Promised myself I would change this asap when I bought the TS 2 years ago as the car had no service records. lol What's a good make,part number and price for the belt?

Gates do a timing belt kit. Have a look on EBay are usually listed there. Bursons, S/Cheap, Repco and Autobarn can also supply. Dont get just the belt the kit has the seals and also I think the idler pulley.

if your going to do the timing belt, and if you do not know the last time the car has had a service spend the extra bit more and do oil, oil filter, spark plugs, leads, cap, dizzy, thermostat, coolant flush, new fill of coolant, and take off the upper manifold and clean it out with carby cleaner....

car will feel brand new again...

All been done except the dizzy cap and timing belt. lol Some cheap prices on the belt in the US of A but they don't want to ship OS.

Belt is Gates T139 if you care.

update - getting a Goodyear gatorback belt from the US, $33 USD all up, will source other bits I need locally when I find out what I need - I don't mind if the car is off the road for a week or two - that's the beauty of having 3 cars in the family.

Now, to find a cheap belt for the wife's Lancer . . .

Done! T201 for the Lancer, from the same US supplier, all up $80 AUD - not too bad!

Just did mine in the TS V6 last week, Dayco Timing Belt Kit $163.71 made in Japan and Waterpump $102.55 made in USA incl GST from Bursons. Majordad

not bad prices - might need a water pump when I do the v6

My timing belt has arrived! One problem though - it is OLD, like it was manufactured in 2003! Anyone know what the SHELF life is for a timing belt? Gates say their V-belts are ok up to 8 years, if stored properly. Have been caught out before, with old parts - a replacement set of cv boots from the local Mitsu dealer lasted 18 months! Were hard and cracked when I bought them, but trusting the dealer, I put them on. Don't want to put this belt on until I'm convinced it is usable.

well I know you need to change the belt every 5 years or 100K whichever occurs first. I'd be demanding a fresh belt.

There's a big difference between SHELF life (sitting in a box in a warehouse somewhere) and IN SERVICE life (going round and round and round inside an engine) ! EXAMPLE: fireworks may have a storage/shelf life of several years, but in-use life may only be .5 of a second! See the difference? lol

Anyone know the SHELF life of Goodyear Gatorback belts, or timing belts in general?


Never mind - person I bought it from states shelf life is 15 years. I will install it, then stand back when I start it. lol

you'll be safe in the cabin anyway. good luck with it, I probably need to replace mine but its running fine for now

Would not worry to be honest, it has been away from sunlight, heat and oils so should be pretty much as good as new fresh one

One month on . . . . .

Finally got around to pulling it apart.

Comments and questions!

(1) Manual is useless! Says to pull off compressor, not needed. Forgets to mention you need to remove the engine mount and the bracket to the engine. 2 hour job to get the belt off.
Removed front wheel and splashguard for better access. 22 mm socket on an extension bar and pulsed the starter motor to get the bolt off the pulley, as per MadMagna's method. (Lancer manual says if you have a manual gearbox, to put it in fourth and brake on when you want to get this bolt on or off. Should work with a manual gearbox on a Magna too)

Water pump and idler check out ok, so won't be replaced. 240,000 Km on the speedo, must have been replaced at some time.

(2) Questions.
Oil everywhere inside the belt chamber, should be dry. Oil on the back of the belt but not the teeth. Belt is fine (Dayco), looks totally fresh except for the oil, but it will be binned anyway. Where do I get the crank and cam seals from? Part numbers?

Plastic lower shield has grooves cut into it from the pulley, and some cracks, looks like it wasn't put back on properly last time(not by me). Does Mitsu still have them, or shall I glue it up?

With the tensioner, what is the easiest way to get the spring back in place? Piece of wire and pull like mad? lol

I got my crank and cam seals from bursons, cant help on the rest sorry dude.

No worries. I will pull them out and get the local parts shop to match them. Like you, I have a spare car and the rego on the V6 expires tomorrow, so there is no hurry. lol Need to do work on the steering rack and touch up some paint problems, tackled this job first because it is the hardest. Al long as it gets back together properly I don't care how long it takes. lol

$40 for a belt from the USA, say $20 for seals and degreaser - still a cheap job. Another plus for DIY!!

