hey guys

my car just have done the 165k service at mitsu dealer 2 days ago and was told the timing belt is due for replacement. I was shock because I bought my car with full service history, got the stamps on every log book service (ie. 90k and 105k) so I thought I didnt need to worry about the timing belt issue until the next 100k. I've read through all the service reports again(provided by the previous owner), especially the 90k and 105k service, I couldn't find any description stated about the timing belt changed. The only keyword is "Inspected" all belt but not about changing the timing belt (my bad, I didn't read it very detail at that time, I assume it has major service done because I bought it when it had 140k on the clock).

anyway, I got a quoted from Mitsu dealer to get the timing belt change for $450 and it is only included the belt itself and the labour. I feel weird because the timing belt come as a kit (Cam seals, cam pulley etc) right? How come they only change the belt for me? Does $450 sound should include the whole kit fitted? Is it necessary to change the whole kit (cam seal, tensionor etc) when doing the timing belt or its ok just do the belt itself??

I know, too many questions sorry mate!
I just want to make sure that they dont ripped me off. I dont want to pay more but getting the less job done!

thanks in advance!
Kelvin

They only change the belt because they are lazy ****'s

how about you ask them how much for labour, and you go buy the belt, tensioner, and water pump (do that while it's alllllllllll apart dude)

or get some quotes from other mechanics while your at it.

Nothing to do with being lazy at all, it is the service proceedure stated by Mits that at 100k only the belt gets changed.

If you bring your own parts, most places will refuse to fit them, same as myself as there may be quality issues, may also be issues with wrong parts that then ends up taking even more time

Water pump is personal choice, in general the pump is good for over 200k however given you are now in the 160's by the time the next belt gets done you would be pushing the limits of the water pump

The Mits sevice is not a kit as such, it is only a belt, they do not do a full kit as such and sell the parts individually.

Perhaps as you are in SA speak to SKR to see if he does belts or knows of an ex mits Mechanic now in business who does a good job or alternate option is come for a trip over like many do and get it all done here

165,000 Km without a belt change? Pushing it a bit if its the original. The belts I buy come with stickers, I write the month/year and Km on the speedo on it, then stick them on the belt cover. Avoids guess work for me, or the owner of the car if I sell it in the meantime. Used to do the same with oil and filter changes too, but ran out of stickers. lol

Good habit to get into, even for the Mitsu monkeys. Log books get lost, or the car may end up at the wreckers and someone may be interested in the engine. Avoids needless belt swaps.

$450 is a bargain imo, i had about 3 places quote me ~$900 for timing belt... bargain or im getting epically ripped off...

looks like either your log book was forged, so its still the original belt, or perhaps the new belt is showing signs of wear, cuz it sounds a bit sus that Mitsubishi wants to put a belt in at 160,000. get into the habit of asking questions, ask Mitsubishi why they want to change a belt when it is not due, and see what they say, when others work on my car, i don't trust anyone, i work on my car myself, and for the occasional thing that i cant do, I ask the how, what and why's

Nothing to do with being lazy at all, it is the service proceedure stated by Mits that at 100k only the belt gets changed.

If you bring your own parts, most places will refuse to fit them, same as myself as there may be quality issues, may also be issues with wrong parts that then ends up taking even more time

Water pump is personal choice, in general the pump is good for over 200k however given you are now in the 160's by the time the next belt gets done you would be pushing the limits of the water pump

The Mits sevice is not a kit as such, it is only a belt, they do not do a full kit as such and sell the parts individually.

Perhaps as you are in SA speak to SKR to see if he does belts or knows of an ex mits Mechanic now in business who does a good job or alternate option is come for a trip over like many do and get it all done here
I asked the mitsu parts office. They said the timing belt kit is $178
I heard somebody else on the forum said they used dayco. If i could find a mechanic to do the job for me, should I use the genuine mitsu one or aftermarket such as dayco one?
functionally they are the same, what is other difference? and how much is the dayco kit?

It is a good suggestion but it is a long way to drive down to your place Mal, I dont want to break it in the middle of nowhere.:noway:


165,000 Km without a belt change? Pushing it a bit if its the original. The belts I buy come with stickers, I write the month/year and Km on the speedo on it, then stick them on the belt cover. Avoids guess work for me, or the owner of the car if I sell it in the meantime. Used to do the same with oil and filter changes too, but ran out of stickers. lol

Good habit to get into, even for the Mitsu monkeys. Log books get lost, or the car may end up at the wreckers and someone may be interested in the engine. Avoids needless belt swaps.
yea...if it is still the original belt, it is over due 65k now...
I definitely will stick a big label and saying timing belt changed on XXXkm so that I can prove that to the next owner when I sell it one day!:happy:


looks like either your log book was forged, so its still the original belt, or perhaps the new belt is showing signs of wear, cuz it sounds a bit sus that Mitsubishi wants to put a belt in at 160,000. get into the habit of asking questions, ask Mitsubishi why they want to change a belt when it is not due, and see what they say, when others work on my car, i don't trust anyone, i work on my car myself, and for the occasional thing that i cant do, I ask the how, what and why's

they told me the belt has worn out and need to be replaced asap. They said about $450 supply and installed. I asked them if need to change the water pump as well and then they said no.
I worry they would ring me up when doing the belt changing and say water pump and blah blah blah need to be replaced too...as Im lack of cash...i cant afford a big expense atm.:cry:


$450 is a bargain imo, i had about 3 places quote me ~$900 for timing belt... bargain or im getting epically ripped off...

