1994 Mitsubishi Eclipse from North America - Comments

I have 94 eclipse... right now I am trying to get my new alternator on properly instead of it being cockeyed. My old alternator had oil all over it and I couldn't drive at night with out my belt squeaking and breaking. I still have no idea where the oil is coming from. I have replaced the water pump, new CV shafts, and of course a new alternator. Rather then that I love the car. My boyfriend and I painted it purple and black. And I've done a bunch of other things to it, but if it keeps breaking down I'm gonna have to sale it. I need a vehicle I can drive daily to get to work and back. If anyone has any ideas or knows anything about why my alternator is doing this please email me at Kayjob_04@hotmail.com. Its been to the shop twice now and every time I go it gets more expensive. So if you could help me out I would appreciate it. Thanks.

Kaylee Bridges

Bedford, Indiana.

I am the original owner of a 1994 Mitsubishi eclipse GS with an automatic transmission. Color is red and currently as of Jan. 2008 have 99,400 miles. Has the black top with the nice wheels. It has been the best car I have ever owned. Only a few minor problems thru the years... Had a pinhole in my spark plug wire at about 50,000 miles... replaced wires. The rear hatchback hydraulic lifts went bad real quick, which I just recently replaced. Power antenna mast needs replacement. No biggie, listen to XM thru the convenient cd auxiliary button on my radio. I may replace the mast if I find one at a good price. The paint and finish is still beautiful, cause I keep it in the garage and the vehicle has never seen road salt in the winter. The car has been leak free so far. The engine compartment looks about brand new without all the grime and grease that other cars leak out. Been real happy with the car and I can honestly say if you take care of this car with good maintainance it will take care of you. The timing belt went a good eleven years and 84000 miles before needing replacement. I did not let the belt break, I just inspected the belt every so often and when the belt started to lose some of the teeth or ribs, I had it replaced and also did the waterpump and the related items to it. I still have the original upper and lower radiator hoses on the car and they still look and feel like new. I recommend draining and filling the automatic transmission frequently so it looks like new fluid out of the container. Change your antifreeze at least every three years or 24000 miles whichever comes first. Change your motor oil every 3000 miles as well. I love this car and I like to show it off.

I have been driving the 1st generation Eclipse non turbo, and the 1st generation Turbo Talon TSI from 1994-2008. I can say that these are great cars when you take care of them. They can be horrible cars if you don't.

I like to say that even a non-mechanic like I was before owning an Eclipse, can become a very good mechanic like I have become with a repair manual (available at Auto Zone or Advance Auto) and a small amount of tools.

If you are not interested in learning about how these cars work, you can spend a HUGE amount of money watching other mechanics poke around at a problem without being able to really fix them. It was after several of these experiences that I bought my own repair manual, and realized that even mechanically "dumb" people like I was, could be guided through every problem these cars have, step by step.

So far I have replaced or repaired (myself) the following with my trusty repair manual:

- Every brake rotor and pad on both of my cars at least twice. (easy)

- Every CV joint and drive shaft on both cars at least once. (easy)

- The Throttle Position Sensor on both cars. (easy)

- The Temperature sensor on both cars. (easy)

- The EGR valve on one car. (easy)

- The entire suspension on one car. (not so easy-but doable)

- The entire engine on one car. (super hard-but I managed it with a friend)

- The fuel pump on one car. (not so easy-but doable)

- The stereo on both cars. (a bit annoying)

- The speakers on one car. (a real pain removing interior panels)

- The exhaust on one car. (had another guy weld it in)

- The timing belts on one car. (a super difficult job because of the space limitations under the hood. I would have someone else do this one if they KNEW HOW to do it. If you get this one wrong, you can destroy the head of your engine.)

- The rims and tires on both cars. (easy)

- The headliners on both cars (can be a pain)

- The oxygen sensors on both cars (easy)

- The valve cover gasket on one car (pretty easy)

- Spark plugs and wires on both cars, many times (easy)

- Adjusted the engine timing on both cars many times (pretty easy)

- Adjusted the parking brake on one car (moderately easy)

- Replaced every bulb in both cars (easy, except when you have to get into the dash)

- The alternator in one car (pretty easy)

- The transmission fluid several times on both cars. (kind of a pain)

- The oil on both cars. (kind of a pain)

- The engine control module on one car (kind of a pain)

- The blow off valve on one car (easy)

- A bunch of other hacks and alterations not needed unless you want to really push your cars horsepower. I recommend http://www.dsmhorsepower.com/ and http://www.machv.com/ for allot of these procedures.

These are almost all the things that I have done. When I say something is easy, that means you probably could do it with a repair manual, some tools and some patience. Also, understand that I LOVE these cars! They are great to drive, and perform very well when they are maintained. The turbo model is shocking when you step up from the non-turbo! Honestly, I wouldn't still be driving one now if I didn't feel they were.