Hey man,

our cars can be very reliable, espeicially if you are only talking about N/A stock trim. Like any car, if it is taken care of it will take care of you. You can't forget, these cars are now 10-15 years old and you have no idea who the previous owner was or how well he or she took care of the car. Based on the fact that your eclipse had both the PCV line and breather line connected to nothing leads me to believe that the previous owner of your car probably did not know what he or she was doing nor did they care.

The 420A is a great motor and is very resilient. It can take a good bit of abuse and if taken care of can certainly be reliable.

Good luck!

1999 Eclipse GS
Built motor
Hahn 16G Turbo w/ FMIC
Hahn Stage 5 Portfueler (270's & 500's)
Zeitronix Zt-2 wideband w/ 3.5bar MAP
3" SS Turbo Back
CM Stage 4 Clutch and Fidanza Flywheel
Baer Big Brake Kit