Optiskate76
Proven Member
- 38
- 1
- Feb 12, 2016
-
Pasco,
Washington
Awhile back I bought a 2ga from a kid. I needed a car that I planned on commuting in. It had to be something I enjoyed because I spend more time driving to get to work and back than I do at home with my family. I was under a bit of a time crunch, I found a 2ga in my incredibly low wife mandated budget. I had never owned one before as I've always been a Jeep guy, but if I was going to get a car, then I had always been incredibly intrigued by 2g Eclipses. The only time I had to car shop was at night, which I know you should never do. The car wasn't perfect, from what I could tell it had a few minor dings, the CEL was on because of what the kid said was an O2 (he swore up and down that an O2 sensor doesn't affect how the car runs... I knew better.), the interior was far from perfect, and there was a crack in the winshield, the side skirts and door caps and hardware were in the back of the car rather than on it, but it seem like it would be an okay car if I gave it some attention. Mind you, this is a 420A car, not my first choice, but there were zero GST's or GSX's that I could find for a reasonable price in the area, let alone one that fit in my stupidly low wife mandated budget. The plan was to put a bit of money into it, fix it up, make it nice again, and then down the road sell it and pick up a GSX.
That said, I didn't realize what I was in for. I double checked the CEL with the whole key on sequence deal and it didn't throw any codes related to an O2 sensor. I ended up replacing an intake air temp sensor and it smoothed out the rough idle a little. It gave me codes for a few things, none of which I can remember any more. Then I got it on an OBDII reader, which showed me that the O2 had in fact flat lined rather than oscillating like it should have been. I ended up replacing it as well and it ran much better, it stopped running mega rich although it still had a slightly rough idle. The funny thing was, the codes that the key on sequence gave me and the OBDII reader gave me were completely different from one another. The key on sequence gave me a whole slew of codes, where as the OBDII reader only pointed to the upstream O2 sensor. Once I replaced the O2 sensor, the light went away for good.
Little did I realize that my victory would be short lived. I pulled into my drive way one day and heard a loud under hood thump. Upon inspection the belt to my AC and power steering was gone...
Then to my surprise, the belt to the alternator was only half a belt. When digging, I realized that I also had a cracked exhaust manifold. Which could explain the bad O2 sensor. So I ended up replacing belts and replacing the exhaust manifold with a Megan header, down pipe, and test pipe. The cat was destroyed from running so rich for so long due the kid being dumb and not replacing the O2 sensor, so I'm glad that I had bought the test pipe. I also saw that one of my struts is blown. This is also when it dawned on me that this car had been heavily modified at one point in time, then most likely stripped of the parts, returned to stock, and then sold to me. Everything is freaking loose, things are missing, stuff just doesn't add up or wasn't put back together right. The car also appears to have hit every curb in Kennwick, WA.... There isn't that many curbs here compared to a place like Seattle, but let me tell you... theres enough curbs to f*ck sh*t up. The oil pan is smashed. The cross members look like they've met concrete as well. I know this look was as I've been rock crawling Jeeps for years. Any way, the joint between the megan exhaust manifold and down pipe would not seal what so ever. I e-mailed the guys at Redline360 and they got me in touch with the people from Megan.
Did I mention victory was short lived? Well, right after that a kid smashed into the back end of my car. It was parked on the street and the kid came flying around the corner and smashed right into the back end of it. I though I was going to have to pull him out of his car and administer first aid until an ambulance got there. That is how freaking hard he hit the Eclipse. Fortunately he hopped right and started assessing the situation. Thank god he was fine. Any way, he had just got his license. I talked to his older brother and I let the kid go easy. The kid was clearly freaked out and I told him to just handle it and we wouldn't need any police reports or insurance claims. Later on I would come to realize that this would be a mistake. It definitely should have gone to insurance. They kid did take it to get it fixed and the car was gone for a couple of weeks. When I got the car back much more was fixed than the damage the kid had caused. I was initially pretty happy. His brother had paid to have it fixed, but he also pulled the two dings out on the side of the car, repainted the wing, and so forth. It wasn't until much later that I realized that the rear quarter was still pushed in about a half inch. The lines of the car and the body work done make it really hard to see.
At this point I figured I'd fix it later and that most people would never notice it. On to fixing my exhaust leak. It was incredibly bad and the only thing stopping me from driving it to work. I had planned on fixing it over a weekend, but before that could happen more bad stuff happened. I came home from work to find that the front drivers corner was smashed. My wife had hit my car. As it sits, its still not fixed. It gets better though, it messed the steering up as well. My wife swears up and down that it just needs an alignment even though I tell her that only accounts for possibly the drifting. The steering wheel shimmies back and forth like there's a dead ball joint, tie rod end, or the bushings are done. Of course, you cant feel it while driving around town, but on the freeway its almost undriveable. Let me rephrase that, its something you shouldn't drive.
