1991 Plymouth Acclaim LE

[Matt86]

I had to pick this up, the price was right and I still love these AA bodies:

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f270/mpmatt2/1991%20Plymouth%20Acclaim%20LE/1991acle4.jpg

1991 Plymouth Acclaim LE 3.0 V6/A604

Fully loaded, the interior is pretty nice but the exterior needs a very good cleaning and maybe some paint on the hood and trunk.

It runs and drives pretty good! The 3.0, while burning a TON of oil, is very quiet and smooth and the A604 shifts great.

The car may not look that pretty but it's had a lot of work done to it:
Alternator
Starter
Battery
Rack & Pinion
Tune up
Rear shocks
New tires
New brakes
New radiator
New PCM
Newer Mopar Reman Transmission

But it really needs:
Air Bag light on-need to diagnois and repair
Valve cover gaskets
Thermostat housing (cracked, previous owner gloped a bunch of JB weld on it)
Cat Converter for emissions as this one is probably pooched from all the oil being burned.
Some LUCAS oil treatment to help slow down the nasty blue clouds of death

Also needs a drivers side window regulator, rear passenger window regulator, insturment cluster, and a power door lock switch.

A trip or two to the junkyard will get me most of the stuff, but the converter is something I have to spend some $$$ on, the car needs to pass emissions.

But she's a nice solid southern car with ICE COLD AC:
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f270/mpmatt2/1991%20Plymouth%20Acclaim%20LE/1991acle11.jpg
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f270/mpmatt2/1991%20Plymouth%20Acclaim%20LE/1991acle10.jpg
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f270/mpmatt2/1991%20Plymouth%20Acclaim%20LE/1991acle.jpg
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f270/mpmatt2/1991%20Plymouth%20Acclaim%20LE/1991acle3.jpg


http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f270/mpmatt2/1991%20Plymouth%20Acclaim%20LE/1991acle6.jpg
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f270/mpmatt2/1991%20Plymouth%20Acclaim%20LE/1991acle7.jpg
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f270/mpmatt2/1991%20Plymouth%20Acclaim%20LE/1991acle9.jpg

[Vigo]

great starting point!

I talk to two friends who started out with cars just like that and ended up with turbo 5 spd 3.0s trapping over 100 mph.

But even if you leave it mostly alone its just a very decent car. hard to go wrong :)

[WickedShelby88]

+1. I've also noticed with the A604 you can get some pretty decent fuel mileage overall if the engine is running well. As to the airbag light check the crash sensor and the clock spring. Might be the clock spring since its an older car. Those go out often enough.

[Vigo]

that car should average 23-24mpg based on my experience.

Any plans for it?

[Matt86]

Not really sure what I'm going to do with it right now, but the more I mess with it, the more I want to keep it!

I bought it on an impulse since it was just soo cheap. I was actually trying to get a 2001 2.4 Stratus for $500 that needed some minor work, but that deal fell through and this popped up. I bought the car at night so I really didn't know how it looked, but it's not as bad as I thought. I really needs a good wash as it's covered in tree crap. The trunk and hood need to be resprayed.

Mechanically, shes pretty solid. The 3.0 runs strong but burns a LOT of oil...I'll run some Lucas and 10w-40 in it to help slow it down, but it had sat up for about six months so I guess I have to work it out.

The A604 has a bump shift similar to what my 95 Intrepid had, which I corrected with a new TCM, so I hope a good used TCM will help out this A604. The transmission only has about 60K on it, the rest of the car has over 150K.

I'll have to look in to the air bag light. I hope it's something as simple as a fuse, but I could only be so lucky. I belive we have a scan tool at the shop that pulls early Chrysler air bag codes.

It has nearly new tires, brakes, and shocks so I don't have to worry with that. The axles look good too.

The interior needs to be cleaned, but it's got the comfy velour bench seat. I need to fix two of the power windows and put some tunes in it.

But my main concern is getting it through emissions. It passed last year, but barely. It passed NOx only by like 5 ppm. I'll have to run the hell out of it to get the oil burning under control and then weld a new cat on it. May replace the EGR valve too.

Now, since I already have the Neon and the Caravan, I really don't need another car. However, the Neon is only driven on nice days, maybe once a week. The van is daily driven to work and back, but dosn't get the best city mileage. I may keep the Acclaim since it's soo cheap to insure and regester.

Would be a nice commuter as it's got the bench seat and it's an automatic.

