Maintained regular oil changes and was notified that I had an oil leak in my engine. I saved enough money to have the head gasket replaced to fix the oil leak. The head gasket was replaced (new) in March of 2000. 4 months later my car started to smoke from the exhaust when standing still in traffic. I contacted the dealership about the problem because I thought that this was due to the work that they did. I was then informed that I need my value guides replaced. I was going to have this work done until I was informed that in order to replace the value guides in the engine, I must purchase another new head gasket. I asked why this was not inspected at the time that the head gasket was replaced. My answer was that I did not ask them to check the value guides. If this would of been corrected at this time, I would not be spending tons of money on oil for my vehicle. Since 2000, I check the oil in my car every other day and add oil to the engine. This has been a major problem for me. I do not have another $1000 plus to fix this. I've spoke with other friends and people who own the same type of vehicle and they as well have problems with their leaking head gasket and value guides, making the car smoke.

- Hummelstown, PA, USA

On January 14 I took my car to punte hills Mitsubishi for a recall on the lower control arms. Since I was there I asked them to inspect my car for anything that needed to be replaced. At this point they recommended the timing and balancer belts, tensioners, left tie rod, and a broken air valve which I did at a cost of $736.52. Upon receiving my car I heard a chirping noise coming from the engine which they told me was the timing belt was new and needed to be broken in, which I took their word for. Within the following month the chirping became louder and louder to the point I called and requested they look at it again. On the way to the dealer my car just stopped in the middle of the street almost causing an accident. After lifting the hood I noticed the timing belt cover split open on the top revealing the timing belt was not on properly. After towing my car to the dealer a quick inspection concluded that my crank pulley has "walked" into the timing belt cover burning a hole through it causing the disassembling of the timing unit and major damage to the heads, pistons, etc...I asked the mechanic why when I brought my car in just a little more than a month ago they didn't let me know my crank pulley had such significant wear. His response was that there is no way to tell a crank pulley is going bad. I did research of my own and found out this is happening to most eclilpse, all years and that there is a way to tell if the crank pulley is going bad by measuring the amount of movement side to side making sure it meet the manufacturer requirements. Obviously the crank pulley had very significant wear seeing that the pulley came apart. I did research on this matter and found out Mitsubishi knows these parts are defected but covers most of them under warranty so it brings down the numbers. I feel the repairs should be covered and would like to open and investigation on "crankpulley/shaft walking" hopefully leading to a recall. Thank you.

- La Habra, CA, USA