wildfire
Probationary Member
- 8
- 0
- Jul 31, 2006
-
Bridgeport,
Texas
Please forgive my ignorance. I'm a middle-aged housewife who knows nothing about vehicles. Neither does my husband. I have looked for a long time on this forum and I see that it's not extremely uncommon for a DSM to die while being driven, and I've seen that there can be several contributors. My car died and I worry that once I get it to the shop to get fixed, the problem will be out of my price range. Well, I could just trash the car, no more than what I paid for it...but it's heck wenching the little thing onto the utility trailer, then it's heck getting it off because the front faring is soooo low, I have a trailer and no truck, so I'd have to get someone to pull the trailer to town for me, and back, if the car can't be repaired. I can have it towed, but I really don't want to spend the $50 for a car that might pose a problem to repair.
I bought this 92 Eclipse in May of 2006, supposedly the only thing wrong with it was that the clutch was real, real weak and going out, so the seller delivered it on a utility trailer. Car was clean inside and out, no body damage except that when the seller backed the car off the trailer, it broke off the bottom right part of the faring. I went to Walmart, got some screws and put that back together.
Paid $1,000.00 for the car. Title calls it a salvage car. Mileage is 149497. By the title, I know that an individual had it, then a company got it with some "motor company" name on it, so it may have been a dealer or a mechanic, but whoever they were, they took it to auction and a car dealership bought it, then sold it to me for cash. When I got the car, it ran fine, but no A/C & the drivers side window falls off track when rolling it up (crank windows).
Turns out the clutch burned out because the transmission leaked on it, so we got the leak fixed and replaced the clutch. We also replaced all pads and rotors because we heard metal grinding in the back when we applied the brake after about a month of driving it. It also vibrated very bad at high speeds, so we had the wheels balanced and rotated and aligned the front end. That helped a lot, but didn't solve the problem entirely. Also, both the original mechanice who fixed the transmission/clutch and the mechanic who did the front end alignment, found sheared off lug nuts.
It had/has that annoying belt squeal that I saw mentioned on this forum. We never did anything about that. It also spews black or grey smoke when we accelerate. Never checked that out, either. Our intention was to fix the problems as time and money allowed. We intentionally bought a car with the kind of problems that would allow it to run, but still needed fixing, because we wanted a cheap car we could buy for cash that got good gas mileage, and the Eclipse did do that.
It also had an oil leak, but that wasn't a real issue until my husband's truck broke down and he started driving it to work, 2 hours from home. He drives very fast and more than one time, I griped at him because when he'd start the car to go to work, I could hear the rods knocking. He'd say he'd put some oil in it on the way to work. I strongly suspect that he let it run out of oil, because after just a week or so of driving it, it died. Knowing how he drives, he was probably going 70 to 90 miles an hour.
The oil gague hadn't worked since we got the car. It was on our list of things to get fixed, and we planned to get that done when the mechanic had to open the dash to fix the speedometer, whose needle had fallen off, but the car itself still thought the speedometer worked, so the odometer worked fine.
Hubby gave no indication that the idiot lights had indicated that the car was overheating. The check engine light, if this car has one, never came on, ever, as far as I know. Hubby seems to think that the problem is the timing belt, but he knows next to nothing about cars and hates working on them. Apparently, he even hates putting oil in. :-(
I thought he ran the car out of oil and blew the engine. But he says he didn't & clings to him timing story.
The car's been sitting for a month now. Two days ago, a friend who knows a LITTLE bit about cars came over and he and hubby tried to start it. Friend said it wasn't getting any compression, and tried to talk us into buying another cheap old car with a few problems that his friend has for sale. I refused. My husband has a tendency to kill old vehicles and we have 4 dead old vehicles in our yard currently, all of which accumulated there within the last year.
Apparently, the friend thinks the engine is blown or the heads are cracked or something. What causes "no compression"?
Here's all I can tell about the car's specs:
(the sticker on the firewall is hard to read- I have to stand sort of beside it and let it catch the sunlight so I can make out most of what's written there)
Model: D21AMN; Transmission: F5M and maybe a couple of other numbers or letters; OPT (whatever that means): A00 That sticker does say, "DSM" on it. What I think is the engine, sits crossways behind something that has a big, round, black cap on it where the oil goes in. It says, "4G37" on it.
