I've run the devil out of my Aerostars over the years -- and I now still have my third one a 91 with a 3.0 which I have used as a commercial vehicle in the past with good success (including the clacking wrist pin for the last 7 years!).
This one wasn't real good on fuel economy (probably due to the aforementioned wrist pin issue) but always ran reliably -- until I parked it about a year ago. My intention was to scrap it out -- but since I was hit by an uninsured driver in my main truck back in December and haven't gotten any settlement yet from my own insurance company, and since my number two truck's tranny died last night, I've been trying to revive the Aerostar -- well -- been trying for a couple of weeks since the accident.
It was last run about 6 months ago -- but the gas in it was old then. Only had about a gallon in it anyway -- so I filled it up with 92 octane and doped it with some gas dryer -- which should have resolved any fuel quality issues.
On starting it was very hard to start cold. I'd have to repeatedly start it, die, start it, die, etc... until it finally got warmer than dead cold and would idle (like a loping stock car) and it would rev up and down.
When I accellerated it would feather up and down and then stall out again when I released the accelerator.
It would stumble if I tried to put it in gear. Until I finally was able to get it moving down the road -- but, had no power.
Things I have done so far, and in order...
Cleaned the contacts on the TPS, and the sensor above the throttle -- not a MAS -- but some kind of air/mix valve I beleive ( I might know if my book hadn't gone to recycling) -- used injector safe throttle cleaner on the butterfly valve, cleaned the contacts on the distributor pickup sensor and the coil ground, re-seated and put di-electric grease on the coil wires and plug wires, replaced the plugs, changed the oil, checked for vacuum leaks -- plugged one that was open ( which was a leftover from some idiot who tried to run the lines from the evaporator core into the intake manifold vaccuum system -- that would have been a different idiot than me -- and I cleaned the pcv valve, but, when I tried to pull it out the whole top hose (the little one) came with it including a white plastic barbed fitting that broke off from wherever it goes.
Putting in new plugs resolved the cold start issue but I'm still getting a choppy idle and feathering and sputtering when I try to throttle (and when I do get it to throttle up it revs up and down like a clogged fuel filter --and I can hear the fuel pump running just fine when I turn the key)-- the remaining problems could be from the gaping hole I left when I broke off that barb...?
so, two questions -- where does the other end of that top line go to? I've hunted for two hours with mirrors and a stethescope and can't seem to find it -- the line is currently plugged off at the end I'm hoping to reconnect.
and -- if that's not the problem -- what next?
Thanks..
