Greetings all

I've been a member a while, a lurker even longer but I've not needed to post before now so excuse any signs of "noob syndrome" that may become apparent ;)

Dad bought himself a TW Solara new in 2005 as his once in a lifetime new car purchase. Well, he handed in his licence a few months ago due to health issues and his "pride and joy" has made its way to me.

It's now travelled just short of 86 000 km and is what you'd expect the final car of a disabled war service pensioner to be.

I won't use the word immaculate but it's very nice indeed having had every dealer service (and all the miriad items they invariably hit him up at each service for needed or not lol) done at well before the km indicated due date without question.

Always stored under cover, driven like creeping Jesus, new set of Pirelli's the whole shooting match .. If you touched a few shopping centre paint wounds it'd pass as new inside and out and you could perform sugery hygenically under the hood.

It's so nice that I've decided to keep it despite a lifetime membership of the " Inline 6cyl RWD club". Being a disabled pensioner myself DIY is not an option so I just paid a depressing 4 figure amount to have the 90 000km service done and since somehow the front plug seals started leaking during the service I had them do the front and rear tappet cover and plug seal gaskets and rear plugs as well etc since the covers were off anyway.

So .. to the point I guess. The local Mitsubishi dealership where the car was purchased and all service has been performed started putting the screws on Dad at around 60000Km for the belt to be done. He asked what I thought, I know the prevailing school of thought here but I still suggested to him considering the comprehensive service life and his driving style it could be justified to wait a while and he left it be. (If I had of know I was getting it I would have insisted on the urgent necessity of having it done there and then :P )

I'll be doing a few more km than Dad and roaming a little further from home so I'm going to have the belt done in the next couple of weeks and see if I can keep the service standard and condition up for another 9 years ;o)

I've done the requested forum thing and read and searched comprehensively, taking into account it had the 90000km service ++++ done 300km ago the list of suggested actions I have gathered as wise is as below :-

Change timing belt
Change hydraulic tensioner
Change tensioner pulley
Change idler pulley
Change cam and crankshaft seals
Change water pump

Did I miss anything? "I'm a technician not a mechanic damn it Jim" so advice from the mechanically minded is welcome.

The usual offender errr DEALER!! just quoted me $2014 for the above btw. I've had a quote from UltraTune for around $1125 .. that's quite a difference. Mitsubishi claim the price differential is due to Ultratune not using genuine parts .... I'm at a bit of a loss. It's it worth twice the price to have Mitsubishi do the job? I'd like to keep the unbroken service history at the orignal dealer in tact but an extra $1000 is highly significant to my household budget.

Sorry for the short story but I've actually agonised over keeping the car and outlaying this sort of money. After a life time of Falcons it all seems very complicated and requiring of a intensive level of maintenance to keep the Magna in top spec but I was hoping (before that Dealer quote) that as I knew the car's history it would be worth it in the long run. I also had this apparently silly notion that it may be less expensive than I feared. LOL


Thanks in advance

Regards
Decado

I would only change timing belt. At the Kms the car has covered, changing the timing belt is sensible insurance since the car is nine years old.

I have a 2005 Verada AWD with 98,000 Kms and a 1999 TH with 450,000 Kms on the clock.

I had the timing belt done on the Verada 2 years ago at 90,000 Kms (yes it doesn't get driven much). At the same time the plugs were replaced.

As for the Magna, I bought it in 2005 with around 250,000 on the clock. At 340,000 I had the timing belt replaced. Late last year, I had the timing belt replaced again at 440,000 Kms. I have not replaced any other items that you list.

Only issues with the Magna over 9 years:

Leaking rocker covers - replaced twice.
ABS failure - fixed by Mal at MitsFix for a very good price.
Heater core replaced by Mal.
A major service in Melbourne 18 months ago for $1400 which was plugs, filters, new brake pads, front wheel bearing.

I change the oil regularly and the transmission just had a flush.

My Magna has been cheaperto run then my earlier EB Falcon which died at 450,000 with a broken crankshaft. The Falcon also went through 3 head gaskets in its lifetime.


Don't buy the preventive maintenance on major cost items. You will be wasting money.

That Ultratune quote doesn't seem too bad.
Are you going to replace plugs?

Parts are A LOT cheaper imported from the USA, I normally go with >http://www.rockauto.com/<
Look for the 2004 Diamante, 3.5 SOHC it's your car built at Tonsley Park exported to the USA.

Hi Guys

Thanks for the replies.

