Hey guys i need some help. Last night I looked at a 1990 Eclipse GSX that I'm interested in buying. It has 100,800 miles on it. Very clean inside and out. But......when I started it up i noticed a very small exhaust leak under the hood. It looks like it could be easily patched. And also when I gave it some gas it spit out a lot of smoke or thick exhaust. But after it warmed up it didnt do it nearly as much. And my friend ran the VIN # on it and the miles were the same back in december. So that car hasnt been on the road in months. Is that why it spit out smoke. And should I buy it ????

 

Is the car original, trans, turbo, ect.... Could just be smokin from sittin. Where at in PA are you?

 

The car looks and sounds bone stock. And I live in lancaster but the car is in York county about half hour away.

 

If the smoke is purple then dont buy the car.
Purple smoke could mean that the piston ring is starting to go bad.
Oil is now leaking into the combustion chamber.

Carves-

 

older turbos have a tendency to smoke because the seals are worn down and oil is leaking into the engine. Car may have another 50,000 in it as is but I would expect problems in the next 15-20,000 miles.

 

If it has been sitting chances are it smokes because of oil seeping down the valve stems. I have a AWD 90 TSi with a stock turbo and 140K on the clock and my turbo (14B) doesn't have any problems. Sometimes if the turbo was miss treated they will cause problem, ie. setting the boost to 25 psi. Drive it and see how it acts then. If it smokes under boost, then the turbo probably needs work. If it is white smoke you might have a blown head gasket or warped head. The main problem with older 1Gs is the T-case. See if it is leaking or ask if it has been replaced under recall. Everything else on the car isn't too bad/hard to fix. I probably wouldn't pay more than 3500 smokes for that year of 1st gen. Unless it was in awesome shape, then maybe 4500, and I mean awesome.

 

If it's in good shape body wise, and your looking to upgrade it (in the NEAR future), turbo, intercooler, pistons, port and polish, ect....... Then it might be worth buying. On the other hand, if your looking for a trouble free car, go elsewhere. If you don't mind me askin, how much do they want?

 

Yeah I do plan on modifying. But I'm not sure how much and how soon. I want it to be my project car. And right now they are asking $3,900. But I would like to talk them down to at least $3.500

 

http://www.edmunds.com/used/1990/mit...ck/prices.html

 

the smoke is due to the valve stem seals. Check the compression in each cylinder, if it is still 170psi, chances are it is just the valve seals which can be easily replaced without taking out the heads. The stem seals in these cars lasts only up to 90-100,000 due to a bad batch of stem seals. They have a new upgraded seals from mitsubishi and should last longer and if replaced, your engine can last up to 240-250,000 miles stock.

 

$3900!!! I guess that includes the optional smoke feature. For a 90 GSX, I would walk away from it. A new stock turbo is going to cost around a grand. If it needs engine work ie, warped head or leaking valve stem guides that going to cost too... If you want a project car, there you go but, I wouldn't pay no $3900.

Mike L.

 

How much do you think I should offer them.?

 

I'd offer them $2800, they might laugh, if they do then they have no idea what the car's worth. Is it at a dealer? Go to www.kbb.com pick on private party value, start with yaear, pick car options, ect.., print it out, show them what it's worth.

I purchased a 92 GSX w/ 95,000 miles (from dealer), traded my Talon N/T in on it. It ran fine, changed the oil, it smoked out the whole neighborhood, thick white smoke until it was completely warm. Took car back, got Talon back, got an R/T, now I'm waitin for an Evo. Talon now has 169,000 miles, runs strong.

Good luck on what you decide to do, keep us posted, the car has great potential.