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Mishi's Blog: About timing belts and Mitsubishi...FYI

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MISHI
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Mishi's Blog: About timing belts and Mitsubishi...FYI

Postby MISHI » July 30th, 2007, 12:47 pm

If you own a mitsubishi or have friends who own one, you will have heard them make mention of it.

Others may have given you horror stories about them bursting, with disastrous results....

All Mitsubishi engines are known in the engine world as "interference engines". On an interference engine, if the timing belt slips even one notch, the piston can crash into an open valve causing serious engine damage by bending valves and breaking pistons.

This of course is worse based on how high the engine was running at the time.

Belt type

All mitsubishi vehicles carry different sizes of belts, From narrow, close teeth belts, to wide open teeth belts. Some cars such as the Evolution, carry another, smaller belt, called the harmonic balancer (or locally balance shaft) belt. Most mitsu engines carry a belt width of 29mm, others 22mm.

Mitsubishi's OEM belt manufacturer, is UNITTA, which is made by the Gates Company. When looking for a belt, this brand should always be your first choice.


Change Intervals

97% of the time a Mitsubishi timing belt fails is due to the owner not changing the belt at the stated interval.

You must change your timing belt at the the 60000 Mile interval (96000 KM)

It is also good practice to change it before this interval for safety.


Inspecting and Installation

Always have a professional mechanic install your belt. if you choose to do so yourself, you do it at the risk of damaging your engine if you are not sure what you are doing.

As stated earlier, 97% of mitsu timing belt failures are due to not changing the belt at the intervals.

The other 3% are due to sub standard quality belts, untimely failure of a component in the drive (water pump, tensioner/ idle bearing), Contamination of the belt by oil or water and mishandling/ installation of the belt.

- When checking your timing belt, check the following

Image

CHECK ALL YOUR OIL SEALS!!!! oil contamination (or water in the case of a pump) will degrade the quality of the belt and also cause it to slip if it is bad.

When installing the belt, do not crimp it (that is, squeeze it together at the ends where they loop) as this can pre damage the belt. It is good practice to replace all the bearings that the timing belt runs on. Most notably, is the timing belt tensioner pulley and in DOHC engines, the idler pulley. If you cannot afford these at the time, have them inspected and make sure that they are in good working order.

It is a good Idea to change your water pump as well, even if it is in good order. Most times, the water pump installation will not cost much more if at all, considering that you have o remove the belt to get to it. More importantly, your pump may be there as long as the belt and it makes no sense to change the belt, then one month later change a pump....Give yourself some extra insurance.

When reinstalling, there are what they call timing marks on the engine block and the sprockets which the belt runs on. These must be aligned properly before tighting. A misaligned belt can cause you to have abnormal performance and worst case scenario, you can damage your engine.

Used Cars and timing belts

Unfortunately, many people who want to buy a used mitsubishi never actually ask about the timing belt.

It is IMPORTANT that you do. That can be the difference between you enjoying the mitsu experience or shunning the brand.

Always:-

1. Ask the Owner if the belt has been changed and at what mileage

2. Look at the odometer for the mileage...

3. Ask the owner if at anytime the dash was replaced or failed in the case of engine changes etc. This is due to some engines carrying different electronic/ ignition systems and they may not be compatible with the existing dash. Also in some models digital odometers have been known to fail, which causes the owner not to know the true mileage...

4. If the engine was changed, and the belt was not changed, you must ask the owner what mileage the engine came with. Reason being that you may buy a car saying 70000Km on the odometer, and the engine is actially 40000KM OVER this....Knowledge is power....

5. Ask if the water pump has ever been changed and what interval.

6. Ask if any the owner had any water leaks at the pump area (as per "5" above) and if they ever had any oil seals changed. This will help you to do what is neccessary.


Well hope this lill blog proves informative for some of you...

Cheers.

MISHI.
Last edited by MISHI on October 17th, 2007, 9:09 am, edited 2 times in total.

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venum
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Postby venum » August 29th, 2007, 12:22 am

beautiful

faboulous read and golden info

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Postby Rudman » August 29th, 2007, 8:26 am

Beautiful, beautiful! *wipes tear from eye*..... :D

U have me a little concerned about the OEM manufacturer of Mitsubishi belts. When replacing, I does only see Mitsuboshi, not UNITTA.

But seeing that its a GATES company, I suppose a Gates belt will be just as fine.

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Postby MISHI » August 29th, 2007, 10:59 am

Yep, Mitsuboshi is another OEM belt manufacturer for mitsubishi vehicles, but they also use the Unitta Brand. All the engines I've had so far came with unitta.

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Postby ~Vēġó~ » August 30th, 2007, 3:00 pm

excellent info man!!!