@waynevb14 I hear what you are saying regarding unneeded maintenance. In this case (unusually) I have the spare cash available right now to do it all if I can get a reasonable price where as I may not have it available at a later time if problems arise. Also I intend to drive the car for a number of years yet so it may be in my interests ... I'll keep my options open.

@prowler I thought that the Ultratune quote is not bad as well, that's assuming the parts they use are not greatly inferior to the genuine ones I suppose. I understand they have a decent warrenty. In answer to your question, When I had the 90000 service done and did the front plugs the plugs seals started to leak before I even drove away. I have no idea why as it was dry before I had it done, *shrugs* in any event I took it back next day and had both tappet cover seals and all the spark plug seals done. If one bank is leaking the other can't be far away right? As both Tappet covers were off along with the throttle body / valley cover I had them do the rear plugs as well.

Regards
Dec

I wouldn't be too worried with trying to get "genuine" Mitsubishi parts.

Mitsubishi don't have a transmission fluid factory, brake pad factory, engine oil factory etc.

For example, if I recall correctly, BP / Castrol make the "genuine" Mitsubishi transmission fluid. I have a container of the stuff in my garage and although it is branded with the 3 point diamond, it even says "Manufactured for Mitsubishi" on the container.

A whole host of other Japanese car maker "genuine" parts are made by, or are interchangeable with, Denso, Gates, AC Delco, Aisen, Dayco etc.

In fact, I was just at my Mitsubishi dealer the other week and what do I see in the parts section? A whole heap of AC Delco parts sitting on the shelves!

If you want to do the major service economically, order all your parts from Rockauto.com, take them to a trusted mechanic and get them to do the major service for you.

Excellent point from magna carta. It's no different to manufacturers saying that your new whatever must be dealer serviced to maintain your warranty. What a load of old s--t!

The only time I use genuine parts is if I absolutely, positively can't get them non genuine, or if the customer specifies them (which is very rare) I haven't checked rockauto's prices but I recently did the works on my TJ (belt, idlers, seals, pump etc) I purchased the job lot off ultra cheap auto parts on eBay for $269.00 with free delivery.

That's cheaper than I can get them locally as a trade customer. Not no name parts either. GMB water pump, japanese idler bearings and a Gates timing belt. Good quality and well known names.

Just rang repco to get a quote for engine mounts $181, $220 and $167 = $568 ..... at rockauto $27, $43 and $50 ...... ordering them and a few other bits with $115 for freight = $235 ..... huge difference!

Were these engine mounts from Rock Auto new or reco'd - That's awful cheap.

Were these engine mounts from Rock Auto new or reco'd - That's awful cheap.

New. Keep in mind however, that aftermarket mounts are known to be not as durable as the genuine Mitsubishi mounts - the drivers side one especially. I've seen and heard some horror stories with aftermarket mounts (Kelpro ones, if I'm not mistaken) not only splitting rubbers but snapping the metal casing for the rubber inserts.
I'd sooner pay the extra, for the genuine driver's mount if anything, rather than do a job twice.

Nothing said about reco'd or being new so I assume they are new.

Thanks for the replies all and my apologies for abandoning the thread for a bit. Small matter of a failing hard drive got in the way.

@ Magna Carta (I loled at the username btw) fully agreed on the comments re genuine parts vs after market. I am aware that only a percentage of parts are made by Mits themselves and I'm not hung up over having to have genuine other than where I have read elsewhere in these forums that the non genuine parts are substandard.

The example that really springs to the fore it the tensioners and idler wheels as there appears to be a fair few instances reported of after market examples of those failing very early indeed.

Mitsubishi contacted me with a reduced quote of $1700 due to our long custom. I did get a quote from a very highly regarded local mechanic (Paul Geary at Slacks Creek, Logan City) and he infact told me stright out that the belt itself was only manufactured by two different companies neither of them being Mitsubishi which gels with what I have read here on the forums and gives me some confidence of his Mitsubishi creds at the same time.

His quote using genuine parts was $1400 which I think is quite reasonable and so I've booked it in although he can't fit the job in for a couple of weeks yet. I hear he's worth the wait. The Mrs' Father has been using him for around 30 years.

Thanks again.

Dec

Guys, as covered many times in the past, many of the "genuine" parts are not made by Mitsubishi. Take the Timing Belt Kit, Belt is Dayco, pulleys are Koyo and the seals are NOK, same as most kits.

OP states he paid over 2k for a 90k service and if this did NOT have the timing belt done then WTF was with that.

At this mileage all you need to do is belt, seals and pulleys, no need to do the tensioner if it is not making start up noise, the total job should not cost you more than $750 at best