1994 Eclipse Oil Problem

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I am looking at buying a 1994 Eclipse 1.8 as a 3rd car to replace my 93 Mazda. This car has 150,000 miles on it and the owner had an oil change on 11/21/2006 and the oil is already very very dark and a quart low, is this indicating the car has a problem? It looks like there is some seepage of oil on the valve cover gasket, the engine itself runs strong and smokes a little. I had a 1989 Cadillac Eldorado 4.6 and I put a bottle of stop smoke in the oil and never had another problem. What are your thoughts about this Eclipse? Do a Auto Rx treatment and go from there or just stay away all together, the selling price of the car is $400.
 
Makes me wonder if there's alot of sludge in the oil pan. Four hundred bucks ain't bad. Is there proof of the oil change?
 
My 626 has 245,000 miles on it and the auto trans is no longer shifting into OD. Its in rough shape and very tired, im donating it to a local High School for their auto classes. This 94 Eclipse is pretty rough outside, the interior is like new, the inside will clean up great but these motor issues kind of bother me. There is an invoice in the glove box that the owner showed me, the oil was almost black, so there has to be some sludge. I dont understand how it can be a quart low already, if I get it im going to put in some stop smoke and see what happens. Also, whenever the AC gets turned on in the Eclipse there is some serious belt screeching going on and appears some smoke but not sure if the smoke is coming from the AC unit or just the car.
 
Im not worried about the A/C working, its mainly going to be a winter car, I am going to need to use the front defrost and when its on it engages the a/c, how can I disengage the compressor so that I can still use the defrost? Can I pick up Auto Rx at any AAP or Autozone? I have heard alot about it on here. I am comcerned since the paint is torched on the hood and roof and there is rust on the rear PS qtr panel but for 400, ill run it hard and have fun.
 
Should I be concerned w/ the oil seepage on the valve cover gasket? I looked over the engine very well this evening with the vehicle owher, after sitting a week, 1 quarter size drop of oil and no coolant leaks were under the car.
 
You can go to the site sponser. Auto-Rx sponser's this site. It's a high quality product. If the seepage conserns you replace it after you run a double Rx clean/rinse, clean rinse. You will be quite surprized when you look in there.
 
My car leaked from the valve cover gasket. $20 and an hour is all it takes to get it fixed. I wouldn't bother with auto rx, from what I've heard it takes some time and at least a hundred bucks.

I would replace the valve cover gasket, and just change the oil every 3k miles with a cheap one. No sense in putting money into a $400 car you wont keep more than a year.
 
To disengage the A/C you can take off the belt for the A/C compressor; but only if the belt turns the A/C compressor and nothing else. Also I think these engines had problems with valve seals so that might be why its smoking.
 
Lol, please read on topics before posting on them. $100 would get you 4-5 bottles of arx. Two complete apps only requires two bottles.

As for the eclipse, those early 1.8 4G37 engines were tired brand new. They were dogs rated at 92 hp. The n/a 4G63 is the one to get if you don't go turbo. It had a respectable for the time 135 hp. But hey, with a 16 gal fuel tank you can cruise quite a way.....

Don't automatically think sludge with these cars. I don't know if the little 1.8 was as bad, but the 2.0 had probs with consumption....
 
For disconnecting the AC, if you were unable to remove the belt which may free-up a miniscule amount of power, you could disconnect the energizing wire that leads to the electric clutch - from what I've seen it's just one wire as the compressors case is grounded with mounting to the block. For the clutch/compressor to enguage this wire will supply +V. Cap the wire and secure it away from getting entangled in anything, then retest.

I have no experience with this vehicle, so good luck in any case.

Happy holidays!
 
I talked to my Mechanic about it and he advised to disconnect the energizing lead to the compressor - he said if this car lasts 6 months im lucky, I figure for $400 how can I go wrong? Ill do 2 auto rx treatments on it and put a good high mileage 10w30 or 10w40 and see how she goes.
 
carguy996 ..don't worry about consumption as long as it's not major leaks or fouling plugs and causing drivability problems. As long as you can reasonably keep the adds to the point where you can rely on getting oil in there often enough to avoid running out ..no biggie. @$400 ..and assuming that it's otherwise sound ..what's the beef about consumption
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No one likes consumption ..but it's hardly a death blow to any engine.
 
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