So the eclipse engine and the engine in the neon are basically the same does the eclipse have head gasket problems like the 95-98 neons do? If so I might think twice about getting an eclipse. Any info will be appreciated. Thanks.

Yea, there are problems with the non-turbo 2nd gen head gaskets just like there are in the R/T neons. I wouldn't not buy an eclipse just because of that, though. If you want to play it safe, buy an eclipse and have the head gasket changed. Mine hasn't blown on me yet :) (knock on wood).

How much would it cost to replace the head gasket, close to a grand?

That all depends on who you get to do it for you. Take it to Mistubishi and the'll charge you an arm and a leg. If you can find a reputable DSM guy they usually are a lot less expensive. As far as actual figures I'm not sure.

i have a 95 Eclipse.. I bought it at 60K with a stock headgasket. It took 9PSI for 8 months with NO headgasket issues. (piston cracked, tho ;-))

Don't worry about it. it's not like "you buy it, it dies." It's like crankwalk - it happens, sometimes(with 4G63's). At least it's just a headgasket.

I payed $450 to get my head taken off (which requires taking apart timing belt extra). That's just labor.

The headgasket problem was fixed after '96. It very rarely happens on 97-99 cars.

If my headgasket went I would do the labor myself, but thats because I took the time to learn how everything works. If you have the patience, get the shop manual and you can honestly do anything yourself for a lot cheaper.

Or just buy a '97-99.

Thank you all very much for all the feedback. I guess I can start going to the auctions and looking for a 97-99 GS.

Just FYI- if you get a 97 you can do the "key dance" to read the ECU's error codes. Check out the main 2GNT site for the how-to.

Ya they might of fixed that head gasket problem in the newer 2nd generation eclipse's but they still have a problem with spun bearings.

spun bearings are an issue in all american made motors. face it that's what we have

how common is spun bearings and is that fixable (albeit expensive) or is that an engine killing problem?

My head gasket on my 98' Eclipse GS just went up back in August at about 55,000 mile's. So the problem does still exist, but like the other's said, it's rare. I drive my car hard though, so I think it had a little help. I had purchased an extended warranty with my car to cover it til 60k mile's, so mine was covered by the dealership.

A spun bearing CAN be an engine killing problem, it killed one of mine. I am still using stock bearings right now because I got the blown engine covered under warranty but I am going to rebuild it will cleavite bearings that howell has and see how those do.

The problem starts when the engine runs low on oil then the bearing gets no lube and then it rubs pieces off and then there is space for the rod to move around and then it started knocking on the block wall and then it punched through!


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