Hello all,

I have a 1995 Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX with 87,000 miles on it. The car is in mint condition. I take great care of my car and I would like to keep it as long as I can.
My dealer alway tells me when I bring my car in... I have never seen a 95 GSX in this great condition. :)
Last night my clutch started to go out on me. :(

I had my clutch replaced about 2yrs ago at my Mitsu dealer. My car was driving fine until last night driving home from work (very cold day 10° F)
I was able to make it to the Mitsubishi dealer - Max Madsen in Downers Grove, IL.
I have been happy with the mechanics there, the dealer is always more expensive but I feel they do good work. I don't know of a private repair shop in my area with a mechanic that I could trust to work on imports (my Eclipse), but it would be nice to know if anyone has a contact.

Ok.. the mechanic at the dealer called me this morning and said they are going to replace the master clutch cylinder and slave cylinder for $546. He told me that hydraulic fluid was leaking. I told him to go ahead and do it.
First question:
Is the master clutch cylinder replaced when you get a whole new clutch?
I don't believe this part of the repair, just checking.

In the past, the mechanics mentioned crankwalk may one day be a problem for me and to keep an eye on it. I asked the mechanic this morning to check the crankwalk and he feels at this point it's probably just the master/slave cylinder. But he wont know of course until he repairs the cylinder issue.

Second question:
What are the odds that I have crankwalk problems on my Eclipse?
The car has 87,000 miles on it. I would like to keep it for a couple years or as long as I can, I do love this car.

Third question:
How many miles do you think I can get out of my car... 100,000 or more?

Fourth question:
If the mechanics do find crankwalk, is it worth repairing?
How much would it cost to repair, $5,000?

Sorry for the long post, any advice is greatly appreciated.

Thank you,
Steve

(IMG:http://www.stevemilker.com/eclipse/eclipse06.jpg)

its a 50/50 chance of the crankwalk happening for the clutch cylinder i replaced my clutch awhile back but never replaced the cilynder. 2 years later it went bad guess on his own i own a n/a car with the 420a and i bought the clutch cilynder from a turbo one its the same one.your car will go for awhile if you take care of it right sound like you are.some on here are over 100k even past 130k mine is over 115k not the same engine but you get the point.if crankwalk does happen not sure how much it will cost but you still have 50/50 of happening again.you may be in the clear by that milage i think dont quote me on that though.

Thanks for the response silvreclipse, good to know.

I got my car back last night and the clutch seems to be working fine now. The dealer replaced the master and slave cylinders for $528.00. As long as this car holds out for a couple years I will be a very happy man.

you wont have to replace your master cylinder with the clutch itself. if your clutch is going its slipping. if your master cylinders going its your clutch pedels sticking to the floor....

however they might be going at the same time just depends on how good of shape their in.

2nd Question: You can't really check for crankwalk. When it happen, it happen. To check you must be driving when coming to a left or right hand turn your clutch pedal will fall to the floor. or if you can you can pull/push on the crank itself for play.

3rd question: I believe your pretty much safe from crankwalk syndrome. since you pass the 80k mark. most happen before or little after. if you can make it to 100k miles then you are really safe from it.

4th question: There are 3 options that can fix it:
-Option 1, rebuild your engine and cross your fingers then crankwallk will not happen again.
-Option 2, get a new short block. which pretty much lean to option 1.
-Option 3, Get a earlier 6 bolt or 7 bolt engine. from the earlier eclipse/talon/laser cars.

There is a theory out there for the reason for crankwalk. And that is after 1994 the 4G63 was build in American. Vs. early 7bolt 4g63 that was made in japan. early 7 bolt is unheard of crankwalk and so for the 6 bolts

6 and 7 bolts meaning the bolts that the flywheel meets the crankshaft.

My 93 got crank walk, it can happen on any car. Some are just more prone to it then others. When you replace a clutch in a car, no you dont have to replace the slave cylinder or the master cylinder. The only time you replace them is when they go out, hence your clutch problems.

As long as you take care of your 7 bolt and dont constantly reem it, you wont have to worry about crank walk. There is a way to measure and check crank walk. Pushing and pulling on the harmonic balancer should show you some play but to accually know how much you have you have to measure it with a run-out guage. The theory about crank walk is when the thrust washers on the main journal in the very center of the crank wear out, your crank walks back and forth. Which is preventable, hence Preventive Maintenance.

If youd happen to get crank walk, and you decide you would like to keep the car, find a 90 model turbo block and get it rebuilt to oem quality (or do a little boring, or another piston combo) and keep you 7-bolt head. In the 1g's this is very comon to see a 6-bolt block wth a 2g 7-bolt head. If you keep oem specs and use the oem head bolts no modification is needed. If you decide you would like to get head studs installed then they would have to mill out the holes in the head for a better fit.

But, as lond as you keep up with ALL maintenance on the car you shouldn't have any problems from your motor. Some last to almost 200k before they show serious signs on crank walk.

Just my 2 cents..

its more common to have a 7 bolt block with a 6 bolt big port head. a problem from switching heads is the head bolt will not fit one or another has to be enlarge or made smaller.

Its true that crank walk CAN happen to any engines more so then others.