Timing belt Question

[varroa]

very, very nice advice as far as crankshaft pulley nut goes. thanks.

now, that special tool is not used to compress the auto tensioner. one is supposed to use vice grips to compress it.

actually,

that tool pushes on the tensioner arm to prevent any deviations from the bottom-most position when you are torquing the tensioner pulley down. because, as you know, you have to torque the pulley itself at the same time you are torquing down the pulley bolt. and when you are pushing the pulley against the belt, this action can push the tensioner arm a little bit up, thus taking away from the tensioner's potential to absorb the slack in the timing belt.

i would say it's not REALLY necessary but i would rather have it than not. i mean, is it REALLY necessary to replace the packing around the fuel pump every time you take it out?

the reason i think it is beneficial to use it, is because without it, you run a pretty good chance of using a portion of the tensioner's potential tension to compensate for the "slack" created by a free-moving tensioner arm.

i hope i explained it well.

[galantebeige]

I was pretty successful with Seth's advice.

And this last part is indeed very difficult to explain, but it becomes very obvious when you are in it.

let me try: imagine a ruler. The pulley is over 5. As you tight the bolt, it will move to 4, 3 ( to the left) naturally, but you want it to stay in 5, so yo need to somehow keep it from moving as you tighten the bolt. You can do the allen key to pull it back to 5, or the special tools to set it right.

I did this last year and my memory is fuzzy but I believe it was like that. I bought all parts from the Mitsu dealer, there was not much difference against the onlines with shipping, plus the good parts were made in Japan (timing belt).

[nickmick]

F*CK! TH*S!!!

lol, it was so easy. so, so easy....until I got to the crank bolt.

i had some spare bar lying around so i fashioned up a tool to hold the pulley while i wrenched on it.

i tried:

breaker bar.
breaker bar with extend-o-pipe.
breaker bar with torch and extend-o-pipe
walked over to neighbor and borrowed a Milwaukee Electric 120v 6.2amp impact.
120v 6.2amp impact with more heat.
searched internet to see if it's a f-ing reverse thread or some bs.
gave up.

i'm gonna bring it to a buddy's auto shop and try to break it loose with an air impact. re-tighten and bring it home and continue.

also, fyi, i don't think there's a flywheel inspection plate on automatic models. i could be wrong. i spent most of my time standing on a breaker bar.

[seth98esT]

i could've sworn i posted a reply to your questions.

that tool pushes on the tensioner arm to prevent any deviations from the bottom-most position when you are torquing the tensioner pulley down. because, as you know, you have to torque the pulley itself at the same time you are torquing down the pulley bolt. and when you are pushing the pulley against the belt, this action can push the tensioner arm a little bit up, thus taking away from the tensioner's potential to absorb the slack in the timing belt.

i would say it's not REALLY necessary but i would rather have it than not. i mean, is it REALLY necessary to replace the packing around the fuel pump every time you take it out?

you can search for this tool and buy it for about $20 plus shipping online (not OEM, but it worked for me).

I have never used that tool. Once the pulley is tensioned and you turn the crank 8-10 times to get the marks lined back up, wait 10 minutes, if you can't pull the grenade pin out of the auto tensioner, and put it back in with relative ease, you do not have correct tension on the belt.

[galantebeige]

That crankshaft bolt is actually the toughest part of the whole operation. The inspection plate is half moon shaped (cut a pizza in half shape), very light, and it sits on the opposite side (not under) the engine/transmission blocks), When I say opposite: think of a dice. If the crankshaft bolt is on the number one face, the inspection plate is laying flat on the face for number 6. I think 10mm screws hold it in place.

That is where goes the screwdriver that is supposed to stop the whole thing from moving. The only thought I have about this is that if the crankshaft bolt is sooooo tight, the screw driver "may" cause a hinge/dent on your flywheel as the flywheel is not that robust/solid. You might want to consider placing something between the flywheel and the screwdriver...

The bolt is indeed loosened by going counter-clockwise.

[nickmick]

That crankshaft bolt is actually the toughest part of the whole operation. The inspection plate is half moon shaped (cut a pizza in half shape), very light, and it sits on the opposite side (not under) the engine/transmission blocks), I think 10mm screws hold it in place.