Any way, I fixed the exhaust leak by finding a piece of very thing malleable metal and making my own temp gasket. They don't use a normal gasketted flange on the connection between the header and down pipe. Its more like a compression fitting. I put the metal in the bell and tightened the sh*t out of it. It formed the metal and stopped the leak. I want to pull it out eventually and find something better. However, exhaust putty did not work. It just blew it out due to the horrendous fitment between the header and down pipe. I liked Megan's stuff all, except that joint.
As if things couldn't get any worse, on a short drive in town something startled me. The oil light came on going around a corner and then turned off. I had checked the oil just prior to it getting hit the first time. I know I had a slow drip, but I hadn't driven the car hardly at all. You can see where its leaked a little around the cam sensor and it wouldn't surprise me if its also leaking around the oil pan as its met a few curbs. I had planned on replacing the oil pan when I changed the oil. The kid I bought it from had changed it a few hundred miles before I bought it and it was no where near ready for another oil change. So now I need to get to the bottom of the leaking oil. I topped the car off for now. It doesn't smoke at all and I don't think that I'm burning it. However, my vacuum is also troubling to me. Its always been low. I started finding and fixing vacuum leaks which brought the vacuum back up to about 13inHG awhile back. However it was down to about 9inHG when I looked at it recently. I found yet another leak though. When the AC is on it drops to about 8inHG and when its off it sits at about 15inHG. I'm still poking around for more leaks. Most of the ones I've fixed were hoses that were intact, but so loose that they could have just fallen off. I'm really hoping that internally there is nothing wrong. I also suspect the EGR has failed. I have block off plates for that though.
At this point I cant sell the damn thing. My wife wont let me buy another one, especially if I take a loss on this one. She has hated the car from the beginning. If I could sell it for what I got it for, which wont happen as it sits, then I'd probably stand a good chance of maybe being able to snag a GST or GSX. I'm in no hurry though. If I can get this pile of junk up and looking good and running great again, then I'll drive it while I patiently look for the right GSX. Unfortunately they seem to be incredibly hard to find around here, especially ones that haven't been completely bastardized. Most of the ones I've seen are complete crap. There have been a few that have been professionally built with receipts, which is cool, but probably more money than I want to spend. So I am in no hurry, I just want to get this GS up and rolling. Heres the kicker though.... I'm going into my 5th and last year of my apprenticeship. In our 5th year we have to do a project with is completely determined by us. I am doing my Jeeps suspension, which despite being significantly cheaper than buying a kit, a link suspension is always expensive. We're talking $60+ a joint times 16 and thats just for the heim joints, not the 3/16" and 1/4" plate to build skids, brackets, trusses for the axles, misalignment spacers, tubing adapters, coil overs, tubing, ect. So I am now working on an incredibly limited budget to get this car up and running good.
So thus far, that is how things sit. Im probably going to need a little 2g advice here and there as I've never owned one of these cars before, but thus far everything seems reasonable straight forward. I'm hoping that this process isn't horribly painful, but I have a feeling it will be. Either way, I suppose I'll document it here for any and all who are even half way interested.
That said, I didn't realize what I was in for. I double checked the CEL with the whole key on sequence deal and it didn't throw any codes related to an O2 sensor. I ended up replacing an intake air temp sensor and it smoothed out the rough idle a little. It gave me codes for a few things, none of which I can remember any more. Then I got it on an OBDII reader, which showed me that the O2 had in fact flat lined rather than oscillating like it should have been. I ended up replacing it as well and it ran much better, it stopped running mega rich although it still had a slightly rough idle. The funny thing was, the codes that the key on sequence gave me and the OBDII reader gave me were completely different from one another. The key on sequence gave me a whole slew of codes, where as the OBDII reader only pointed to the upstream O2 sensor. Once I replaced the O2 sensor, the light went away for good.
Little did I realize that my victory would be short lived. I pulled into my drive way one day and heard a loud under hood thump. Upon inspection the belt to my AC and power steering was gone...
