- This topic has 41 replies, 5 voices, and was last updated 10 years, 3 months ago by
.
-
Topic
-
About 2 months ago, I bought a ’98 Eclipse RS (how did I go from mustang to mitsubishi, I don’t know.) Even though the used dealership we went to lied to us trying to justify paying almost twice its blue book value by claiming it “undergoes a thorough inspection and passes” when there’s spots of rust, the oil leaks (or burns), the passenger-side headlight may have a short somewhere (it’ll randomly turn off while I’m driving or hit a bump; lately its been less faulty), and a few other things (I will post more pictures/a video soon, showing some of the issues) I was obsessed with this car and had first-car blindness (well, technically 2nd car. I almost bought a 2006 Hyundai Elantra auction car which was in worse condition) and was furious to find a better model (GS, may’ve been a GS-T or GSX) for the same price in far better condition 2 days later…but, live and learn. Granted, 5 pm on a friday isn’t a good time to buy a car because I couldn’t take it to a mechanic to have it looked over before buying…but again, young and stupid obsession and I had been searching for a 2nd gen eclipse for months (even though they were made in a city ~40 miles north of me)
I’ve noticed that even though the temperature doesn’t show overheating, it’s running awfully hot. Occasionally when I start the car, it has a fast idle and puffs out white smoke (I question if this is the burnt oil, it smells somewhat like it) it has gotten to the point where I have to add a quart of oil every few days to a week to keep from running dry/killing my car. When I drove it earlier today, I noticed more lag when accelerating than usual, and at low speeds in a parking lot, I could hear and feel it chugging slightly. When I got back home, there was steam and whistling coming from the radiator cap, which kinda worries me as I’ve never had that happen…around 4,000-4,500 RPM, a faint squealing noise starts, somewhat similar to a turbocharger whine (although it’s a non-turbo) A friend of mine said it may just be a pulley squeaking. I had a mechanic friend take a somewhat closer look and took it for a test drive, claimed he heard a bad wheel hub, although I’m not sure if it’s a wheel hub, bearing, or just bad tires.
Right now, my main concerns are the immediate hazards (possible overheating, rough engine performance, etc.) I plan on adding more information and visual aid, but could anyone offer any advice as to what I could do? I would have taken it to an actual mechanic and have them look at it, but I’m a broke-as-a-joke student on the hunt for a job, and I can’t get help from anyone else at the moment :/
PS Sorry for the terrible writing/weird subject changes, I’ve been a bit mentally fried lately and car troubles are the last thing I need…
-
Replies
-
Considering my only other means of transport has been sitting since I bought my car (an old 2000 mustang, I’ve mentioned it in other threads) has expired tags and the serpentine belt is either not tensioned properly and/or a pulley just randomly fell off somewhere, I don’t wanna lose my Eclipse for a bit without a backup XD
I live with my grandparents, and half the time tools get left out or strewn about the garage :/ I’ve been meaning to invest in my own set for a while now but never had the money, sadly.
I may as well make a few calls tomorr- er..today (it’s 6 am here and I haven’t slept yet o_o) and get a rough estimate, because the stealership wants roughly $950 to do the job, and that just isn’t gonna bode well. First things first though, I need to rent/buy a compression tester, leak-down tester, and of course a manual of sorts to see if the gasket is the cause of my problems or not. Don’t wanna have to tear my head off only to find the gasket is still holding together well >_< Edit: I keep forgetting to mention I have random check engine lights that come and go, most of the time the incompi-techs at autozone (well, the one in my town) tell me they can't find any codes. But, just the other night they found an EGR valve issue. Yet, the next day the light was off again...maybe a sign of electrical issues somewhere?
Quick update: Rented a compression tester from the local Autozone ($40) and finally checked the compression. Here are the results:
Cylinder 1: 135 psi Dry/ 150 psi Wet
Cylinder 2: 145 psi Dry/ 140 psi Wet
Cylinder 3: 135 psi Dry/ 130 psi Wet (?)
Cylinder 4: 130 psi Dry/ 120 psi Wet (?!)Although this is a rental tester, it seemed rather accurate for the most part….but the fact that the numbers are somewhat inconsistent bothers me :/
The spark plugs (that I changed ~a month ago) are still showing a bit of white corrosion, which I understand to be burned oil. I’m starting to question if its not entirely the head gasket, but rather the piston rings/bores
PS, after I moved my car out of the garage (and there was quite a bit of smoke from the tailpipe, probably the oil from the wet tests, it was mostly white but had a faintly blue color to it) I noticed 2 puddles from where my car was…one looked like an old water puddle, the other was oil, about where the front end of the car was :/ I did have to add a quart and a half (give or take a half) afterwards, because the dipstick looked mostly dry…maybe I’m not so much burning oil as I am leaking it…I will be sure to check the oil pan for leaks when I have the car jacked up to change the tie rod/brakes (as was indicated on the inspection sheet
The compression looks about normal for an engine with lots of miles on it. It could run for a long time with that compression. Will make less power though.
