My "new" Commuter

[saforwardlook]

If I had to buy an 98 and later LH car, it would be an Intrepid. They followed more closely the great shape of the earlier ones. The Chryslers just looked too bloated to me. The Vision model ended in 1997.

Jer has noted one of the biggest dumbass ideas mother had on battery placement for the 98 and later LH models. It was subject to a lot of road slime and corrosion in such a low location as well, adding for the need for frequent maintenance of the terminals to ensure reliable starting and running.

 

[shooter65]

The 2010 Avenger, although not quite as bad, is also positioned in front of the drivers side front tire. It requires the front tire to be removed and wheel well liner.

 

[shooter65]

If anyone is seriously considering an LH, I would recommend this 1st gen, 94 Concord. I looked at this one and it is very nice, nicer than the pics show. He's been asking 2500 for a couple of weeks so I would bet you could get it at 1800. As I said in Post #21

My "new" Commuter

There may be a small exhaust leak and there is some paint bubbling on the roof right behind the windshield but other then that, it was very very clean. This one has 53K miles, my 96 Intrepid had 160k when I sold it and it had zero issues and didn't burn a drop of oil.

 

[shooter65]

@shooter65 are going to Carlisle this year?
I had my 300m there one year. The 300m club had a tent and we're very nice. Maybe they were just looking for more members, and of course they did not know the real me.

I am going to Carlisle and was planning on taking the truck because it's a parts scrounging trip but now I'm thinking about taking the 300m and putting it in the show field. With the fold down seats, I could probably get any large parts I snag in it anyway.

Damn, this was suppose to be a beater that I wouldn't have to worry about door dings etc.

 

[Dobalovr]

Pulling up to the Banff Springs Valet Parking in a brand new 1994 LHS with the wife was the highlight of my experience driving these cars. Felt like the CEO of Chrysler! It was a beautiful car and could hold 6 bodies in the trunk. Loved it!

 

[shooter65]

3.5L is the only one I ever cared about... but I always liked that engine.

The 3.5L is definitely a better engine but I will praise the 3.3L all day long. It's no race car but if you don't tromp on it and increase the throttle steadily, it does pretty well and the one I had was rock solid. Mine had 160k miles when I sold it in 2012 and I believe I just saw it on the road the other day. When I sold it, it didn't burn a drop of oil and still ran perfect.

A couple of points about the 1st Gen LH's, I can't find the articles now but I read quite a bit about it when I bought mine.

1 - Early to mid 90's Mopars were truly World Class cars. Resale and quality were high compared to all other manufactures, foreign and domestic.

2 - Chrysler engineers designed the throttle to not be slammed to the floor. They designed them to be gradually increased as I indicated above. The interview I read, the engineer said they could have tuned it so when you tramped on the gas pedal, it would accelerate as fast as possible but the cars weren't meant to be race cars. The engineers equated tromping on the gas pedal as abusive driving.

3 - The mid 90's LH cars with consoles were the first cars to have a gear selector indicator on the dash. The sales team wanted the gear selector indicator on the dash and the Chrysler engineers were trying to figure out how they would run linkage or some other method and then one of them realized that the transmission electronics sent a signal out as to what gear it was in. The dash indicator is actually just a light lit by the transmission electronics. Another Mopar invention that has been overlooked.

 

[65sporty]

I have long been a fan of the 3.3 and the 3.5, the 3.5 lived on in the vans as a larger 4.0 version. Everything changed with the 3.6 coming on the scene

 

[Carmine]

If I were going to "preserve" an LH car, (and I have thought about it) I think I'd choose a Gen 1 New Yorker. There was some rare package that gave you the really nice seats, but with the column shift. Also because it's the "last" NY'er, a great name that should have never been trashed, and because it had the most rare and interesting styling.

Ok, find me one in a nice-climate state and I'll plan my summer vacation.

