new engine?
 

How would I tell if an engine in a mitsubishi eclipse is the original engine with the car? My girlfriend's eclipse has 140,000 miles but the car runs extremely well, esp. considering it was riced out when she bought it. (you would think the previous owner beat on it.) The engine has hand writing on it in yellow marker, a code like they use at junkyards to keep track of parts. How do i figure out if it came in the car originally?

Find the serial code stamped on it, and match it with the one the car should have?

where would they be located at?

:google:

Id bet its the origional engine, you may be thrown off thinking 140k is a lot of miles on an engine by going by american car standards. On a mitsubishi that engine will be broken in, in another 20-30k

Yea i was going to say the same thing...Jap motors run forever when taken care of.

And even well taken care American cars fall to **** at 100k :rollseye:

I used to have a 98 m5 eclipse and it was at 145k and drove beautiful, original eng and trans, OEN replacement clutch and the car was beautiful. jap cars are just getting broken in anything below 130k hah.

+1...my bros '91 accord beater has 290,000 miles on it, and my '96 civic has 116,000k and still runs well. it could very well be the original motor but that wont explain the paint marker on it..

Couldnt agree more. American cars have gotten better, Jap motors have always been good. My daily driver 2003 chevy tracker has 107k on it an besides a new breaks ive yet to have a problem..I take care of it and like to think im easy on my cars also :nod:

my 93 z had 160k on it and ran strong as anything. catback exhaust and cai with street tires ran a 13.8 in the quarter with a 2.00 60 ft time

Gotta disagree with that one. My brother has killed 2 Hondas now and is on his 3rd. And he takes it to have the maintenance done so it's not because he ignores them. Owners of American built cars think they can drive them without doing basic maintenance and that's why they break down. If you do the maintenance to any vehicle it will last longer than anticipates most of the time no matter who built it. But I've had several Toyota trucks with rebuilt engines so that shows they did not last for whatever reason.

Theres exceptions to every rule. Now that I think of it my tracker has a Mazda engine I believe . Yea im talking like 1980's dodge and fords, made like complete garbage. Didnt the big 3(or one of them)even admit infront of congress that they build cheap cars recently?

I always thought that it was like this:

American cars used to be big with tons of power but not as reliable with poorer fuel mileage (aggregated).

Asian cars used to get great fuel mileage and were very reliable but were small and weakly powered.

Nowadays they are both converging in the middle.

IMO American and Japanese cars can last...it all comes down to regular maintenance, driving habits, and luck. I have seen every exception to the rule. I know of an 86 dodge pickup with the 360 v8 with over 250,000 miles on it on the original engine and transmission. Still runs good too. My truck has 152,000 miles, and it still runs good (original engine and transmission). Are they perfect? No. I have also seen imports that have lasted long, and also imports that havent lasted long. To generalize and say that american OR imports can't last or run forever isn't a fair asumption, because there is always an exception.

Hey my 95 cavy has 153k on it and counting :nod:

Jen's Cavalier has 285k? Melissa's Red Jeep had about the same I think.

a friend of mine has a 94 3.4 v6 that has like 375k or something like that... i drove it and it drives pretty normal...

he may be a member on here... i just dont think he posts or comes on much at all