Even thought it is a salvage car, the mechanics say they see no signs in the undercarriage of the car ever being wrecked or totaled, so we think the "salvage" on the title probably came from a mechanic's lien being placed on the car.
I saw one post here in the forum about checking to see if the spark plugs were getting fire, so I'll have hubby check that next week. I really want him to check the car out himself as much as he can. I love him and he's a great husband, but he's had this old diesel truck that he's driven for a year, and almost every time it breaks down, he claims it can't be fixed. Then he gets tired of buying gas (he gets free diesel through his work) and fixes it. Usually, something has shook loose that he has to tighten. We live on a mile long dirt road that is EXTREMELY bumpy, and to get to his jobs, he always has to drive down miles and miles of dirt roads, too, but none are ever as bad as our road home.
What I need to tell hubby is, "Here's what to check and how to check it", before we go to all the trouble of taking it to the shop. I really don't want to get another old car for him to tear up. He's driving our brand new car now, and those seem to be the only kind that can hold up to him and his driving. But we can't afford two car payments, so for me, it's either fix the Eclipse or start over and go through this again. Personally, in a used car, I'd rather know my problems and repair them, then wind up with a decent running car, than repeatedly keep buying 'surprises' and starting from scratch, especially when the fate of each new 'old' car is sealed as soon as I buy it.
In case anyone wants to reply to me via private e-mail, the address is [email protected] . I'll also check back here for replies. Please pardon my ignorance. I really do like this little Eclipse, though, and enjoy driving it and want to keep it. I have about a thousand dollars to spend on getting it running again.
If it needs a new engine, where do I buy one at? I live in Texas, near Fort Worth.
Thank you in advance for any help or advice I receive.
After all that, I forgot to say that the car will crank but not turn over. That might have been obvious by the "no compression" part that I wrote. Sorry. That's the only thing I forgot. I also put a brand new battery in it. When I bought oil for it, I bought the Valvoline brand for high mileage cars. No telling what hubby picked up and put in it on his ways to work. Could have been anything a convenience store sells.
I bought this 92 Eclipse in May of 2006, supposedly the only thing wrong with it was that the clutch was real, real weak and going out, so the seller delivered it on a utility trailer. Car was clean inside and out, no body damage except that when the seller backed the car off the trailer, it broke off the bottom right part of the faring. I went to Walmart, got some screws and put that back together.
Paid $1,000.00 for the car. Title calls it a salvage car. Mileage is 149497. By the title, I know that an individual had it, then a company got it with some "motor company" name on it, so it may have been a dealer or a mechanic, but whoever they were, they took it to auction and a car dealership bought it, then sold it to me for cash. When I got the car, it ran fine, but no A/C & the drivers side window falls off track when rolling it up (crank windows).
Turns out the clutch burned out because the transmission leaked on it, so we got the leak fixed and replaced the clutch. We also replaced all pads and rotors because we heard metal grinding in the back when we applied the brake after about a month of driving it. It also vibrated very bad at high speeds, so we had the wheels balanced and rotated and aligned the front end. That helped a lot, but didn't solve the problem entirely. Also, both the original mechanice who fixed the transmission/clutch and the mechanic who did the front end alignment, found sheared off lug nuts.
It had/has that annoying belt squeal that I saw mentioned on this forum. We never did anything about that. It also spews black or grey smoke when we accelerate. Never checked that out, either. Our intention was to fix the problems as time and money allowed. We intentionally bought a car with the kind of problems that would allow it to run, but still needed fixing, because we wanted a cheap car we could buy for cash that got good gas mileage, and the Eclipse did do that.
It also had an oil leak, but that wasn't a real issue until my husband's truck broke down and he started driving it to work, 2 hours from home. He drives very fast and more than one time, I griped at him because when he'd start the car to go to work, I could hear the rods knocking. He'd say he'd put some oil in it on the way to work. I strongly suspect that he let it run out of oil, because after just a week or so of driving it, it died. Knowing how he drives, he was probably going 70 to 90 miles an hour.
