My Father just called, He broke down several miles from our house on the way home from work...
We have insurance, And a Tow Truck should be covered to bring him home.
This is our only road worthy vehicle of the moment, And he doesn't know whats wrong with it...
It's not back yet, But I'm probably gonna need some help diagnosing whats wrong, Would be greatly appreciated.
The vehicle is a 1989 Aerostar Automatic.
I've just recently put a bunch of work into it (with not much success for the main concern) by having to change out all the solenoids, lines hoses, tranny filters, fluids etc~Because the tranny has a VERY late shift into 3rd.
Also had to change out several other things, Rotors, Pads, Squirrel wheel, etc.
Anyway,
I went out with him last night and I did notice while it was sitting in park, The idle was erratic~Doing what i would call "pulsing".
Is there anyway at all the tranny could be stopping it from running?
It does need an oil change and a new pan gasket, as it has been leaking pretty bad, But we keep it topped up.
Anyway,
More details when he gets back and i dive into it~Just getting this started 'cuz im sure I'll need some help.
*Update:
Tow truck place said hour and a half to get there because they are very busy. >.<
Need to know what it was doing when it stalled. Was he decelerating? Did it sputter or just shut down?
Pull codes if you can. there isn't much anyway to make a tranny live behind those.
Tow Truck just pulled in with it.
Dad says all it did when it did was this:
He was driving along normally, Then all the dash lights lit up and it just died and rolled to a coast~No sputtering or anything, Just all the dash lights lit up and it calmly died."
When i try and start it, It makes a loud clunk (Like the starter is is sticking?) and nothing happens.
I've got a code reader, I'll go plug that in~But i cant start it.
*Update:
Got code "18 c - Loss of tachometer input/IDM circuit failure/SPOUT circuit grounded"
WTF? *Googles*
Dist Module Again?
Had one go bad a few months ago, Took the one off the Thunderbird and put it on~Now apparently it's bad again?
Everythings closed now, $40 for a new one... I'll probably just walk down to the JY tomorrow.
Anything else I might be missing?
BAD news...
Took the module off, Terminals were corroded~Cleaned them and re-installed.
One of the module screws broke off. :punchballs:
It started for 2secs, made clunky noises from the distributor/crank area and died~now it just turns over when you try and start it.
HOWEVER,
It is now clunking as it turns over... The clunking sound is from the bellhousing area roughly.
:punchballs::punchballs::punchballs:
Ok...
After trying to start it a few more times with it clunking something moved/grinded in the thunking area...
2more codes showed (14 and 96, Which have nothing to do with anything ATM).
Assuming its catastrophic and not worth fixing at this point. I'm sick of this thing.
sounds like the pinion gear on the dizzy is got no or very worn teeth on it. The 3.0's with the dizzy do have this issue. id say pull it and take a look.
I was thinking that it might be something like that, Thanks!
I'll try and figure out how to pull it today, It did NOT look easy with how that engine is crammed in there.
*Bangs head on desk*
Got the Distributor out, Gear looks great...
Any other ideas? I'm about out of guesses.
>.<
I've just gone out and played with the distributor some more, Then tried hand cranking...
It cannot make a full revolution without getting caught up on "something" but with alot of force it can force through it, But just continually gets caught on whatever it is.
It takes so much force that the battery cannot even move it now, I'll back it off enough and try and start it~The it just gets stuck on the "spot" and kills the battery~Have to keep fixing my radio station. ;-)
Crankshaft broken maybe?... :punchballs:
If you can, check to see it a torque converter bolt has backed out .
Is it still making a racket from the bell housing area? Sounds plausible if so.
The only other time I had trouble with cranking like that was when I was screwing around with the distributor, so I would definitely reset your timing to zero by TDC'ing Cylinder 1 to be sure.
It's amazing what a few degrees of timing will do to the cranking of your engine. Mine wouldn't even turn over at a certain setting.
I'm on to something, But i cant get this oil pan off~Supposedly i have to unbolt and move the tranny back 6mm. >.<
Here some advice on Aerostars: STAY AWAY. LoL.