[Vigo]

Well, if the neon is only drive on nice days, does that mean you can do interesting things with it now that you dont NEED it all the time? :)

[Matt86]

Well, if the neon is only drive on nice days, does that mean you can do interesting things with it now that you dont NEED it all the time? :)

I suppose, I do need to replace all of the worn motor mounts which I still have to order. Plus I need to get some tires for my new wheels, as well as a strut upgrade..but that all costs $$$. Other then that, the Neon really dosn't need anything. I feel bad that she sits out for days and days now, compared to last year when I was putting 400 miles a week on her!

I drive the Neon daily in the summer, even though we don't get much of a winter down here, we do get a lot of rain in the winter months so the Neon stays parked. I just drive it on weekends mostly. Plus I get all dirty at work and I really don't want to mess up my Neon, which unlike my van, is usually spotless.

Plus the fact the Neon dosn't need any junkyard parts, the Acclaim will give me an excuse to go to Pull-a-Part every weekend!

[Matt86]

So I did a "pretest" emissions test today at work, the NOx level is pretty high, so I ordered a cheap cat converter, when it comes I'll weld it on, throw some new plugs in it and run it a few times on the interstate to get her nice and warm. I hope it will pass.

It's an oddball year for the 3.0 and it dosn't have an EGR valve from the factory, I'm sure it would help seeing how my vans NOx reading was next to nothing compared to the Acclaim.

[BIG PSI]

Mechanically, shes pretty solid. The 3.0 runs strong but burns a LOT of oil...I'll run some Lucas and 10w-40 in it to help slow it down, but it had sat up for about six months so I guess I have to work it out.


Back in the days when I was a service adviser for MOPAR the reason that the V-6 engine smoke so bad is that the exhaust valves dropped down into the head. There was a TSB to take off both heads and have them clipped. Just a heads up so you know what your new ride may need.

Chuck

[Matt86]

Drove the Hooptie around some more last night and today. It actually drives really nice! It had some nasty steering slop, turns out the rack hold down bolts were all loose! Retightend and the steering feels great.

Since I ran it pretty hard the oil burning has gone down. It only does it at start up now and heavy accleration.

I put a used TCM in it and that cleared the nasty bump shift. There is still a shudder on accleration, I strongly belive the axles are to blame, as they are the original ones with 155,000+ on them.

Went to Pull-a-Part today, got two window motor gears, some power lock switches, thermostat housing, and an air bag module.

Got one of the windows working again (driver front), but the other bad window needs a motor. I took it apart, cleaned it up and it worked for about 10 min, then is just locked back up again.

The power lock switches I got work, but won't fit as they were from a later AA body. Oh well, maybe I can make them fit.

Now that blasted air bag light! I replaced the module, both front impact sensors and the light still comes on and stays on. The clockspring is good. I'm thinking theres a damaged fuseable link somewhere. None of our scan tools at the shop will cover OBD I Chrysler SRS so I may have to send it to the dealer if I want to fix this.

I still need to wash and clean it up good, but it's been too cold out lately.

Some updated pictures..now with a radio!
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f270/mpmatt2/1991%20Plymouth%20Acclaim%20LE/IMG_4566.jpg
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f270/mpmatt2/1991%20Plymouth%20Acclaim%20LE/IMG_4567.jpg
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f270/mpmatt2/1991%20Plymouth%20Acclaim%20LE/IMG_4568.jpg
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f270/mpmatt2/1991%20Plymouth%20Acclaim%20LE/IMG_4569.jpg

[Matt86]

Just lovely! I had a chance to bring the Acclaim in the shop today for a minute. I wanted to replace the thermostat housing, but once I scraped all the JB weld off of it, I noticed only one bolt held it in, not even the right one to begin with. The other bolt? Well, it's not there. The hole, broken off! So now I have to swap in the new intake. I'm going to replace the injector o-rings and valve cover gaskets while I got it apart. Blast! Now I have almost $100 invested in it!

[Matt86]

I replaced the lower intake, valve cover gaskets, rear cam caps, and thermostat today at work since it wasn't too busy. Cross that off the list! Need to degrease the motor and get rid of that oil roasting on the manifold smell. Also, I question the previous "mechanic" who worked on the car. Aside from the JB welded intake/thermostat housing they also RTV'd the upper plenum to the intake manifold.....some people....

Now I just need to weld my super econo cat converter and get this baby through and emissions test. Since it drives soo nice I may keep it for a few months, but my goal is to sell it before I get too much $$$$ invested in it, or become too attached...like I always do!

