Good/Bad Features for Various Aerostars

Anyone else have any comments about any Aerostar features you like or not?

I am starting to notice a few differences btw my old 93 and my "new" 97. I only am mentioning those things that are noticeably better in one or the other - won't mention the incidental differences.

Also, I don't know if these are options that I'm talking about or not. I only had these 2 models and haven't checked around that much.

#1 - Reclining back seats

Both rear seats in the 93 recline fully and make a half-way decent bed. Also, they make a solid surface from front to rear with no open spaces. The

97 seats' backs fold forward on top of the seat and take up more vertical space (about 4-inches more than the 93). On the other hand, in the 97, you can still put things in the floor and access them from the side door, which is more difficult with the fully-reclining versions. On the third hand, with the 97, you have to lay a piece of plywood over the folded down seats if you don't want thing falling through the cracks - not like the 93.

#2 - Rear dome light

The 93 light has a 3-way switch on it -- you can either turn it off, on when the doors are open, or on all the time. The 97 has no switch - always on with the doors open and control by the master switch on the instrument cluster. I like the model with a switch because I carry a lot of stuff in the back and don't want the whole thing lit up at night when I open the door. Easy to change - I'm going to mount a push button switch near the rear light. I don't care about having the 'always on' position on the switch, so that should work fine.

#3 - Interior dome light switch

This is a negative for me on both models. Sometimes I don't want the interior lights to come on when I open a door. As far as I can tell, there's no way to turn them off - turning the light know counterclockwise dims the instrument panel but not the interior lights.

Fred

Reply to
Fred
Loading thread data ...

Your '93 - was it an Eddie Bauer? I thought the fully reclining seats was on the Eddie Bauer only.

Light Group Option on the '93.

Only police cars typically have the no-interior-lights option as you desire.

Rob

Reply to
trainfan1

You had a "Eddie Bauer" edition '93. They came with the reclining seats.

Again, I THINK that was part of the Bauer package.

Not an available option on Aerostar - but easy to add. Pontiac Tras Sport has this function.

Reply to
nospam.clare.nce

Not true. My '94 Trans Sport has it - and ALL vans should have.

Reply to
nospam.clare.nce

No, not an Eddie.

Reply to
Fred

wrote

Mine wasn't an Eddie edition -- std garden variety Aerostar. Must have been an option for none-Eddie models that year.

Reply to
Fred

Maybe true nowadays, but this was standard on most all older cars. My 93 was the first car I ever owned without it.

Reply to
Fred

I should have been more specific - our Hondas & Nissans/Datsuns had this feature too.

All the American cars we've had over the years - Dodge/Chrysler/Ford/Mercury etc. I've had to take out the bulb in the dome light to get the "feature".

Rob

Reply to
trainfan1

I just have one '87 Aerostar. A friend gave it to me when the body was starting to go at about 113K miles. It's now got 191K miles on it and showing no signs of having any problems. I've read elsewhere the 3.0 V6 engine it has is extremely reliable so I'm putting that out here as the feature I like.

Reply to
87aerostar

Ditto here. My 93 with a 3.0 got 20+ mpg on the freeway and 18 around town.

A trouble point.... If you ever have a freeze plug leak, get rid of the car or replace them all. I replaced freeze plugs one after another, overheating each time, and eventually I'm thinking that repeated overheating caused my

3.0 major problems - the timing chain "stretched" and slipped off the gear and then the head gasket blew. Previous owner didn't keep the coolant and rust inhibitor up to snuff. Once one went, the rest went one after another. And labor is high on replacing them due to where they are located.
Reply to
Fred

MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.