blown motor?

[cablemurk]

okay... *sigh* i had the car 4 days, and the belt broke on me at 75mph on the freeway.. nobody checked it or changed it and the car has 128k on it. probably the original belt. step by step, what would be involved in repairing the eclipse to get her back on the road? there's no chance no valves are bent? i'm going to fix the car one way or another, but i dont want to waste time barking up the wrong tree in diagnosis and repair. if i gotta replace a head, buy new valves, whatever.. let me know so i can get started on it right away and quit wasting time with it sitting in my driveway. i can most certainly work on cars, i'm torn several down to nothing at all.. so i'm not "scared" of doing it. without the shop manual (yet), i need as much info as you guys can give me to get her back on the road.

thanks in advance.

edit: 420a '99 eclipse RS

 

[VelocitàPaola]

There is a very good chance that all valves bent. You can remove the head, and pour some water in each of the cylinder roofs to check for leakage, although it'll probably be a waste of time - I can say with 99% surety that you're valves are done for.

You'll probably need to replace most components of the valvetrain. Then you'll need a new timing belt tensioner, idler bearing (we wouldn't want something like this to happen again), and timing belt (duh). Finally, you'll need new OEM headbolts.

Hopefully that's all you'll need. Inspect your pistons when you have the head off your car. A little dimpling may be OK. If any pistons are cracked, you're in for a complete engine overhaul.

It'd probably be easiest to just find a suitable head in a junkyard, if your pistons are in good shape.

Being that your timing belt broke, you'll just need to remove the valve cover and camshafts to get the head off. After inspecting everything, you can decide which direction you'll need to head in, in terms of repairs. Good luck.

 

[cablemurk]

thank you for the straightforward reply. i appreciate it that your advice is straightforward and technical. i'll get to cracking taking off the head tomorrow, since it's necessary. i saw a head on ebay here, is that the best that i can do for the head rebuild? should i be looking for valves seperately? is the headgasket re-usable? as far as timing belts go, is it like mazda, where good quality parts are OEM or nothing? as far as the mazdas go, aftermarket is far substandard to OEM.

thank you again for the fast, well educated reply.

 

[VelocitàPaola]

"Mitsubishi Eclipse 2.0L Cylinder Head" is an ambiguous title as both the turbo and N/T Eclipses are 2.0L engines. Before buying any parts, make sure they're for the 420A Eclipse engine (NOT the 4G63).

OEM parts will do just fine for all timing components.

The headgasket is not re-usable.

Get in touch with Bruce at the Part Dinosaur (http://www.partsdinosaur.com/) for valve and timing options. Other than that, I think a junkyard or the 2GNT classifieds, is your best bet for a used head.

 

[420Adriver]

"Mitsubishi Eclipse 2.0L Cylinder Head" is an ambiguous title as both the turbo and N/T Eclipses are 2.0L engines. Before buying any parts, make sure they're for the 420A Eclipse engine (NOT the 4G63).

OEM parts will do just fine for all timing components.

The headgasket is not re-usable.

Get in touch with Bruce at the Part Dinosaur (http://www.partsdinosaur.com/) for valve and timing options. Other than that, I think a junkyard or the 2GNT classifieds, is your best bet for a used head.

He shouldn't need a new head should he? The same thing happened to me but i guess i got lucky i only had 4 valves bent. And if i was you i would probably go ahead and get arp head bolts since they are reusable and if you ever need to take your head off for what ever reason you will not have to keep buying oem head bolts.

 

[VelocitàPaola]

He probably won't need a new head altogether, but I suggested simply buying a used one to make things easier. I can get a cylinder head from the junkyard for $60.

I would just buy a used one and good shape, and swap it in for the old one. It doesn't sound like he's going for high-performance or anything... and this would eliminate the need for a total rebuild.

 

[dr1665]

The quickest, easiest and potentially cheapest way to get around this would be to hit up Craigslist, eBay, and the local salvage yards for a complete motor. I know people who have picked up engines from anywhere from $80 to $500. You might not be so lucky, but you would have a spare head and block that you could sell to others in your area to offest some of the cost. Just be sure the motor you get is legit. You don't want to buy another klunker.

The benefit to this method is that you would have the least amount of down time. Get the new motor ready to go in (belts and maybe a couple gaskets), then pull the entire dead motor out of the car and swap. It's easier to deal with a blown motor when it's sitting in the garage.

 

[cablemurk]

being new to eclipses.. what other years/cars can supply the 420 head i need?

 

[Shadow98]

As far as I know '95-'99 420a blocks are for the most part identical. The main differance is the ECU.

 

[dr1665]

being new to eclipses.. what other years/cars can supply the 420 head i need?

And, for the record, there's little chance you will need a new head at all. Losing the timing belt means the valves come into contact with the pistons. It's likely that you need as many as 16 new valves and only remotely possible that you will require a new piston or two. Visit the Parts Dinosaur to get a price on all new valves.

You will want to get a new timing belt, tensioner, and related pullies to prevent this from happening again, I would assume. Pick up fluids, filters, a new MLS head gasket, and possibly an upper gasket set to ensure everything is sealed up tight when it's all back together.

While it's definitely a serious problem, it's more wrok than it is anything else. I doubt there is anything wrong with your head, so buying another one is a waste of money.

 

[cablemurk]

okay, i'll pass on the head since it's probably just creating more expense. how easy, or what tools do i need to put the new valves in? should i just drop new valves and the head off at a shop? if i'm doing 4, or 8 or however many valves, should i just buy all 16? i'll just yank the head then. i really, really need to get a shop manual.

thanks again for the great replies!

 

[cablemurk]

is this everything i need?

 

[VelocitàPaola]

As far as I know '95-'99 420a blocks are for the most part identical. The main differance is the ECU.

'95s have different main bearing notches...

SOHC and DOCH 2.0L Neon blocks are compatible with our cars (although the '95s have those different main bearing notches, and the '95 SOHC Neon block is a little different because of the PCV system it used).

2.0L DOHC Avenger blocks are also compatible.

I believe there may be a few other cars that share the same engine, but so far, this is all I know of.

 

[BigRand]

You might what to pick up a few extra cam bolts, they tend to break when your trying to take them out. So be prepared to start drilling out bolts as well.