1993 Plymouth Acclaim
1993 Plymouth Acclaim Keeps Going And Going
Question: Plymouth Acclaim Keeps Going And Going
Dear Vince, I am sorry to send you mail with the questions, but I have not figured out the correct way to post my question to you on the new site. BTW, It is a great site.
You have helped me in past and I am very grateful to you. I have one last decision to make on my car. It is 1993 Plymouth Acclaim, 2.5 liter, Automatic transmission, P/S, PB, non-working A/C and has now 140,000 miles. This is mainly my school age daughter's car and I help her keep running, as she cannot afford newer car. Recent repairs (Last three months): New timing belt, water pump, drive belts, thermostat, coolant, upper/lower radiator hoses, both front struts, front brake job, rear shocks.
There are two problems:
(1) When the car is driven after a sitting for a while (few hours to over night), the temperature gauge go to "H", then cycles back and forth few times and then settles down to 1/4 to 3/8 way. Then during how ever long ride, it stays there and does not heat up. I have changed thermostat two times. I have checked temperature-sending unit, I have checked the gauge, fan/fan motor and also the radiator cap. All seems to be working fine. The fan seems to cycle fine. I do loose a little coolant. However, the oil does not have any coolant and nothing is falling on ground. One observation is I put in the new thermostat called Stant Superstat with V-notch. For six week or so, the temperature gauge would never go beyond 3/4. Now it does. Also when I stop the car and check reservoir, I see and here slow bubble.
(2) I have a Oil seep/leak that collects on the transmission housing. It is coming from the front-right side of the cylinder head and engine junction. As you know this car has an Aluminum head and iron block. In desperation I have tried JBWeld the junction. I know I should not have. But I believe it is the head gasket leaking. Two repair shops have confirmed that it is head gasket job. Now the issue is, the car has had two head gasket replaced in its life span. Last one was in June 2005. What I am afraid is if he head was resurfaced twice already, this time they will not be able to resurface it again and I will know that until they open it and send it to the machine shop. That means a used or remanufactured head. So I am looking at $700.00+ job. With the age of the car, I am fearful that after spending this $, who knows what will be next?
Vince, the car runs fine and gives about 25 mpg average. If this would be your car, what would you do? Should I just keep adding oil and run till it dies. Right now, it is about 1 quart every two to three weeks.
I will be grateful to you for your candid advice.
May God Bless you and yours.
Kind Regards,
Naren
Answer:
Hello Naren, it's been a while. It is nice to hear from you again. I think I know this car almost as well as you do. Nice to hear it's still alive and kicking. .
(1) According to Chrysler, this is normal. I quote from a TSB, 08-15-93 issued April 8, 1993 addressing this concern.
Some temperature gauge reading fluctuation on vehicles equipped with 2.2L or 2.5L engines during cold weather is NORMAL. This fluctuation does not indicate a cooling system problem, engine problem, or a malfunction of the temperature gauge.
The temperature gauge will rise until the thermostat opening temperature is met. When the thermostat opens, the gauge will drop to the lower portion of the normal operating range. This occurs because the thermostat has allowed the cold coolant from the radiator to enter the engine. The cold coolant is sensed by the temperature sending unit resulting in a lower temperature gauge reading.
This cycling or fluctuation of the temperature gauge indication will be observed until the entire cooling system temperature becomes normalized (obtains the same relative temperature). The colder the ambient temperature, the longer this condition will be exhibited. In extremely cold ambient temperatures the fluctuation may continue indefinitely.
(2) You're right in that whether the cylinder head can be shaved once more or not won't be known until it is removed and sent to the machine shop. If it were my car, I would think that the $700.00 or $800.00 it would cost to replace the head gasket would buy a lot of oil. So I would run it the way it is, assuming the leak is strictly external, and add the odd quart of oil every two or three weeks. I would keep a close eye on the leak to be sure it doesn't get any worse and check the oil level at every fill-up.
The work you've done on it is mainly maintenance items that would need replacing on any vehicle. It seems like it's still in decent shape. But if I may suggest, I would start putting some money away every week towards a newer vehicle. This one has given you good service, and will continue to do so for a while, but it's time is coming and it's best to be prepared for it.
Good luck with it and my best to you and yours!
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