 

[shooter65]

If I were going to "preserve" an LH car, (and I have thought about it) I think I'd choose a Gen 1 New Yorker. There was some rare package that gave you the really nice seats, but with the column shift. Also because it's the "last" NY'er, a great name that should have never been trashed, and because it had the most rare and interesting styling.

View attachment 194017

Ok, find me one in a nice-climate state and I'll plan my summer vacation.

This one is "Wildberry" the same color my 96 Intrepid was.

 

[300rag]

This one is "Wildberry" the same color my 96 Intrepid was.

View attachment 194027

That was one of the short list colours when I was doing the 300.

 

[70bigblockdodge]

Commando. Just make sure you have a reasonably good supply of ADVIL when and if you ever have to swap a battery in ah 300M. 1st open the hood and after disconecting the rubber air hoses pull straight up and remove the air box inboard of the right inner fender. NOW YOU CAN SEE WHERE MOTHER HID IT. Now with your floor jack elevate the passenger side of the front end and after getting a jack stand under the sub frame remove the right steer tire. THEN remove the plastic shield from the tire side of the inner fender(Those little plastic Christmas Trees that you've now destroyed are available at most auto parts stores). Now with your little step stool hang over the right fender with a 7/16" combination and loosen and remove both battery terminals. Now back on the floor and pull the battery straight back and out of it's hiding place. ALL steps in reverse order and you'll be good to go after consuming at least one serious double Martini. I can't make this stuff up Pal and I'm now LMFAO 'cuz that's pretty much what the service manual sayz to do to swap batteries in those LH 300Ms and probably most of the rest of those LH carz too , Jer

Just take it to someone let them break all the studs off.

 

[cantflip]

Thank you very much. I do have the receipts for all A/C components, Timing Belt, Tensioner Pulley, Water Pump, Hoses and Belt. I would never have thought about the A/C lines on the passenger side. Dissimilar metal fatigue will get you every time. You know the engineer's know this also so I'm thinking this is planned obsolescence.

I don't believe in "planned obsolescence" so much as some bean counter figured out how to save a tenth of a cent per unit... eliminating insulation materials, probably help reduce weight for CAFE too.

Commando. Just make sure you have a reasonably good supply of ADVIL when and if you ever have to swap a battery in ah 300M. 1st open the hood and after disconecting the rubber air hoses pull straight up and remove the air box inboard of the right inner fender. NOW YOU CAN SEE WHERE MOTHER HID IT. Now with your floor jack elevate the passenger side of the front end and after getting a jack stand under the sub frame remove the right steer tire. THEN remove the plastic shield from the tire side of the inner fender(Those little plastic Christmas Trees that you've now destroyed are available at most auto parts stores). Now with your little step stool hang over the right fender with a 7/16" combination and loosen and remove both battery terminals. Now back on the floor and pull the battery straight back and out of it's hiding place. ALL steps in reverse order and you'll be good to go after consuming at least one serious double Martini. I can't make this stuff up Pal and I'm now LMFAO 'cuz that's pretty much what the service manual sayz to do to swap batteries in those LH 300Ms and probably most of the rest of those LH carz too , Jer

Forgive me... I quit working on the brand when 98 models were new... IIRC we flat-rated the battery on Intrepids by popping the headlight out (maybe only part way)... it was an easy way to hurt the bumper cover paint... I don't think we removed the cover while they were still new and fully pliable.

 

[cantflip]

Gen 1 '94-'97 (Chrysler)

LHS = New Yorker Brougham
New Yorker = New Yorker
Concorde = Newport

Gen 2, '99-01

LHS = New Yorker Brougham
300m = 300
Concorde = Newport

Gen 2.5 '02-'04 (Daimler De-content)

LHS = 1976 Imperial (as in kaput)
300m = 300
Concorde Limited = NYB (old LHS)
Concorde = Newport

* All 300s more sport-oriented in terms of suspension tuning. 3.5L is the only engine. 300m "special" ('02+) is even sportier with an extra 5hp. All 300s have a shorter rear deck and fold-down rear seats. Shares high-content interior with LHS.

