small plates, like with ranger.

 

Yes, i have everything required, ready to do the headlamp swap. Olde style frames, buckets equiped with Hella H4, a used pair of three coloured backlight units as well. However, the already mounted newer-style red/white ones had only passed the TÜV approval once, due to an upgrade with an additional socket with yellow bulb placed into the transparent part of the backlight (the regulation in EU allows only yellow coloured turn-flashers). But not enough, they'r also upgraded with one more socket that acts as rear foglight. All of this poorly made modifications together are demanding a higher flow of current that has melted the connector down.
So, change to old style backlights is making all modifications obsolet - back to factory specs, safety first!

melted multifunction-switch connector - yes that's what i did! Good idea to grind the molten plastic for a smooth surface also.

 

old style taillamps with yellow turn signal are cheap on JY. about $30-40, I got a pare in Moscow.

 

What may I ask is the orange thing to the left of the turn signal in this picture? My '92 doesn't have that, I don't think...

 

this is not the stock thing
here they put gas/lpg switch on LPG converted cars, but..
i'd try to pull it and see wiring, may be answer is simple

 

This switch is part of the modification made by the previous owner. It switches on/off an additional bulb installed that acts as an Foglight in one of the Backlighthousings . I've disconnected this because of the high demand of current flow that some of the connectors can't handle.

@Pablo_UA - thanx, found somebody who sold the entire 'old-style' lightning-package from his Aero.

greets

joe


97' XLT, 3.0L Vulcan, 84t miles

 

I've often thought about installing a fog light in the back of my van to assist in backing up illumination. One of my friends did this using the factory-installed trailer light wiring to power the fog lights, and used a relay triggered by the standard back up light to turn the fog light on. I'm sure a pair of 55w H3 lights draw more current than most trailer mounted lights, but this took the load off of the standard back up light wiring.

 

xlt:

I installed a set of fog lights above the rear window on my 95 & later transferred them to my 96. I mounted them as low as I could to keep them out of the airflow over the top of the van. They certainly help when backing a low trailer into the driveway at night. Full height camper - not so much. Can also be used as an anti-tailgater device (I've been tempted, but never used as such).

On the wiring: I would not trigger the rear fog lamps to come on every time the reverse lights come on. They are only needed when backing a trailer at night, so why have them on during the day? I added a relay at the back and & then was able to tuck light gauge wiring into the top of the interior trim to the cockpit where I mounted a switch similar to the one in Waterbear's van. The wiring harnesses in both my vans had a stock 10 gauge (red) power feed directly from a fusible link at the starter solenoid to supply the optional camper harness. I used this feed with a fuse to power the light relay. The rear window defroster already has a substantial ground wire, so I spliced into it for the ground. With a little difficulty I fished the power wire through the hatch harness "bellows" - it is bolted to the roof structure behind the headliner & admittedly I damaged the headliner a bit trying to get my hands in there. Overall it took an afternoon to accomplish & was a clean install.

 

Eric,

Your install sounds like it works very well, and very well done. (Got any pictures?) Since I don't tow trailers, I would just install something like that to help out the stock backup lights.

Good point about not needing it to come on during the day. But if it's hooked in with the stock backup lights, they will come on together, so you don't have to fumble with it when you're backing up. Also, it will prevent you from forgetting to turn it off. I don't think it's legal in most states to have white lights on pointing back, unless you are actually backing up.

 

there are bright LED on market now, so I use diodes in trailer and on trucktors/cars/trucks...
exept of turn signals, to get no faster blinking,

no current related problems, i use wires of any gauge (thick enought to be tought)

now LED bulbs are alowed and recomended for use, becouse more fast (for brake light)