Three problems related to engine have been reported for the 1996 Mitsubishi Eclipse. The most recently reported issues are listed below.
I have researched this site and deduced that Mitsubishi has produced a defective product in the 1996 Mitsubishi Eclipse defective head gasket and which leads to worn out valve seals . On July 29th 2005 the Mitsubishi corporation sued its previous presidents and former executives for defect and recall cover ups for "64,000 complaints filed by car owners dating back to 1977. " anyone interested in a class action law suit? contact me!!.
My Eclipse has been in and out of the Mitsubishi dealer seven times in a period of three years going into the fourth year for the same problem over and over again being that I would be driving and the car would shut completly down being able not to start back up again and while going over bumps on roads the car would buck and lead to also shutting off, the dealers response was that they could not figure out what the problem was until last year before that time they would asume what the problem was and fix something and then charging me for fixing something that did not even fix the problem. Finally in 2000 they replaced the crank sensor and for awhile the car did not die for awhile until a few months ago when I took my car to a garage where my car died while driving in traffic and they then also replaced the crank sensor and suggested that I check into my head gasket because he had seen many of the Eclipses having the same problem being that the head gasket was cracked.
Prior to expiration of warranty, driver side airbag was determined by dealership that airbag was defective because horn would not work. In January 2001 I had the car in for a head gasket and sked for the horn to be checked again and it was determined once again that the airbag was defective. I saw in the paper that Mitsubishi was recalling calls due to faulty airbags (2/01). I refuse to pay $600 for something that is defective a 2nd time and I feel unsafe driving the car.