My Wife and I have had this car(2GNT Black 95 - (built Aug 94) Eagle Talon Esi) since 96. I use it to commute 220 miles a day 4 days a week.
The car has the shock tower rust holes. I am concerned about driving down the highway and having my struts bust through and throw the hood, over my windshield at speed sending me out of control at 75+ mph into the path of a semi carrying logs or what not, but I don't think its to that extent yet.
Because this car gets 530 miles to a 15 gallon tank (35mpg), I really want to keep it until it hits 300,000 miles... that is the goal anyway. It uses about 1 quart of oil every 5,000 miles. I do not use synthetic, I use 10w30 Napa oil (Valvoline makes oil for Napa private label). I change the oil every 7500 miles and use a K&N.
It's been one of the most reliable cars I've owned... as long as I keep up on changing the timing belt, bearings, tensioner, and water pump.
The engine did bend the valves at 100,000 due to a broken belt, so I learned my lesson then.
The car now has 246,000 miles on it and only now has been acting up and behaving strangely.
Recently the car has been killing front wheel bearings, every 5-8000 miles the drivers left would die.
I have ordered rebuilt cv axles, with new rotors, pads and calipers plus a new wheel bearing to hopefully put this to bed... but we'll see.
The other area I am having issue with is the idling and throttle. The car has a hard time idling and starting when cold. I usually have to keep the key engaged and my foot on the gas to get it going in the morning.
I cleaned the IAC which was all black and sooty, and replaced the gasket on the throttle body and still have the same problem.
I read only one code with my reader that said "P1294 could not reach the desired idle."
After I cleaned the IAC I reset this code and it hasn't returned.
The car still has a hard time starting and I cannot press the accelerator pedal past 50% without it losing power at idle or at speed.
I think it could be my TPS but would like to be able to check it with a multimeter.... is there a posted procedure?
