First, I should say I know nothing of cars and am trying to learn as I go.

I have a '96 Eclipse Spyder GS auto (recently acquired it) and at first had timing issues. The timing belt would squeal. The more I used the car, the worse the timing got, and I was stuttering along from pressing on the gas even the slightest bit too fast. Got the belt changed and the car seemed to work fine with no squealing. I did notice the car shifted gears kind of hard but I thought that was just the way the car was. Well, I took it on the freeway some days later and started getting stuttering when I passed about 60mph. I looked at the RPMs as I was driving and realized the problem happens when the car passes 3000rpm. I took it back the the mechanic and he said it was misfiring. He gave me my car back two days later and said he couldn't find what the problem was. He said he found the problem I was describing when he test drove the car but couldn't replicate it in his shop, so he said he couldn't fix it.

So now I'm wondering is this a timing issue? Does the belt need to be tightened or loosened? I read that a timing belt can be set high or low and that if it's set really high to eek out some more HP that it needs a higher octane fuel (I read this works to help stop the stuttering). I don't want to use a high octane fuel because the prices are crazy and I don't need extra HP. I just want a properly working car. I have also read that misfiring the majority of the time is due to bad spark plugs or spark plug wires. For some reason, the mechanic never checked these things. Am I missing something? Do mechanics normally not try anything unless they know for sure what is wrong? No trial and error?

Any help on this matter I would greatly appreciate.

Welcome to the wonderful world of eclipse self repair.
if you recently accuired your eclipse then id start with the basics.
change your plugs and wires first off.

now is the check engine light (cel) on?

if yes then go to autozone and have them pull the code so you know what the computer is angry about.

secondly your car isnt a 420A, the spyders were either 4G63T (2.0L Turbo) or a 4G64 (2.4L non-turbo), which are both mitsubishi engines.
you said it's a GS so its a 4G64.
fortunatly some of the basic stuff is the same across all eclipse platforms, however specifics and techniques may be different.

you mentioned timing.
the belt shouldnt change timing the cams will do that. possibly your cam sliped a tooth and threw the timing off. so id start with looking up the timing alignment procedures in the "4G" section. (a chiltons should have this too )

best way to solve this is to start simple and then work up to more complicated things. the search function of this forum is AWESOME and will be your best friend during your ownership of the eclipse.

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"Don't fear the weapon, fear the soul of the warrior using it."
"My CEL only goes off when i remove my battery."

Best sum up of working on a 2GNT
DR1665- "#5. Spike that motherfucker on the garage floor and grab a beer. You deserve it."


Ahhhh Priceless . . .
eclipse982nrRST "its actually lightish red"
RoninEclipse2G "yeah, they already have a color for that... it's called PINK"

If it's consistently stuttering past 3000RPM say, right at 4000RPM and doesn't want to rev further, it's usually the MAP sensor.

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If a sentence found online has 35% misspellings or greater and includes at least two racially charged expletives, chances are it is a YouTube comment.

'95 Eclipse TurboGS (garage deco)
'95 TSi AWD (restoring a survivor)
'97 Talon ESi-T (poor impulse control)
'99 Eclipse RS-T (daily beater)
'13 Evo X (mostly stock)
'17 Sienna (Middle Aged Dad Mobile)



Factory Service Manuals: http://nawdu.de/files/

fuel cut or bad tune