Firstly I'm new here as I just got my car 30 mins ago. It's my first car. I am very excited. Also I'm from South Africa, am a student here in the US, love the country, not so much the weather.

I just got home with my new 1997 eclipse. I picked this one up for $600. I drove it 45 miles home, it drives pretty good, has a little bit of vibration at low revs. I dove it on the highway too and it got up to 70 no problems considering the engine damage.

The good:
Clutch and trans seem good.
The body and interior are in very good condition considering age ect.
Brand new Masercraft (never heard of it) tyres.
Alpine radio

The bad:
The motor has apparently lost compression in one cylinder. The previous owner took the car in when the check engine light came on(it's still on), the mechanic told him he'd lost compression in one of the cylinders.

I need advice on two things here please; firstly what could be the possible causes for the compression loss and how could I diagnose this. Secondly what should I do as far as maintenance on the car right away. Like just an oil change? full service? take it to autozone? ect?

Also can someone tell me how to make my pics smaller. I can only post 1mb but each pic is about 1mb thanks

 

Also I've been searching everywhere and I cant find threads telling you how to test things like oil pres, ect. If anyone can post links to threads like that I would really appreciate it.

Also I ran the check engine light diagnostics and they came out 12, 31, 43, 43. Why would 43 come up twice. 43 is missing on one or more of the cylinders.

I want to do a compression test myself but I don't have the tools here.

 

thats a steal for 600 bucks,how many miles,you can get the same motor for less at a junkyard,the car looks to be in great condition

 

i say get a used motor(no more than 500 bucks:420a)i assume from the pics.and then change tranny fluid,radiator flush,engine,oil,air filter,fuel filter,spark plugs,ignition wires.thats just what i would do

 

Thanks Gstfat. The car has 149 xxx miles on it. And I was thinking about just swapping that engine out. First I'll try see what's wrong with and then I'll make a decision.

I loaded up some more pics on this site

http://www.flickr.com/photos/34224954@N06/

I hope it works.

 

I just ran up to autozone to get the pcm codes. Results were:
[align=left]p0443 EVAP solenoid circuit
p0300 Multiple cylinder misfire
p0303 cylinder 3 misfire
p0304 cylinder 4 misfire

I still haven't had a chance to check the compression. Hopefully I can make it out to my buddies place tonight, he's got a test kit.
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yeah i say swap it,and that car is in great condition

 

Thanks I appreciate it

 

Just change the spark plugs and the spark plug wires, that should be it!

 

Did you read the first post he had low compression in one cylinder so I dont think plugs and wires will fix that lol.