Okay, so I've visited this forum before and gotten some good tips, but this time I need some individual help.

Okay, so this is a 2008 Lancer GTS (manual transmission) with about 125k miles on it. Truth be told the car hasn't been well maintained for the first few years. It is my girlfriend's car and her ex-husband drove like an idiot and can't maintain a car to save his life (he's been through about 12 of them in the past 10 years).

Recently the oil has been getting used up quickly, noticed this when the oil was basically empty when due for an oil change (only about 2 months because of where I drive - mountainous dirt roads, longer trips). The engine was making a tapping noise when I limped it home to get my other car and get some oil for it. The tapping was really light, but I put in some new oil and drained it, then did a whole new batch of oil and new filter (full synthetic + fram ultimate filter).

But the sound didn't go away, I thought it may just be something under lubed and it would go away, but it didn't. My dad used to be a mechanic (long time ago only US cars), and he said it sounded like a problem from the low oil. Took it in to another mechanic (doesn't do engine rebuilds or anything) and was told again it was the oil and to add some Lucas (I did another full oil change - again full synthetic and added a bottle of Lucas to it). Gave it some time to run through completely - still nothing. Then I was going to do yet another oil change and add some other cleaner/additive for the oil and noticed that the sound has changed from a lighter tapping (that very very slowly got louder) to a lighter knocking. Like a metal on metal knock.

The sound gets worse at a very low throttle (not RPM - RPM is irrelevant) then mostly goes away, and it is noticeable outside the car at idle. By very low throttle I mean just enough to maintain current speed when cruising.

I want to check here to get an idea of the problem. It is due for some new spark plugs, but I've kept up on the air filter, oil changes - etc. I don't want to go straight to a mechanic because the only mechanics around that could work on a Mitsubishi is at least an hour away from here, and I'd rather not drive there without a clue of what may be wrong.



So, I've given as much detail as I can, and I'm hoping for some help. I'm really hoping it's nothing too major but I'm expecting a $1k+ bill for fixing it. Please tell me I'm wrong!

 

Well, I did a little more looking at it today and used a rod (I don't have a stethoscope to listen around or a way to lift the car right now) to track down the sound. And it is definitely coming from the block, and the sound is indeed changing with the RPM, though the loud knock only comes through at that mid throttle which is around 2k RPM in neutral.

It sounds like metal knocking against metal at a relatively slow speed. Pretty much the throbbing of the engine at idle speed is the same speed of the tap.

What would that be more likely to be, so I can find if anybody around me can fix it?

 

sounds like you need new engine or rebuild old one but since its lancer will be cheaper to get used one your problem seems to be rod knocking due to bad oil changes prb one of the rod or crank bearings went bad oh and it will just get worse and worse if you keep driving it

 

yup, sounds like a failed bearing. Rebuild time! That sucks!

 

yupp happened to me too, but it was due to the previous owner. either 1 or more bearings were shaved/stripped when it ran without enough oil due to lack of pressure is my guess, they failed. Needless to say your girlfriends's ex-husband is a schmuck. Luckily, new bearings and rods for lancer shouldn't cost too much for a rebuild. (if it ran a long time without enough oil i suggest a new engine, the head may have also been affected by the lack of oil)

 

I am on the phone with a dealer, and he's saying there is no rebuilt or new engines for sale, it's all done piece by piece. Any thoughts there?

As for replacing only parts, what would be suggested here? Should I just replace bearings, or should I go for the rod & pistons? The car did run for a little bit like that, but I don't think there's any major damage.

And yes, rather newbie here on all this, so a bit more detailed would be helpful.

Dealership is saying that they'd need to replace bearings, camshaft, gaskets and that the camshaft is different so they'd need new bolts for that as well...

 

Okay, now saying it should be the shortblock + gasket + timing chain + getting the heads checked. Price I was given was 2800 for the shortblock, but online at 2 OEM sites (dealerships that resell parts online) the shortblock for the non-rallyart is showing as only $355 MSRP.

Is that site wrong, or is the dealership just trying to jack up the price on me?

Site here:

http://www.oemmitsubishiparts.com/pa...=SHORT%20BLOCK

 

Best thing to do is getting a used complete engine assembly from a wrecked Lancer .

 

hard to find something like that around here. Any tips on finding one online? Lancers alone are pretty hard to find around here, let alone a wrecked one.