Talon TSi AWD

This was my 1990 Eagle Talon, one of the saddest car stories I have. In 5/98, the car just would not start. I took it to two mechanics, only to have it mis-diagnosed both times. The first mechanic told me that it was the fuel injectors. I bought the injectors myself for about $100, and put them in and it didnt start. By this time I had people telling me (on an internet mailing list) that they were pretty sure it was the computer. So, I towed it to the dealership to have them check the computer. They came back and said that the car didnt have any compression and needed the motor rebuilt. That was the most absurd sounding thing. THe car ran great for months, then one day, it just stops. If it were a compression problem, then I'd notice some decrease in performance, right? They insisted it was compression. So, on the advice of Stohlman Mistubishi in Tysons Corner, VA, I replaced my head on the motor, at a cost of nearly $2000. The dealer wanted $1000 for the part, and I could find it cheaper at a machine shop for $800, so I bought it there. That was a bit of a mistake. See, it wasnt the head. When it still didnt start, I asked them if they were sure they checked the computer. In fact, I asked them multiple times through this whole 6 month ordeal. I didnt have any money at the time, and was saving up for these repairs, driving my Mustang at the time. They let the car sit in the lot as I tried to figure out what to do. They told me I'd need to rebuild the bottom end at a cost of $1500. Screw that. I towed my car out of there, pulled the computer, and sent it to CA to be diagnosed. Sure enough, it was bad. They fixed it, sent it back, and it started right up. I couldnt believe it. I drove over to Stohlman to bitch them out. When I got there, I was overheating. I had no choice but to leave the car there. They needed to replace the water pump, the seals had gone bad from sitting too long. That bill was $800, which the manager said they'd give me for free due to their error. It didnt give me back the $2000 I spent on their error, and I didnt have any recourse for getting backthe majority of my money because I bought the head somewhere else. I was screwed royally by an incomptent service department. When my car sat for so long, the synchros dried up as well in the transmisson. I found through my mailing list that if you added friction modifier in to the speedometer gear cable hole in to the transmisson, it would solve the problem. In fact, Mitsubishi Motors of America had sent a Technical Service Bulletin (TSB) to all of the dealerships letting them know that if the synchros got dry and it was hard to shift, that adding the friction modifer was the best solution. So, I called up the dealership and asked to make an appointment to have this $5 bottle of liquid put in to my transmission, which I felt should also be for free. The service manager told me I was crazy. He said I needed my synchros rebuilt at a cost of $800, and that you NEVER put anything in to the transmission other than transmission oil, and that you NEVER put anything in through the speedometer gear cable hole. I told him there was a TSB on it. He assured me that there was no such TSB. I asked him if he had the book, which he did, and told him to read me TSB-92-22-002. As he read, it said "When shifting becomes difficult due to dried synchos, the first course of action should be to add 2 ounces of friction modifier to the transmission through the speedomter gear cable hole.". I told him that as simple as it was, I wouldnt trust him or his staff to put it in, and asked if he could transfer me to the parts department, and I'd do it myself. The scarriest thing is this. THe computer problems with the Talon/Eclipse is common. How many people have Stohlman Mistubishi ripped off with this, I dont know. If I didnt know about the TSB, would I have been a further $800 in the hole because they're rip off artists? I feel sorry for those people that just don't know any better, and dont have access to the resources I did.

Here are the specifics on the car:

Exterior Pictures

Interior Pictures

The stereo that is in the car.

Subwoofer Pictures

These are the pictures of the subwoofer install. What I had done (due to the extreme lack of space in the rear of the AWD's),is I flipped the spare tire over, found a bolt that matched the pattern of the one that held the tire down (except longer) and bolted the tire through one of the holes in the outside edge of the rim (see yellow circle). This pushed the tire to the far right side of the hatch, with the right side of the tire resting on the fiber-board floor, and the left side resting on the 'hump' in the center. Then I removed the fiber-board floor on the left side of the hatch and the metal rails that it sat on. That gave me enough room to put a rather sizeable 10" sub box, while keeping the spare tire.

I also devised a set up where there is a chain that is wrapped around a metal bar behind the plastic panels in the hatch. This is then padlocked to a link of chain attached to the metal in the actual hatch lid. This forms a metal-to-chain-to-padlock-to-chain-to-metal lockdown set up in my hatch. Combined with the fact that the subwoofer is bolted securley to the floor in multiple places, but mostly in the back, makes it IMPOSSIBLE to remove with out the padlock. This may seem extreme, but after having 2 stereos stolen, this has worked out VERY well.

trying to remember exactly how I did that set up with the chain.

1. get a bit of chain about 1.5 feet long (look at the pic).
2. get 2 clampable links. they'll look like the letter C with a bit that slides up and down and is threaded and when closed then looks like an O.
3. remove the inside passenger-side tail-light panel.
4. wrap the end of the chain around the metal bar inside that panel opening, and secure the chain to itself using a C link. or you can use a padlock (more secure yet)
5. remove the plastic trim on the hatchback. on the passenger side, there should be somewhere to attach the other C link, provided you got one big enough. or you may have to drill a hole, I dont recall. plan on drilling.
6. attach the C link to the hatch. you can re-attach the plastic trim piece if you make a hole for the C link to come through.
7. when you shut the hatch, you now have to climb through the back seats and reach in and lock the chain to the upper C link.
8. you will want to wrap all the chain and the padlock in electrical tape, or the rattling chain will be noisy.