I called the service department and asked what does the $450 include. They told me that include the belt + labour only.
so does your $900 quoted include more than the belt itself??

Timing belt is $178 lol

$450 supply and fit lol lol

Not funny really, you can reduce cost by buying one on ebay.com and doing it yourself.

Kits available: (Have a look the US Dayco web site)

- belt only.
- belt plus oil seals and tensioners.
- belt plus seals plus tensioners plus hydraulic tensioner.
- belt plus seals plus tensioners plus hydraulic tensioner plus water pump.

Don't worry if a belt doesn't have a Mitsu label on it. Mitsu doesn't make its own belts. Mitsubishi is a world wide manufacturing giant, but making rubber belts isn't one of their activities. Dayco, Goodyear, Bosch etc all make belts of OEM quality. One of these would have supplied the original belt to Mitsu when your car was built.

Have a look at the belt yourself by removing one of the covers. Run the engine and use a torch to watch the belt. If there are frayed edges flapping about or the belt moves sideways on the pulley as it goes round you need a new belt ASAP. If the belt looks good (no wriggles, or frayed edges) no one can tell you the belt is on the way out. It might last another 100,000 km or disintegrate in 100 Km. Mitsu is probably going by their records of your car's service history, or by what is in the log book.

Doing a third gen one for the first time is bad enough for many mechanics, doing one when you are not a mechanic is asking for trouble. Unlike the second gen, the third gen are very specific when it comes to install and set up, do it wrong and you will soon know about it

The "kit" form mits is actually avail but over $400, the kit you are being quoted I would say is just belt and seals only

The kits with Dayco, Gates, Sun etc are all fine

quotes i got were for timing kits. and i was told that in the 3rd gens they have to lift the engine out to replace it due to not having enough room between the engine and the wheel arch but i dont know how true that is.

I got done $1100+ for a timing belt + tensioner+ seals which was apparently a good price (Mates rates or something) so your price isnt bad...

I also had an argument with my mechanic mate the other day as to whether the engine needed to come out for the change. He rekoned he changed one the other day on a 3rd gen and it took him less than 2 hours and without the engine out...righhht

I know of someone who did over 200k on original belt, just a wee bit overdue but he eventually got it changed. It was a te v6.

The engine does not have to come out.
Try and organise to have the cam pulleys removed and modified to advance the cams.
This is a 5 minute job with a 6 mm file.
Gerry

According to the service book it's 75.000km's than every 100,000km's or 60months which ever comes 1st.

I will get the timing belt, tensioner, idler pulley and water pump done.
should I replace the hydraulic tensioner as well?? it is 165k now, how long does it normally last?
what else should I get it done at the same time (something would be pushed to the limit due to the new belt in)?

cheers

For all you do-it-yourselfers out there check out www.rockauto.com
If your search under Diamante/Galant you will find any parts for 6g74/6g75 engines.
Late last year when the dollar was at 93cents I got a Gates timing belt kit plus a Dorman Hydrolic Tensioner for $196 landed at the front door by FedEx , including shipping and exchange rate.
K-Mart Auto installed it for me in my daughters 2000 TH Advance including cam/crank seals and charged 3 hours labour.
The total cost parts and labour came out to less the $500.

I am not a mechanic but I have however, replaced many timing belts on many vehicles including 2nd gen and 3rd gen Magnas.
At no point did I even contemplate removing the engine from the vehicle.
A 3rd gen v6 timing belt is one of the easy ones to do and I can do one in around 2 hours not on a hoist.
The belt itself costs me around $75 (mates rates) for a Dayco.
A lot cheaper than the local mechanic that wanted to charge me a minimum of $1100 because he basically wanted remove and replace anything that didn't require removal of the engine.
I think some mechanics like to play on peoples lack of knowledge of the workings of the car and try get as much money as they can from the customer.
If your belt requires replacing and you are comfortable with just replacing the belt, then get the price in writing on the job sheet (often called a repair order) when dropping the car off and sign it against that price.
That way all they can do is the belt, and any other work requires a phone call to you for approval.
You do not have to pay for any work that you did not approve (sign for) on the original booking sheet (r.o.) or any subsequent phone calls.
$450 sounds reasonable to me for a timing belt replacement by a Mitsu dealer.

Wow, I had no idea timing belt replacements were so expensive, my 2.6L TS is on about 180K Kms and the other day when I was checking the oil and water I noticed some cracking on the timing belt (just happened to be on the top of the pulley when I looked), I was thinking of getting it replaced these uni holidays, what should I expect to pay?

