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Ford Aerostar

Ford's first minivan and the odd one in the class: rear-driven, with a proper transfer case on the all-wheel-drive cars, where almost every rival was front-driven. That single fact governs the diagnosis — a driveline complaint here has a propshaft and a live rear axle behind it, and the Windstar that replaced it shares none of that. The engines are Ford's own 3.0 Vulcan and 4.0 Cologne V6s, both shared with the Ranger and Explorer of the same years, so their material applies directly and there is much more of it.

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Ford Aerostar
Bull-Doser · Public domain (external)

Generations

  • First generation 1985–1997

    Rear-driven with an optional transfer case; Ranger and Explorer engines throughout.

    Body styles
    MPV · Van
    Platform
    Ford VN1
    Engines
    • 3.0 V6 — VULCAN · petrol · Vulcan
    • 4.0 V6 — COLOGNE · petrol · 119 kW (160 hp) · Cologne
    • 2.3 four-cylinder — petrol · 74 kW (99 hp) · 169 Nm (125 lb-ft)
    • 2.8 — petrol
    Transmissions
    4-speed automatic · 5-speed M5OD-R1 manual · 5-speed automatic
    Drivetrain
    Rear-wheel drive · Four-wheel drive

Service information

Information, not instruction

CarGeek is a reference, not a service manual. Its pages are written from public sources and from what other people have found, never from a manufacturer's own service information, so they can be wrong or incomplete for your particular vehicle. Some of what they describe carries real risk: high voltage, fuel under pressure, stored energy, hot and moving parts.

Have anything you intend to act on checked by a trained person against the manufacturer's own procedure for your vehicle. Nothing here replaces that procedure.

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