Hey fellas,

Okay so yesterday Daniel(12SecEvoMR) and his friend Jason (a mechanic) are over my house, so i'm sure they can help me explain the problem.

First off, a little background. Car has been running fine up until now (well besides a boost leak and a messed up wastegate actuator). I drove the car the day before yesterday and everything was like normal, no clunking sound or anything..

So, onto what happened yesterday. I start my car up, and all of a sudden we hear some really LOUD clunking sounds coming, like something is hitting something. I immediatley turn the car off. We're all boggled like wtf is that?

After doing some investigation, we take a look underneath the car..
I started up the car while Daniel looked from below, and as soon as I started up the car, he said he saw some black powder/dust (not smoke) blow out from somewhere underneath the car.. No idea what it is..

Then I started the car again, and Jason who's a mechanic took a look at the pulley's, and points out that the belt on the pulleys looks like it's wobbling, as if it's trying to come off.

Then we take off the cam-gear cover, and notice that there's that same powdery stuff on the timing belt, ANDD that a piece of it is ripped and sticking out. We started the car one more time real quick, and the sound kept coming. So now Jason is thinking that there might be something underneath, like a screw or something that's sticking out that might be rubbing against the belt, causing it to rip.

Also, I noticed some of that black powdery stuff on the bottom side of my hood and a little bit on the firewall.

He advised me to not start or drive the car again till I can get it to a mitsu dealership or a performance shop, and have them take a look at it. If i run the car the way it is, I can bend my valves.



So I want some advice from you guys.. who should I take my car to? Should I go to Mitsu?

What should I do? and what do you guys think might be causing the problem?


Let me know if you guys have any advice..

thanks
- Naj

 

You know exactly what the dealer is going to say. They are going to blame your mods on this, regardless of wether that is true or not. I would not expect a warranty on this if I were you.

 

If your car is close to stock take it to the dealer, this is definetly your best bet. Is the car still under warranty? Im dropping off my RS with 5000 miles at the dealership tomorrow because of a belt whining problem. Just make sure the service manager is cool wherever you take it so it doesnt get balcklisted.

 

O sorry you have an EVO modded to 332whp.... good luck at the dealership.

 

I'm not really expecting it to be done under warranty, I know my car is modded, and I knew the consequences of modding my car. I'm more concerned with who will be able to do a good job repairing it.

 

i dont care how, but take that damn cover off and see what is happening... there is to many things that could be wrong... instead of us speculating, just pull the covers off..

 

Which other covers? We did take the cam-gear cover off..

 

Job done right=Dealership

 

yeap, can you put it back to stock?

 

You said the Pully looks like its wobbling??

PM Me the exact details, it sounds like something shifted but I want to know the details of what was going on the few days before.. It could be the belt, could be the tensioner, or it could be something clobbered the crank pulley and shifted something.. so I want to hear more info before I suggest anything..

BTW if it was material from the timing belt skipping, the car would be running poorly if at all, plus try not to run it because if it is the belt, you may take out your valves if it happens at just the right time.. If you lost a chunk of the belt, and have dust in there, then its rubbing against something.. But if the crank pully is wobbling is where I'm concerned.

The way to do it best is to get it to the dealer, but you will pay $90 an hour labor plus the replacement parts, but its not a long job or all that difficult to do as long as the only issue is a bad timing belt.

 

Does anyone from a dealership have the labor schedule for the repairs that they can either mail to me or send me if its a PDF?? I need a copy so I can help people out in the future..

 

You'll have to take the lower front cover off (the bottom portion where the crank pully is) You'll have to pull the belts and a few brackets and I think the lower pulley to get it completely off, definitely not difficult, it it might be a little time consuming if you have trouble getting at the components.

 

PM'd ya Jack, thanks!

 

Are you serious?? You must be smoking crack. There is no other logical excuse for such a statement. In my 20 years of car ownership, I have never seen worse mechanics than the ones at I would not let these guys change my wiper blades. I can not begin to tell how much carnage I have seen these hacks do to friend's cars. I know of three personal friends who had their Evo's literally destroyed at dealerships. The last friend just gave up an traded in his Evo for an STI because of this issue.

Najeeb, Bring the Car to RPM in Huntington.

 

RPM is super expensive.. but i'll look into them..