Seals are avail on their own, be careful you do not damage the shafts when you get the old ones out

The spring, put the spring on and then bring it back and the bolt will just go in. If you are not replacing it you are insane as with all the oil everywhere the bearing seals will be kaput and it will sooner or later get real noisy

YOu are correct in replacing the belt as it has been contaminated and is not stuffed

Bearing seals on the tensioner are spotless, the bearing spins smoothly with no play. It looks brand new except for a coating of oil on the outer circumference. Most of the oil has come from the crankshaft and has pooled on the little ledge below the bottom crank pulley, and from there onto the back of the belt. Some dirt has collected there as well, entering through a crack in the bottom cover. I will need a new one of those, along with the seals for the crank and cams, as well as the tool for holding the cams steady when I undo the cam bolts. Got my eye on one on eBay. No rush.

Ahh there is the trick, undo the cam bolts before you take it all apart, there is no "tool" to hold them, the manual specifies to use a shifter on the cam, some of the early ones had a large hex section on the cam, later ones did not

I was hoping to be able to change the cam oil seals by removing the cam sprocket bolt and pulling them out the end, if possible. The tool is to hold the sprocket steady while you undo the bolt. Otherwise I have to pull the rocker covers, which means pulling the air intake manifold off. But if its not possible to leave the rocker covers on, guess I will have to.

Progress report: Yep, won't need the tool, put the old belt back on and undid the bolts on the cam sprockets. The cam seals come out easily once you back off the cam cap bolts, but this requires the rocker covers to come off, which means the upper manifold needs to come off first. Found a few other problems while the manifold is off, cracked and brittle hoses and leaking rear rocker cover, lots of oily gunk in the throttle body and air ducting, so all is good, not wasting my time by doing unnecessary dismantling.
Mitsu dealer does not have a new lower cam belt cover, so I need to repair the old one.
3 seals and a spraycan of degreaser, $20 from local parts shop.
A good time to do the plugs and check high tension leads, while I can get to them. lol

I'm starting to see why a workshop asks about $1k to do the seals and belt.

EDIT: put a WTB in the correct section for lower cam cover.

I have never backed off the cam bolts to do this as you will then need to re seal under the bearing caps

I drill a small hole into the seal, screw in a self tapping seal and pull them out, is a far easier and better way

At lesat you can clean up the other leaks etc now

No worries. Got the new seals in and belt on. Crank seal was leaking, not installed properly last time. Uneven wear marks on the lip of the seal, oil was oozing out over night past the old seal. Hope the new one went in better, not much room in there to check. Belt on and off a few times to get the marks to line up correctly. TuffTR is tracking down a timing cover for me, so its all good, but things are on hold at the moment. Need to get a rattle gun next, or make up a pulley holding tool.

Now that everything is clean and I know where the oil shows up if the bottom seal is leaking, I can keep an eye out for this problem if it happens again, before it ruins the belt. Easy job really, once you have done it and know where to look for problems!

All done! engine flush (Nulon) to shut up the noisy lifters, oil and filter change, sounds like a sowing machine, no leaks, timing cover fixed with silastic and no longer rubbing on the pulley.

Sometimes I amaze myself!

Update: Car's mobile, but I'm not driving the car until I make up the tool to hold the pulley while I tighten that bolt to 150 Nm (currently on about 100 Nm)

Just had another look at the manual. Something for the would be DIYer to be aware of, with the crank seal:

The manual shows a ramped adaptor that goes over the nose of the crank to spread the new seal as it goes into the seat. Without it, the seal can be installed incorrectly, with the sealing surface not seated properly on the crank. It needs to be worked onto the crank by hand, before it is pushed in. The seal has a lip that just sits (barely) on the crank. I pushed the seal in by hand and used a thin feeler gauge and moved the lip onto the crank, then pushed it home, using finger pressure only (with a thin smear of silastic around the outer edge of the seal). The last person who replaced this seal got to this point, then hammered it in, distorting the seal, causing it to leak.

Definitely my last post, I promise . . . . (on this topic anyway)

Tightened the pulley bolt by putting a 22 mm spanner on it and belting the other end with a heavy hammer. Wasn't happy with that, and not wanting to pull the sump off to put a block of wood between the crank and crankcase, I made up a pulley holder from some scrap metal and a couple of bolts. Locked the pulley and put the torque wrench on it. Bolt didn't move at 150 Nm, so I guess the hammer trick works adequately. Just so you know. lol

haha, class.