1995 Plymouth Acclaim

First thing to check is the coolant level for the entire system. Low level can allow adequate engine cooling in cold weather, but not allow much to circulate through the heater core.

I live in freezing Alberta and just a few weeks ago purchased some vinyl at a fabric store and let my wife sew two pieces together. At the leather store I purchased metal rings and the hardware to attach to the corners so I can tie to the front grille. My wife made a little window in the center so I can close or open.

If the weather is zero or below I leave the window closed all the time no matter what speed I am travelling at, we have 100km/hr roads here in the city. If temp is above zero I open the window.

Window is about 3 inches by 5 inches.

With this vinyl attached to the grille you can also keep the cold winds out when you park your vehicle. You see lots of vehicles here with covers or cardboard covering grills, lots of trucks with custom made covers.

Inside the vehicle it gets warmer quicker and remains warm.

I will remove this vinyl cover from grille in spring. Denny B

I understand that the 1995 Plymouth Acclaim is a very good, low maintenance vehicle. is this really so? In the not too distant future I am thinking of possibly purchasing one.

By the way the info I provided for the vinyl grill cover was for my 1981 Ford Fairmont.

Denny B

I checked that not long ago but I'll check it again just in case. Thanks for the reply.

Thanks for the reply Denny. I think I'll have to cover it with something like cardboard. My girl isn't much for sewing ;o)

"Denny B" wrote

If you purchase it with the 4 cylinder, instead of the 6 cylinder and with the three speed auto instead of the overdrive unit, yes, they are good little cars. I've been driving K-cars for the last five years, and I've hardly had to do any repairs to them. Head gaskets are always going to be a problem on the 4 cylinders, but it's a fairly cheap repair.

Ian

I didn't see this reply earlier. They seem to do pretty well. This one has

102,000 on it but that last Acclaim she had (1990) was around 175,000 when she sold it. I had to do some work on it but nothing too big. I think the starter was the biggest expense on that one.

Well you see you want to open up that washer and pull the motor and transmission out of it. Just throw them out. Then drop a small block Chevy 350 in and a

4 speed and you will get that old washer spinning up in no time!! ;-)

Ted

Just out of curiosity, why hasn't anyone mentioned the thermostat? If it's stuck, water certainly wouldn't get to the heater core, or would it?

-Tim

"Tim H." wrote

Of course it will, what do you think happens while the engine is heating up to t/stat opening temperature? For all intents and purposes, the t/stat is "stuck" until the engine warms up to

195 (or whatever temp the t/stat opens at) but you still get heat during that warm up time. The heater core circuit is part of the cooling system that is bypassed until the t/stat opens.

Ian

And somewhere around the time of 02/15/2004 02:46, the world stopped and listened as Tim H. contributed the following to humanity:

Most designs it would. The thermo bypass on my 91 Ranger *IS* the heater core.