[Vigo]

....some people....

..apparently dont know that plenum gaskets are like $5 and in stock everywhere... :p

[Matt86]

yeah....at least they didn't JB weld that shut either. So it's all fixed up now mechanically. I will have to replace the belt tensioner soon, luckly on Sundays Pull-a-Part trip I found an almost brand new one on a 94' Caravan. Still shiny and the pulley looks like new!

There was also a loaded, low mileage 1994 Lebaron LE that donated it's instrument panel, window motor, lock actuator and various other parts as well.

I also FINALLY washed it, took it to one of them pay-n-spray joints and the pressure wash sure did a number on all the years of tree crap that was on it and de-grunged the engine. Aside from the hood, bumpers, and trunk the paint is actually decent!

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f270/mpmatt2/1991%20Plymouth%20Acclaim%20LE/IMG_4572.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y271/moparmatt/ihatehpstupidcomputerneedstodie.jpg

I do have the missing trim piece for the lower pass door, just need to re-glue it back on.

On that Lebaron LE, I kinda like the tail light design a bit better, but of course I'd have to swap rear bumpers. I really wanted the waterfall Lebaron grille but it was destroyed as the car was hit in the front.

[Matt86]

PASSED EMISSIONS!!! Woohoo!!! Thanks to a bottle of Lucas oil additive and a super cheap Economy Cat converter.

[Matt86]

If this car couldn't look any worse then it already does...I sure made it happen:
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f270/mpmatt2/1991%20Plymouth%20Acclaim%20LE/IMG_4587.jpg

I went to Pull-a-Part searching for a new decklid. Out of about 8 AA bodies, none had a decent enough lid worth taking except for a 1991 Acclaim LE in the very back. As a bonus, it came with a luggage rack and some stickers! Now I really have to get this thing painted!

I also aquired some amber side marker lights from a 1992 Acclaim, I like these better and they don't leak like my clear ones:
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f270/mpmatt2/1991%20Plymouth%20Acclaim%20LE/IMG_4585.jpg

[black86glhs]

About the oil burning. I have taken the VCs off and drilled a couple more drain back holes in the inner shields to get rid of the oil burning at idle. Also, degrease them really good. This does assume the guides aren't a problem. Did this to a buddies 87 van. While we were standing there it cleared up while idling. He was going to have a shop pull the heads and fix the guides.

[Sgt Craig]

There have been quite a few on Craigslist here in Pittsburgh for less than $500,I wish the wife would let me buy one.Ive always liked those cars.Nice ride!

[Matt86]

Goes in for paint on monday!!! No more hooptie! I hope it looks halfway decent, anything is better then the way it looks now! It's been running great lately. I did have to repair a leaking rubber fuel line and get a new (used) tire put on.

[94betty]

I have a 94, like you mine was an impulse buy dirt cheap and only 58k miles had a snapped crank pulley. great little​ cars just ugly as all hell

[lightbulb010]

I'd bet replacing the valve stem seals will mostly if not completely stop the oil burning. If you use the right valve spring compressor it can be done pretty easily without removing the heads. Just remove the intake and the valve covers carefully remove the cam caps and use a compression gauge hose hooked to the air compressor to hold the valves up. You can usually tell if it's the valve stem seals just by looking at the plugs.

As stated above the PCV system can suck in oil as well. In my experience it's not really an issue on the newer VCs. You can tell the difference by the location of the PCV valve. It's screwed into the VC on the older 3.0ls instead of the intake. A 91' should have the revised ones.

I'll admit I'm guilty of using RTV instead of a gasket on the upper intake plenum:p. Sure makes it a b***h to remove.

It's probably a good thing that it has no EGR with it burning oil. There was a layer of gunk at least 1/4" thick in my vans original plenum when I opened it up to port it(original engine burned oil for at least 50k miles).

Cool car!

[Ondonti]

OEM springs don't even need a tool, just an wrench under a rocker shaft with no rockers (not that I am suggesting taking apart your only set of heads). I have parts, parts parts.

[gpatterson1889]

Always loved the AA models too. Never had one with a 6, just the 2.5, but I'd have to look in PA and south to find a descent one. Every thing here in NY is rotted out from road salt. These things are unstoppable in the snow, I mean deep snow. Every now and then I pass one (or a Shadow) that can't be a NY car, too nice a shape. Just have to wait for some grandmother to part ways with her 60.000 mile gem.... G.P.