(Sorry, not 3rd gen related, but seemed to fit to the current thread)

2.6 doesn't have a cam belt, it has a chain. You are possibly looking at the outside belts for water pump, alternator, air con compressor, steering pump. These are cheap and easy to replace yourself. The cam belt under discussion here is under a cover and can't be seen without pulling bits off.

Really? Oh, okay thanks, thats good to hear, and also good to hear that it only has non-critical items on it (water pump is sepparate belt on the other side, I replaced that not long ago) also good to hear that they weren't stupid enough to put a critical belt somewhere so unprotected :). I had never really had a good look at what the belt connects to, I was in a rush the other day (was checking the car before driving an hour to a uni exam) so I didnt have much of a look.

I would like to take this opportunity to say that you MUST take the age of the belt into consideration as well. A 1997 model Magna might only have 70k on the clock but has 13 years under it's belt (scuse the pun) An old belt is just as bad as a belt with high K's on it, ala the OP...

It's an interesting question whether you need to take age into consideration. I do some work for a truck/diesel repair business, so they're dealing with very high mileage engines. My wife's 2004 Verada is 6 years old and has only done 60,000ks, so I asked the question "Distance or Time" ? His answer was distance, and that you'd be dead unlucky to have a belt let go just on time. Has a belt that been sitting in the warehouse for 6 years reached end of life ?

My feeling is that provided the belt path is not contaminated with dirt and stuff, it's probably true that distance is OK, and time is not as relevant. That said, I got the timing belt and tensioner done on my wife's car. If there was a problem, the grief I'd get from her would be far worse than the engine damage :)

If you think about it, even going on distance can be a bit misleading. If I'm poodling down the highway for a few hours with the engine ticking over at, say, 1500rpm, the any point on the belt has traveled: length of belt x avg rpms x minutes (I'm assuming the belt goes one full revolution for each turn of the engine, or is it only half ? - brain not fully functional today !). In stop/start driving where the engine revs high to start, you may end up travelling only a fraction of the distance that you did on the highway, but any point on the belt could have traveled a greater distance (because of greater avg rpm). I would have thought this would be pretty easy for the car's engine management software to capture so it could determine when the belt really needed replacing.

It's an interesting question whether you need to take age into consideration. I do some work for a truck/diesel repair business, so they're dealing with very high mileage engines. My wife's 2004 Verada is 6 years old and has only done 60,000ks, so I asked the question "Distance or Time" ? His answer was distance, and that you'd be dead unlucky to have a belt let go just on time. Has a belt that been sitting in the warehouse for 6 years reached end of life ?

My feeling is that provided the belt path is not contaminated with dirt and stuff, it's probably true that distance is OK, and time is not as relevant. That said, I got the timing belt and tensioner done on my wife's car. If there was a problem, the grief I'd get from her would be far worse than the engine damage :)

If you think about it, even going on distance can be a bit misleading. If I'm poodling down the highway for a few hours with the engine ticking over at, say, 1500rpm, the any point on the belt has traveled: length of belt x avg rpms x minutes (I'm assuming the belt goes one full revolution for each turn of the engine, or is it only half ? - brain not fully functional today !). In stop/start driving where the engine revs high to start, you may end up travelling only a fraction of the distance that you did on the highway, but any point on the belt could have traveled a greater distance (because of greater avg rpm). I would have thought this would be pretty easy for the car's engine management software to capture so it could determine when the belt really needed replacing.

A belt thats been sitting on a shelf for 6 years wont have been put through the same age-related symptoms of an old belt, i.e. high temperatures

A belt thats been sitting on a shelf for 6 years wont have been put through the same age-related symptoms of an old belt, i.e. high temperatures

Exactly, will not have been heated up, cooled down countless times, subject to dust, oil etc and most importantly will not have been stressed at all by camshafts trying to come to a grinding halt as they open each group of valves

2 hours to do a proper job, I have done more than most here have cars lol and I can safely say to do the job properly is more than 2 hours. TR/S perhaps if you really get your back into it but not a TE onwards, especially not a 3.5. They are not hard but there are a few things to get out of the way.

Time, I would not leave one more than 5 years personally but for the regular joe, 10 years max. I have customers with cars over 10 years old and still well under the 100k mark, some of them have done the belt now just to be safe.

Lets face it, if you own a car, no matter what car you own, it needs to be maintained. Magna's are very low maintenance compared to some cars out there but non the less, they need to be looked after to keep them reliable

Have a good shop - my TJ 02 Sports in for 75k service was suggested to have the timing belt/pulleys etc all replaced, $950 at Ultratune inc labour, $650 at our local mitsu dealer for the full kit (Can't remember if labour was included here).

I was told it's suggested because of 100k or 60 months, whichever comes first. Have a good shop around, depending on my tax i'll be shopping around again very shortly for new quotes..