The oil puddle means a leak that needs to be fixed or you will be constantly adding oil. Or, if you forget, no engine.
Fair enough. For a ’98, it’s got ~175k miles on it.
I question if it was just spilled accidentally, or actually leaked. And trust me, I know…the mustang I was driving had oil that was in a constant state of change, so to speak. A friend of mine threw a piston in his Hyundai Santa Fe by not adding oil (which has sat for about a year since…) and my brother blew up his friend’s car by not adding oil as needed. My plan is to do an oil change while I’ve got the front end up for work, but also check the oil pan gasket and plug, maybe they’re leaking as well? Still doesn’t entirely explain where/why I’m burning oil, but may slow the loss at least. The previous owner did not seem to care much, if at all about quality of parts/how it ran…although the interior is in somewhat decent condition, at least.
The more I read the more I wonder if this vehicle is really worth investing all this money and effort into. If you love it, you love it, but there does come a point where you have to call it.
Honestly Eric, you’re right. I mean, I had no intent on pulling the engine apart if I didn’t need to and all I’m going to do to it (in respects to this potential head gasket issue) is a leak-down test and if that comes up fine, I’m not worried about it…it still runs, and sure burns/leaks oil but its not gonna die anytime soon, so meh. But, I am for sure going to do the tie rod end(s), brakes and wheel hub. They also mentioned on the repair sheet that the power steering and trans. fluids need to be flushed/changed, and that shouldn’t be horribly hard to do. That wheel hub has been driving (no pun intended) me up the wall for a while now, and considering it may be a safety hazard, it’s probably one of my top priorities. As far as the engine, don’t fix something that isn’t broken.
Careful, that rabbit hole will get deeper and deeper. If you’re thinking it’s time to cut your losses the sooner the better. Otherwise, dive in and open your wallet.
No matter what I wish you the best. I’m not going to say you’re doing it wrong because I’ve gone down this path a time or 2 myself. I know what it’s like. Good luck.
For the time being, I’m going to take this in stages. First the tires, tie rods, brakes and wheel hub. Afterwards, I may get a few second opinions from local auto shops instead of the O’brien dealership, see what they may think could be the issue (probably do that where I’m getting an alignment after this work). If you’d like, I can post of a video soon of how its running, and any abnormal sounds so you can get a better idea?
You can post whatever you like. If it’s not related to this thread however I would ask that you start a new one for the problem you’re posting about. That makes our database happy. If you’re asking my advice however, I’d say cut your losses and look for a different vehicle. I’d wager by the time you’re done, you could have bought 2 of those cars.
Good luck and keep us posted.
So far, I’ve spent ~$250 on tools that we didn’t have and supplies for an oil change. I’ve recently remember that I got a check engine light for an EGR valve and looked into that…now I’m starting to think that may be a simpler explanation as to why my car runs so rough. Thankfully, the rest of the parts aren’t that expensive and I wont be paying more than I did for the car initially ($2,500 before tax/title; only ~$400-500 for parts and new set of proper tools) The head gasket was a stupid thing to worry about right now honestly, I mean the car isn’t running THAT badly, and I’ve still got decent compression….I was just temporarily fooled by a suggestion from the shop guy.
Edit: As in love with the idea of working in the high school’s auto shop, I cant because I’m no longer a student so insurance liability comes into play…time to buy a better, adjustable set of jack stands
Another update (someone please stop me) I finally ordered the tie rods and wheel hub, bought new front tires (which were installed quite quickly for a saturday…usually takes up to an hour if they’re busy, but today I waited 5 minutes er so, went out for a smoke, and shortly after I lit it, they had finished and moved my car back out) and did an oil change (aww, his first one…) which was a bit of a nightmare because I bought a spring-loaded hook-esque type oil filter wrench…which didn’t fit into the Bermuda Triangle that was surrounding the filter…an hour er two, $4 and a partially crushed old oil filter later, the oil pan was filled with clean, Pennzoil high mileage oil. So far, the oil and new tires severely improved the ride of my Eclipse, but I can still feel the loose tie rod (when I rotated the tires with more tread to the front drive wheels, the left tie rod was loose and had some play while the right was solid as a rock) and wheel hub, which I did do the “test” Eric had done in a video some time ago (isolate the wheels, see if you can hear the problem) so I will fix those when my parts come in the mail. I think I will start a new thread on *specifically* that, because the engine isn’t a major issue…at all. Screw the head gasket, it appears to be fine for the moment.
The attached photo is a better idea of how the oil pan, exhaust, and axle got in my friggin’ way while trying to use the spring loaded hook wrench…which dented the edge of the filter so much that the other type of wrench (ratchet attachment that fits on the bottom of the filter) couldn’t get a grip…I eventually somehow managed the other one off by sheer luck. Anyway, enough of my inane rambling.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.