Consumer Complaint Detail
MITSUBISHI / ECLIPSE / 1997
0 Injured
0 Death
No Fire
| Components - Details | |
|---|---|
| NHTSA Complaint Number: 006069187 | Incident Date: Jun, 22 2006 |
| Consumer's City: WEST GREENWICH | Consumer's State: RI |
| Vehicle Transmission Type: AUTO | Manufacturers Name: Mitsubishi Motors North America, Inc. |
| Model Name: ECLIPSE | Model Year: 1997 |
| Vehicle Involved in a Crash: No | Component's Description: Engine and engine cooling |
| Vehicle Involved in a Fire: No | Persons Injured: 0 |
| Vehicle's VIN#: 4A3AK54FXVE | Date added to File: May, 23 2021 |
| Date Complaint Received: Jun, 22 2006 | Complaint Type: IVOQ |
| Incident Reported To Police: No | Purchase Date: Sep, 07 2002 |
| Was Original Owner: No | Anti-lock Brakes: Yes |
| Number of Cylinders: 4 | Date of Manufacturer: - |
| Was Vehicle Towed: - | Description of the Complaints: Squealing belts at startup, inconsistent small leaks of coolant, hesitation at 2k rpm were only pre-cursors. out of nowhere, while driving on highway, i looked at gauges for no particular reason....noticed the temperature was rising, eventually going as far as it could above h. so i look for smoke in rear view....nothing. i turn down the radio to listen for noises......nothing. everything seems fine. hoping that air through the radiator would cool the engine......not working. i decided i better pull over.....the second i safely stopped, huge puffs of white smoke billowed out the hood edges. i jumped out, opened the hood......huge clouds of smoke and smell of burning rubber, i thought the car was on fire. once the smoke settled, oil could be seen splattered all over the engine. tow truck comes and while putting on flatbed.....oil drained out like a water faucet. found out later from the dealer that oil line burst, causing the head gaskets to blow and most likely damaged totaled the engine. new engine quoted at $5000, used 71,000 mile engine in some salvage yard in alabama quoted at $2-3000. nice chunk of money and the engine still needs to be shipped and installed. what a deal? i actually spoke highly about mitsubishi's in the past, but now i'm having second thoughts. too bad mitsubishi company has such a bad history of failures, recalls, and poor repair service. i was actually thinking of buying a 2006 eclipse........not any more. i'll miss my 97 eclipse......it was pretty good to me, but this recent event with no warning, did me in and it is just wrong that i have read similar incidents on the internet and mitsubishi does nothing. time for an american car...............too bad we don't have the sense to make oil and gas-free vehicles though.......the technology is there. oh well......i guess i better start figuring out how i am going to get to work on monday. *jb |