Hi everyone, I just bought a 1991 stock eclispe, it's a nice car but needs work starting with a clattering noise from the engine when I hit the gas....if I ease up on the gas the noise goes away......any ideas please??

Maybe a bad motor mount. Or it could be that the engine is misfiring, do you notice any performance loss?

yes there is a loss of performance (jumpy) after shifting gears, I've also noticed ilregular idling speed, engines got 171,000 plus miles on it, it's been sitting a couple of years before I got it...maybe it's just old gas, tank was 3/4 full when I got it and I've only put around 40 miles on it (drive to work car)

it might just be lifter tick + an old tank of gas

Also... check the condition of the plugs and wires. That oculd be the cause of the loss fo perfoprmance and shuddering.

If the car sat that long I would change plugs and wires, change oil and maybe switch to synthetic or blend to free up a sticky lifter, replace old gas with new and run a tank of higher octane through it with some cleaner...could the rattling be valves since the engine has high miles?

well you should never switch to a blend after you are running synthetic

I know....just saying if he is running a conventional oil right now then he could switch to blend from that

he should go strait to synthetic

I did that...but I was asking some of the service guys here at my dealership before I did that and they said it is actually better to go from conventional oil to a blend and then to fully synthetic...nothing bad has happened to mine yet though and nor will it either

wanted to thank everyone for the great advice...found out today that the distributor had been replaced and not really driven since, so maybe it is a timing issue....still need to replace wires and plugs and get oil changed ASAP....also have a repair manual ( Chilton ) ordered....thanks again