So I finally got around to coughing up the cash to get a new timing belt kit put in my 2.4 Magna.

Upon picking up I could tell straight away something was wrong.

Problems:
It's making a strange whine mainly noticeable at lower rpm.
The engine is vibrating fairly bad particularly at higher rpm, above 4k it's starts getting crazy bad and fairly noisy!

The mechanic wants me to leave it a week and see if it sorts itself out, thinks the belts are just a bit tight.
I think something more serious is wrong and am 99% sure this isn't going to fix itself, any ideas what could be wrong?

Thanks

Too tight and balance shaft not set up correctly.

Anyone got a scan of the service manual for setting up the balance shaft correctly. Sounds like ill need to tell these idiots exactly what to do to fix it.

So what mechanic does this job without having an appropriate manual handy?

Have a search on the internet for the appropriate info. I've read the relevant info, but didn't bother to keep it. It's out there somewhere.

Check this:

http://www.justanswer.com/mitsubishi/4etyz-mitsubishi-galant-es-timing-marks-won-t-align.html

Thanks for the link.

I am honestly so over the incompetence of mechanics, every time, doesn't matter where I take it when I get my cars back they have either broken something or done the job incorrectly.

When someone charges $100 plus an hour you would think they would know what they are doing.

Ill leave naming and shaming until they no doubt fail at attempting to fix it and claim nothing is wrong. That's the normal process isn't it....

Thanks for the link.

I am honestly so over the incompetence of mechanics, every time, doesn't matter where I take it when I get my cars back they have either broken something or done the job incorrectly.

When someone charges $100 plus an hour you would think they would know what they are doing.

Some mechanics are value for money, some aren't.
Some mechanics know what they are doing, some don't.
What they have in common is their need for the money in your pocket to make a living. $100 per hour even if they stuff up.

Same with doctors, dentists, lawyers, plumbers, etc., who charge a lot more by the way.
(Plumber came to fix a blocked drain, cost me $400 for his visit, no joy, quoted $1,500 to dig up pipes. Wanted me to pull down fencing to get a digger in. Waved him off, dug down, removed tree roots from drain. Took all of 4 hours. Still fine 2 years later. Guess DIY wins out every time.)

No really - take the car back tomorrow, and ask him nicely to look at it again. Ask him straight out if he consulted a manual of any sort, or was winging it.

If you don't like his answers, or attitude, ask for your money back and take the car to the nearest Mitsu dealer to be sorted.
And take that mechanic off your Christmas card list. Tell your friends to avoid him.

Depends on where you take it, I would never allow the car to leave my shop like that

There is a process for balance belt alignment and tension and clearly has not been done, drive it for a week and spin a balance shaft bearing or break the balance shaft belt and bye bye engine

Unfortunately I get cars brought to me often where a bad repair causes more trouble for the owner where in some cases the car should never have been allowed to be taken in the first place

Well I got the car back after they looked at it again, and no surprises the bad vibration at higher RPM is still present. They have fixed the noise at lower RPM by I assume re-tensioning but they haven't done anything about the balance shaft not being aligned properly.

What are the risks of me driving it with this set incorrectly?

Can I simply remove the balance shaft belt as per this thread http://www.aussiemagna.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1603

Or will it still need to be re-aligned in some way? I have lost all faith in the workshop so need a quick cheap fix, and simply cutting the screwed up belt off as per that thread may be this cheap and nasty solution that I can do myself....?

The belt isn't screwed up, the setup is. You need to open up the engine to get to the belt anyway if you are planning to remove it, why not calm down, read up, and set it up yourself the way the manual says?

I have read up and it's beyond my ability, thus I paid someone $580 to do it. I try and do 90% of all work myself but I really don't want to touch this.

Anyone know of someone in Geelong or even Melbourne that can do this job properly for me?

mitsfix madmagna
dont know if you wont to drive it that far

I have read up and it's beyond my ability, thus I paid someone $580 to do it. I try and do 90% of all work myself but I really don't want to touch this.

Anyone know of someone in Geelong or even Melbourne that can do this job properly for me?

Keep going back to the mechanic until they get it right. Or get your money back and take it to a Mitsu dealer.

mitsfix madmagna
dont know if you wont to drive it that far

For some reason he doesn't want anything to do with it, wouldn't provide a quote for the original job either.

Will take it back once more, if still no go ill just take it to the nearest Mitsu dealer.

Thanks for the help guys.

Really, that is strange, I love it when people speak on my behalf. Have you tried to call me, I think not. I have seen a PM in amongst about 200 I have there but have not had time to go through them all which is why I tell people to call me as then they get hold of me. I dont have days to sit here and try and go through PM's which half the time do not have the history of the message included thus I have to then go though older PM's to try and work out what is going on

True, I am not keen on trying to fix another workshops stuff up and certainly would not be willing to use parts as you requested in your PM at 3.48pm YESTERDAY but I did not decline to look at it, I simply have not had time to reply as it was near closing time when you sent the PM in the first place.

In short for me to do the job I would replace the lot, I am not willing to use parts that may ahve been damaged only to have them fail and then me get the blame. I am booked out for larger jobs for about 12 days in advance so could not look until then anyway so best you take it back to where they stuffed it up to begin with

Sorry if I offended you. Btw I did try calling twice about 2 months ago to book the car in but my calls never got answered, so I emailed you and also never heard back. So kinda assumed you didn't want any new customers.

Anyway off topic my apologies. I will try the clueless workshop yet again, failing that will just use the bus I guess.

See how you go with them, if they fail then perhaps take this to VCAT or similar

BTW, if you called my work number during business hours there are always 2 of us there sometimes 3 so I dont know where you were calling or at what time lol

Lol it may have been after 4 on a Friday so wouldn't blame you for not answering at beer o'clock.

Thanks I will keep vcat in mind if all else fails.

Got the car back for the 3rd time today. Problem remains but is about 30% better than before. Mainly only gets really bad over 4 thousand rpm now, although I still can notice increased vibration at all rev range its not as bad as before.

I provided the mechanic with all the doco on how to set it and he apparently followed it, he also took photos of everything lined up so I don't know. I do believe they have really tried to get it right but for some reason they cant.
Not sure what to do now, don't have the money to pay another $600 - $800 for the same job somewhere else and possibly have the same outcome.

Guess ill drive it for now and try to save some money to buy another car.(without a damn timing belt)

No happy ending to this story sadly.

Get a refund. Tell vcat that you took it there and the job wasn't done right. They will then need to fix it or refund it.

To prove it wasn't done right I will have to pay someone to pull it all apart and diagnose what they have done wrong. So more money at risk of being wasted on a car worth about $1000.
Ill just take it as a life lesson.

He won't refund as his sure he has it right and is starting to say other things might be causing it.