That is where the screwdriver that is supposed to stop the whole thing from moving goes. The only thought I have about this is that if the crankshaft bolt is sooooo tight, the screw driver "may" cause a hinge/dent on your flywheel as the flywheel is not that robust/solid. You might want to consider placing something between the flywheel and the screwdriver...

The bolt is indeed loosened by going counter-clockwise.

lol, i just confused the h*ll out of myself.

carry on...

[galantebeige]

I edited my above post, I hope for the better....

[Joshua42007]

Hey do you guys think this is a good price for this Timing Belt kit?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...K%3AMEWAX%3AIT

[Sphinx]

Bump! I need to take care of mine and the Ebay kit looks like a God send. Any comments?

Sphinx

[mrg7243]

i got the timeing belt ket from rockauto.com, but that didnt have all that it just came with the two belts and the idlers and tensioners. I have yet to put my on thoiugh cause of that damn bolt

[varroa]

Sphinx: for that money, did you try to look into OEM parts? Go to oemmitsubishiparts.com or a similar website and put together a list of parts you need for the "kit".

I think it will cost you almost as much to do OEM.

I've purchased a water pump, both timing belts, both service belts, tensioner, tensioner pulley, balance shaft timing belt pulley, crankshaft oil pump and camshaft oil seals and the valve cover gasket for probably around $400 plus shipping. <- All that - OEM Mitsubishi.

And let me tell you, there might be no difference between OEM and some aftermarket water pumps, because they are made by the same company, but there is a huge difference in quality of the timing belt and pulleys.

When i was replacing the timing belt last time, i took off all the aftermarket parts (timing belts, both pulleys except for the idle pulley). Both belts looked ok but not as well as the old OEM belt that i took off a few years earlier.
Also, both aftermarket pulleys had the lube leaked from the seal (they have sealed bearings), not like the old OEM pulleys from the last time - they were spotless and just a little dusty.

It's your money and your car, and you decide what parts to get (thanks, captain obviuos), but i would recommend OEM, especially if the price is marginally higher.

[nickmick]

so i went to my buddy's shop and got that bolt lose. put it back on to spec.

now i gotta wait a few weekends cause i don't have the time.

here were my prices (all are +tax)

$42 - timing belt
$17 - balance shaft belt
$71 - new water pump

[Sphinx]

Thanks for the good info varroa!

Sphinx

[galantebeige]

I would strongly recommend replacing all FOUR belts, and the water pump is desired.

+1 with varroa, price is not so different so why not do Mitsubishi original parts? I am NOT a dealer lover at all !!!, but I decided to buy from them when the price seemed about the same. After all it is a business in my city, and I guess we need/desire some Mitsubishi presence to be wherever you are.

And I said this before in this thread, the quality was really good. Japanese made. The aftermarket website was cheaper, but with shipping, it was not worth it.

[Sphinx]

Four belts? I only paid attention to the two ...
*breaking out the Chilton*

Sphinx

**the alternator, power steering, A/C, timing**

[varroa]

alternator/water pump belt
AC/power steering belt
timing belt
balance shaft timing belt

[Sphinx]

Thanks! LOL My Chilton guide is pretty f'n vague at times

[varroa]

download the factory service manual

[gofer03]

Quick question, will removing the crank bolt turn the crank counter-clockwise or no?

[nickmick]

gofer, the crank bolt is a normal thread. so, turn the bolt counter-clockwise. you won't get it off with a wrench, trust me. i rented a Milwaukee electric 120V impact for ~$16 from True Value.

i just did the belt this weekend. wasn't terrible. the long threaded rod is pretty useless, all it does is hold the auto-tensioner lever down. the other special tool comes in handy for setting the tension. necessary, probably not.

btw i got insanely lucky, I've been meaning to change the belt for about 5-7k miles now. bought parts a few months ago (May). didn't get around to it. last week friday car shut off on the way to work....fuuuuu.....well luckily it didn't snap completely, instead it started to wind itself around the crankshaft sprocket and it just bound that up. so everything stayed in time.