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Postby kpillos » September 27th, 2007, 3:48 am

hello to all
recently i changed the timing belt and cleaned out all the parts intake etc , the car sounded real quiet , no lifters noise for about a week also plenty speed , the timing belt was damaged on checking it out side of the engine.
well after the week of new car sounds , the lifters start to make noise again but i am gettting a rough idle driving cool only in traffic i have to put the gear in neutral so as not to shut down the car , i carried back the car to the mechanic and he cleaned out some sensors it worked well in the garage but when i reach home started back again
ANY BODY OUT THERE COULD ADVISE NEED IT BADLY
THANK YOU KEITH

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Dave
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Postby Dave » September 27th, 2007, 8:01 am

great info

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Postby k.c.151 » September 28th, 2007, 10:43 am

LOVELY INFO INDEED...

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Postby Langdon » September 28th, 2007, 11:26 am

bless bro

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Postby crazybalhead » September 28th, 2007, 2:43 pm

The mech said that the Evo's need to be changed at 60,000 KM's, not miles. And I changed mine at exactly 60,000 and the teeth were showing slight signs of wear.

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Postby Morpheus23 » October 1st, 2007, 8:59 pm

Great work MISHI.

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MISHI
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Postby MISHI » October 2nd, 2007, 12:05 am

crazybalhead wrote:The mech said that the Evo's need to be changed at 60,000 KM's, not miles. And I changed mine at exactly 60,000 and the teeth were showing slight signs of wear.


ok but strangely enough, most of their manuals say 60000 Miles....even for the evos

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Postby *KRONIK* » October 6th, 2007, 3:18 pm

where do i find one of these timin belts? i buy one by Bobby's in the bamboo for like 145 and it didnt mark nuttin on it!

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Postby MISHI » October 7th, 2007, 12:30 am

Usually marked Gates on the belt

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Postby Sanctifier » October 17th, 2007, 7:34 am

Great info MISHI. Too good to loose...
Can you post to Image MadMen Forum please? Thanks.

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boogy
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Postby boogy » October 17th, 2007, 1:39 pm

Good read mate!!

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Postby blackNshine » October 22nd, 2007, 12:47 am

really need to take note of that

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Postby ArMouR » October 15th, 2008, 5:20 pm

Excellent read, one question though
Is it worth while to buy the timing belt from the firm and if not, is gates one of the better brands to get? Need to know ASAP

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Postby JUS4SHO » October 15th, 2008, 7:44 pm

my car comming on 80K so the timing belt, idle pulley, & water pump was replaced with oem parts one time ...preventive maintenance is always best.... and i way inside the 100K

Armour if you can afford it its always best to go OEM for such critical parts

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Postby nes123 » October 15th, 2008, 9:23 pm

to be specific fellas, what would need replacing on a 4g18 apart from what JUS4SHO indicated?anything else?in terms of maintenance..

JUS4SHO,Your car was RORO?if so what you changed when you know got it?

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MISHI
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Postby MISHI » October 15th, 2008, 11:30 pm

tensioner as well

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Postby ArMouR » October 16th, 2008, 12:59 pm

I got a Unitta belt from the firm just now for $575, its for the GDI twin cam lancer 2002 model

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Postby venum » October 16th, 2008, 4:56 pm

^^^ good man

UNITTA is MITSU OEM

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Postby ArMouR » October 16th, 2008, 5:23 pm

Yeah, its as if a weight has been lifted off my shoulder getting this belt, thanks for all the help man heh :)

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Postby DriFT_KiNG » October 27th, 2008, 4:03 pm

Hey tuners, as we are on the topic of timing belts, I change mine about a year ago but my mech said it wasn't an original so I get some belt noise. It sounds louder the more you accelerate. Is this safe and if not where can I get the original belt for the 4g92 mivec engines?

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MISHI
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Postby MISHI » October 27th, 2008, 5:37 pm

It sounds louder the more you accelerate.



usually that happens whenthe belt has been over tightened...

Had that problem once, imediately too it back to the mech and he adjusted it. never had that issue again. Whether it's original or not, it's not supposed to make noise... it doesn't slide in a groove like a fan belt...

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Postby saltydog » October 27th, 2008, 6:39 pm

I seem to remember that the old 4g63 N/a in the galant were low compression NON interference engines. belt burst no problem just replace the belt and off you go.

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Postby venum » October 27th, 2008, 8:36 pm

replaced teh timing and balance shaft belts in the L200 recently

used Gates

will let you all know how that work in a couple deca-thousand km :D

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Postby MISHI » October 27th, 2008, 8:55 pm

saltydog wrote:I seem to remember that the old 4g63 N/a in the galant were low compression NON interference engines. belt burst no problem just replace the belt and off you go.


U sure?

Far as I remember all mitsubishi engines from even early days with timing belts were interface engines... I could be wrong though..

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Postby Dave » October 28th, 2008, 9:13 am

used Gates

will let you all know how that work in a couple deca-thousand km

once installed properly, u won't be coming back till the next time u change them

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