The oil gague hadn't worked since we got the car. It was on our list of things to get fixed, and we planned to get that done when the mechanic had to open the dash to fix the speedometer, whose needle had fallen off, but the car itself still thought the speedometer worked, so the odometer worked fine.
Hubby gave no indication that the idiot lights had indicated that the car was overheating. The check engine light, if this car has one, never came on, ever, as far as I know. Hubby seems to think that the problem is the timing belt, but he knows next to nothing about cars and hates working on them. Apparently, he even hates putting oil in. :-(
I thought he ran the car out of oil and blew the engine. But he says he didn't & clings to him timing story.
The car's been sitting for a month now. Two days ago, a friend who knows a LITTLE bit about cars came over and he and hubby tried to start it. Friend said it wasn't getting any compression, and tried to talk us into buying another cheap old car with a few problems that his friend has for sale. I refused. My husband has a tendency to kill old vehicles and we have 4 dead old vehicles in our yard currently, all of which accumulated there within the last year.
Apparently, the friend thinks the engine is blown or the heads are cracked or something. What causes "no compression"?
Here's all I can tell about the car's specs:
(the sticker on the firewall is hard to read- I have to stand sort of beside it and let it catch the sunlight so I can make out most of what's written there)
Model: D21AMN; Transmission: F5M and maybe a couple of other numbers or letters; OPT (whatever that means): A00 That sticker does say, "DSM" on it. What I think is the engine, sits crossways behind something that has a big, round, black cap on it where the oil goes in. It says, "4G37" on it.
Even thought it is a salvage car, the mechanics say they see no signs in the undercarriage of the car ever being wrecked or totaled, so we think the "salvage" on the title probably came from a mechanic's lien being placed on the car.
I saw one post here in the forum about checking to see if the spark plugs were getting fire, so I'll have hubby check that next week. I really want him to check the car out himself as much as he can. I love him and he's a great husband, but he's had this old diesel truck that he's driven for a year, and almost every time it breaks down, he claims it can't be fixed. Then he gets tired of buying gas (he gets free diesel through his work) and fixes it. Usually, something has shook loose that he has to tighten. We live on a mile long dirt road that is EXTREMELY bumpy, and to get to his jobs, he always has to drive down miles and miles of dirt roads, too, but none are ever as bad as our road home.
What I need to tell hubby is, "Here's what to check and how to check it", before we go to all the trouble of taking it to the shop. I really don't want to get another old car for him to tear up. He's driving our brand new car now, and those seem to be the only kind that can hold up to him and his driving. But we can't afford two car payments, so for me, it's either fix the Eclipse or start over and go through this again. Personally, in a used car, I'd rather know my problems and repair them, then wind up with a decent running car, than repeatedly keep buying 'surprises' and starting from scratch, especially when the fate of each new 'old' car is sealed as soon as I buy it.
In case anyone wants to reply to me via private e-mail, the address is [email protected] . I'll also check back here for replies. Please pardon my ignorance. I really do like this little Eclipse, though, and enjoy driving it and want to keep it. I have about a thousand dollars to spend on getting it running again.
If it needs a new engine, where do I buy one at? I live in Texas, near Fort Worth.
Thank you in advance for any help or advice I receive.
After all that, I forgot to say that the car will crank but not turn over. That might have been obvious by the "no compression" part that I wrote. Sorry. That's the only thing I forgot. I also put a brand new battery in it. When I bought oil for it, I bought the Valvoline brand for high mileage cars. No telling what hubby picked up and put in it on his ways to work. Could have been anything a convenience store sells.
Thanks, Wendy. Yes, he is just plain lazy, too, but he's a hard worker when he's at his job. We joke about it and I try to work around it. Which is why I have to find out what to 'make' him do to check and maybe fix, the car.
These engines are interference, and that means 99.9% of the time this calls for a rebuild due to bent valves etc. However the belt is located to the right of the valve cover if you are facing the motor. It most likely has a moon shaped cover over it. Good luck!