* LHS is Concorde body with 300m power/interior. Best trunk of any modern car because of long rear deck. Will hold a snowblower or wheelchair with ease.

* Concorde is zero-status rental queen. In the used market can be purchased with an EBT card. Usually equipped with a 2.7 V6. Avoid.

Outstanding!

I too love the chairs in the column shifted models, as a single young man... I appreciated the bench seats allowing closer seating.

 

[BIGBARNEYCARS]

One other thing I learned from a contact in the corp. waz that on the 3.3L mid '90 LH carz that If you removed the air restrictor from the rubber hose up stream from the TB you gained 'bout 35 HP which made it more fun between the stop lites'. The reason Mother put the restrictor in there waz 'cuz the warranty work from trashed transmissions would escalate considerly. It waz nice back then to have my own factory trained transmission guy that would pull it and rebuild it on the bench and re-install it in two dayz on his lunch hours for ah couple hundred bucks plus another hundred if you wanted a virgin torque converter too, lol. Zack down in Orlando knows and iz a friend of the guy I refer to also, Jer

 

[LeBaron1973]

Pulling up to the Banff Springs Valet Parking in a brand new 1994 LHS with the wife was the highlight of my experience driving these cars. Felt like the CEO of Chrysler! It was a beautiful car and could hold 6 bodies in the trunk. Loved it!

You should have been CEO Graham, would probably have done a better job.

 

[LeBaron1973]

Gee, just looked up lhs for sale - ranging from 795.00 to around 1500.00, a bargain if it was a good example.

 

[commando1]

Commando. Just make sure you have a reasonably good supply of ADVIL when and if you ever have to swap a battery in ah 300M. 1st open the hood and after disconecting the rubber air hoses pull straight up and remove the air box inboard of the right inner fender. NOW YOU CAN SEE WHERE MOTHER HID IT. Now with your floor jack elevate the passenger side of the front end and after getting a jack stand under the sub frame remove the right steer tire. THEN remove the plastic shield from the tire side of the inner fender(Those little plastic Christmas Trees that you've now destroyed are available at most auto parts stores). Now with your little step stool hang over the right fender with a 7/16" combination and loosen and remove both battery terminals. Now back on the floor and pull the battery straight back and out of it's hiding place. ALL steps in reverse order and you'll be good to go after consuming at least one serious double Martini. I can't make this stuff up Pal and I'm now LMFAO 'cuz that's pretty much what the service manual sayz to do to swap batteries in those LH 300Ms and probably most of the rest of those LH carz too , Jer

That's when I would go to AutoZone and take advantage of their free battery installation.
I'd pull out my lawn chair, grab a cold one, and sit back and watch the clueless pimplehead get himself into a shitstorm.

I LOVE watching Millenials and Gen Z' ers attend the School of Hard Knocks.

 

[Carmine]

That's when I would go to AutoZone and take advantage of their free battery installation.
I'd pull out my lawn chair, grab a cold one, and sit back and watch the clueless pimplehead get himself into a shitstorm.

It's funny because I've had the exact same thought for 2nd gen battery r
eplacement. (1st gen had a typical placement.)

Vatozone fine print:

La oferta de instalación de la batería no se aplica a los modelos 1998-2004 Chrysler LH.

 

[cantflip]

That's when I would go to AutoZone and take advantage of their free battery installation.
I'd pull out my lawn chair, grab a cold one, and sit back and watch the clueless pimplehead get himself into a shitstorm.

I LOVE watching Millenials and Gen Z' ers attend the School of Hard Knocks.

I couldn't do it... within 3 seconds I'd have the wrench out of their hands and be doing it myself. The only way that works for me is when I send "Management" to have her's replaced... which has been a part of her "self-sufficiency training".

 

[commando1]

It's funny because I've had the exact same thought

Of course you did....