Pull the spark plugs and try to turn it over, I had a fuel pressure regulator go bad once and it filled the cylinders with gas, the starter would not turn the engine over because of the hydraulic force the full cylinders caused, if that is the problem you will need to change your oil, it will have gas in it.
This just gets crazier.
Fished out piece of what looks to be a Piston Ring from the oil pan w/ a magnet.
And i still cant get the oil pan off!!! a bolt is starting to round on the tranny to engine. >.<
I can hear more stuff clanking around in the pan, and when i hand cranked the engine one of the times while the oil was drained~I heard something drop into it.
fished out another nearly full piston ring...
*Update:
Holy shnikeys!
I just fished a big chunk of a piston from the pan!!!
Anyone wanna buy an Aerostar? LoL.
....I might decide to pass on that one....! :)
Sorry to hear it's toast, good luck on finding a new vehicle.
P.S. Pics or it didn't happen!
rofl,
I didnt take any but i didnt put anything back together either~I'll snap some tomorrow.
Real problem is, Like i said, This WAS our only road worthy vehicle of the moment.
T-Bird aint gonna happen anytime soon (Engine is all apart).
Volvo is the only other vehicle on the property.
It was put out a couple years ago from a front end collision, I've been slowly working on it~I think i can get it worthy in the few days but we still need another vehicle. (which we cant afford)
im a little late, but the engine is an interferance motor so im assuming you crashed a valve to. this is prob what started it all.
:hick:
Thanks though guys!
At Least i learned stuff from all this i suppose~But shes a goner, To us at least.
She may already be sold, That was quicker than expected.
Got an offer of $300 today, We only payed about $400 at an auction a couple years ago. :mullet:
Sweet! I actually sold a 94 T-bird like that, she was all ragged out, but I posted for $400 and had an offer of $350 by some parts yard the next day. I figured I would end up selling it for s price!
WooHoo!
Guy came by today,
Towed her away and left behind 3 crisp $100 dollar bills. :hick:
Got to keep the good wheels and tires, new starter we purchased for it and dist module i took of the T-Bird also.
Sounds like he is gonna try and fix it too. :eek:
That oughta be a pain to do, He would have to pull put the engine and like the whole front end.
I cleaned up the Volvo and fixed a few things, She is running great now.
We have a chance at an immaculate '94 AWD Astro Van for $250 that just needs a head gasket...
Would this be a good or bad idea?
Good idea. Buy it,fix it,flip it for a big profit,then invest in the Fox.
Think they need a family hauler... ;)
For 250 and needing a HG, you can';t go wrong. You can sell the trans and whatnot for that, at least.
Well we just heading out to pick it up, When the seller tells us to hold out for an hour or 2~And check out the local news...
Turns out there is a 5 Mile backup and the freeway we would be taking is closed due to some jerk wrecking then shooting at police and running. :mad:
Here is the pics the seller provided to tide you guys over ;-)
http://s760.photobucket.com/albums/xx249/dNoMore/1994%20Chevy%20Astro/
that looks clean! I don't much like doing head gaskets, but that seems like a pretty good deal. How many miles on that sucker? Is the trans verified as working?
She's home!
Auto trans shifts so smooth.
Has a nearly full tank of gas. :hick:
Tires look almost new.
Brakes very nice.
I can definitely hear a compression leak around 50mph coming from the pass side, And there is some low end weakness sometimes.
White smoke like a chimney at first startup and at idle.
Even despite all that (Head Gasket) She hauls Ass for a 200hp 4.3L V6.
Turns out shes got just under 240k miles, But you wouldnt know that looking at her. (I sure didnt)
The bad:
HG's of course.
Needs a good wash, Has weird caked on dirt in crevices.
Has a fracture/crack down the pass side windshield.
Needs battery, 2 Cells nearly didn't have any liquid in them... :punchballs:
Needs new dash lights.
Needs a radio, Had an after market installed and is missing.
Needs tabs.
That's about it that i noticed tonight on the negative side of things.
Ah, didn't realize it was the 4.3l. Those are great engines. Very strong.
Yea, Turns out it's the Optional Performance "W" engine (200hp/265trq).