Then to my surprise, the belt to the alternator was only half a belt. When digging, I realized that I also had a cracked exhaust manifold. Which could explain the bad O2 sensor. So I ended up replacing belts and replacing the exhaust manifold with a Megan header, down pipe, and test pipe. The cat was destroyed from running so rich for so long due the kid being dumb and not replacing the O2 sensor, so I'm glad that I had bought the test pipe. I also saw that one of my struts is blown. This is also when it dawned on me that this car had been heavily modified at one point in time, then most likely stripped of the parts, returned to stock, and then sold to me. Everything is freaking loose, things are missing, stuff just doesn't add up or wasn't put back together right. The car also appears to have hit every curb in Kennwick, WA.... There isn't that many curbs here compared to a place like Seattle, but let me tell you... theres enough curbs to f*ck sh*t up. The oil pan is smashed. The cross members look like they've met concrete as well. I know this look was as I've been rock crawling Jeeps for years. Any way, the joint between the megan exhaust manifold and down pipe would not seal what so ever. I e-mailed the guys at Redline360 and they got me in touch with the people from Megan.Did I mention victory was short lived? Well, right after that a kid smashed into the back end of my car. It was parked on the street and the kid came flying around the corner and smashed right into the back end of it. I though I was going to have to pull him out of his car and administer first aid until an ambulance got there. That is how freaking hard he hit the Eclipse. Fortunately he hopped right and started assessing the situation. Thank god he was fine. Any way, he had just got his license. I talked to his older brother and I let the kid go easy. The kid was clearly freaked out and I told him to just handle it and we wouldn't need any police reports or insurance claims. Later on I would come to realize that this would be a mistake. It definitely should have gone to insurance. They kid did take it to get it fixed and the car was gone for a couple of weeks. When I got the car back much more was fixed than the damage the kid had caused. I was initially pretty happy. His brother had paid to have it fixed, but he also pulled the two dings out on the side of the car, repainted the wing, and so forth. It wasn't until much later that I realized that the rear quarter was still pushed in about a half inch. The lines of the car and the body work done make it really hard to see.
At this point I figured I'd fix it later and that most people would never notice it. On to fixing my exhaust leak. It was incredibly bad and the only thing stopping me from driving it to work. I had planned on fixing it over a weekend, but before that could happen more bad stuff happened. I came home from work to find that the front drivers corner was smashed. My wife had hit my car. As it sits, its still not fixed. It gets better though, it messed the steering up as well. My wife swears up and down that it just needs an alignment even though I tell her that only accounts for possibly the drifting. The steering wheel shimmies back and forth like there's a dead ball joint, tie rod end, or the bushings are done. Of course, you cant feel it while driving around town, but on the freeway its almost undriveable. Let me rephrase that, its something you shouldn't drive.
Any way, I fixed the exhaust leak by finding a piece of very thing malleable metal and making my own temp gasket. They don't use a normal gasketted flange on the connection between the header and down pipe. Its more like a compression fitting. I put the metal in the bell and tightened the sh*t out of it. It formed the metal and stopped the leak. I want to pull it out eventually and find something better. However, exhaust putty did not work. It just blew it out due to the horrendous fitment between the header and down pipe. I liked Megan's stuff all, except that joint.
As if things couldn't get any worse, on a short drive in town something startled me. The oil light came on going around a corner and then turned off. I had checked the oil just prior to it getting hit the first time. I know I had a slow drip, but I hadn't driven the car hardly at all. You can see where its leaked a little around the cam sensor and it wouldn't surprise me if its also leaking around the oil pan as its met a few curbs. I had planned on replacing the oil pan when I changed the oil. The kid I bought it from had changed it a few hundred miles before I bought it and it was no where near ready for another oil change. So now I need to get to the bottom of the leaking oil. I topped the car off for now. It doesn't smoke at all and I don't think that I'm burning it. However, my vacuum is also troubling to me. Its always been low. I started finding and fixing vacuum leaks which brought the vacuum back up to about 13inHG awhile back. However it was down to about 9inHG when I looked at it recently. I found yet another leak though. When the AC is on it drops to about 8inHG and when its off it sits at about 15inHG. I'm still poking around for more leaks. Most of the ones I've fixed were hoses that were intact, but so loose that they could have just fallen off. I'm really hoping that internally there is nothing wrong. I also suspect the EGR has failed. I have block off plates for that though.
At this point I cant sell the damn thing. My wife wont let me buy another one, especially if I take a loss on this one. She has hated the car from the beginning. If I could sell it for what I got it for, which wont happen as it sits, then I'd probably stand a good chance of maybe being able to snag a GST or GSX. I'm in no hurry though. If I can get this pile of junk up and looking good and running great again, then I'll drive it while I patiently look for the right GSX. Unfortunately they seem to be incredibly hard to find around here, especially ones that haven't been completely bastardized. Most of the ones I've seen are complete crap. There have been a few that have been professionally built with receipts, which is cool, but probably more money than I want to spend. So I am in no hurry, I just want to get this GS up and rolling. Heres the kicker though.... I'm going into my 5th and last year of my apprenticeship. In our 5th year we have to do a project with is completely determined by us. I am doing my Jeeps suspension, which despite being significantly cheaper than buying a kit, a link suspension is always expensive. We're talking $60+ a joint times 16 and thats just for the heim joints, not the 3/16" and 1/4" plate to build skids, brackets, trusses for the axles, misalignment spacers, tubing adapters, coil overs, tubing, ect. So I am now working on an incredibly limited budget to get this car up and running good.
So thus far, that is how things sit. Im probably going to need a little 2g advice here and there as I've never owned one of these cars before, but thus far everything seems reasonable straight forward. I'm hoping that this process isn't horribly painful, but I have a feeling it will be. Either way, I suppose I'll document it here for any and all who are even half way interested.
