60,000 Service - how critical?
Ya. There is so much to consider. How has the vehicle been driven those 60K miles? High rpms in Nevada summers? Is the car garaged most of its life? etc. 60K is a good time to do the service for sure, but it doesnt mean that every belt is gonna snap at 60K,hehe.
Newbie
Joined: May 2008
Posts: 54
Likes: 0
From: Houston
Im sitting on about 60k and some change. I went to the mitsu dealer on 59/beltway and they told me the maintenance would be around an $800 job. Anyone else in the neighborhood pay that much for the big 60?
as people say after 60 it is ticking bomb, i bet you can go up to 100k but why risk it.
it does get really hot over here too....us mexicans have it hard over here... god damn "white' corporations paying us chump change
i know there is / was a vendor on here that used to sell the timing belt kit and water pump for $175 shipped..
so thatd be like $475 in total WITH installation here at our dealership
where as some people would pay $300 for just the kit.. lmao
Evolving Member
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 182
Likes: 8
From: Seattle
don't doubt it, no one else has the resources to research the materials on a belt that will go to 100k other than the factory.
keep in mind on this thread, the 60K and the Tbelt are separate services.
the transfer case fluid is the cheapest insurance, we change it for free on an oil change if requested, just the price of the fluid. A new Tcase is $3750. The factory interval of 30K is way too long, it should be changed at 15K.
you can easily get 100K out of the drive belts, (alt, ac, ps) if your on a budget they don't ever break even after cracking, I've seen them go 150 K easy and never have seen one break
when inspecting a timing belt the only proper way is to remove it and bending it slightly backwards look for cracking on the inside near the base of the teeth, you can't see this very well when its on engine. They don't ever crack on the backside, only at the base of the teeth.
as far as doing services by time, it's a question. Sometimes I will go by time but about 1.5 times the factory interval. and some stuff like an air filter and fluids will not "go bad" by time. Sometimes belts will but you can gauge a Tbelt by what the drive belts look like, if they're badly cracked then the Tbelt probably needs replace.
The X has a timing chain, but you better change your oil cuz if you don't it will go bad and slip time and bend valves.
keep in mind on this thread, the 60K and the Tbelt are separate services.
the transfer case fluid is the cheapest insurance, we change it for free on an oil change if requested, just the price of the fluid. A new Tcase is $3750. The factory interval of 30K is way too long, it should be changed at 15K.
you can easily get 100K out of the drive belts, (alt, ac, ps) if your on a budget they don't ever break even after cracking, I've seen them go 150 K easy and never have seen one break
when inspecting a timing belt the only proper way is to remove it and bending it slightly backwards look for cracking on the inside near the base of the teeth, you can't see this very well when its on engine. They don't ever crack on the backside, only at the base of the teeth.
as far as doing services by time, it's a question. Sometimes I will go by time but about 1.5 times the factory interval. and some stuff like an air filter and fluids will not "go bad" by time. Sometimes belts will but you can gauge a Tbelt by what the drive belts look like, if they're badly cracked then the Tbelt probably needs replace.
The X has a timing chain, but you better change your oil cuz if you don't it will go bad and slip time and bend valves.
Last edited by NWM_Tech; Jul 20, 2009 at 04:27 PM.
Evolved Member
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 6,902
Likes: 151
From: Grand Island, NE
I'm sorry this post comes so far down in this thread. The thing is, I just did my 60K maintenance (well, most of it, I still need to rotate tires and inspect the brakes and chassis) and I did it with this post in mind - I went at it with the intention of seeing what might go to 120K without giving trouble to the best of my judgment.
My serpentine belt was shot at 60K with pieces of the ribbing coming off.
My visual analysis isn't good enough to tell if lubricants are shot. I just replace at the designated interval. This is all I will write about that.
The timing belt at 60K looked new and it still had the correct tension. I didn't think to check how far the hydraulic tensioner plunger was extended. What was I thinking? It has only limited travel. Once all the travel is gone the belt will be loose.
I learned how easily this belt can jump time without tension while in the process of installing a new one. It jumped on me four times before I was finally able to get it tensioned with the adjustable pulley. So I'd suggest that while my original belt still appeared to have lots of life left in it that isn't going to do any good if it jumps time and takes out the engine's valves. So, I'd suggest that if you want to run the timing belt beyond 60K you at least reset the tensioner so it can keep the belt tight.
BTW, this isn't an easy job to do on an Evo. The cams want to be anywhere but at the timing marks. So, if you don't have experience with this have a professional do it.
The water pump looked and felt new with no sign of leaks. Still, the only way of getting a proper look at the water pump is with the water pump pulley off. I'd say my water pump had more life in it too. However, I could only feel the condition of the bearing. This tells nothing about the seal. Seals go out when they want to.
The bearings in the idler and tensioner pulleys for the timing belt felt just a smooth as the new ones I had in their shipping containers. So, I think these could have easily gone to 120K.
The balancer belt still had proper tension and still looked good but not as good as the timing belt. I'd be a little more hesitant about running it to 120K. Also, the tensioner pulley for the balancer belt was slinging grease. The seal was going bad. This pulley would cause trouble before 120K in my opinion.
So, what it boils down to is I probably could have gotten by with replacing the serpentine belt, balancer belt, the balancer belt tensioner pulley and resetting the tension on the timing belt. I think I would have had a good chance of making it to 120K with just these parts.
The down side is you have to take everything apart to get to the balancer belt. But, if you have more skill than money then this might be the way to go. I'm not saying that you will find the wear I did, this is a real example of what I could have done had I needed to save money. I think you still need to take things apart, or if need be, have someone else do it, so that you know the actual condition of things inside the timing cover.
My serpentine belt was shot at 60K with pieces of the ribbing coming off.
My visual analysis isn't good enough to tell if lubricants are shot. I just replace at the designated interval. This is all I will write about that.
The timing belt at 60K looked new and it still had the correct tension. I didn't think to check how far the hydraulic tensioner plunger was extended. What was I thinking? It has only limited travel. Once all the travel is gone the belt will be loose.
I learned how easily this belt can jump time without tension while in the process of installing a new one. It jumped on me four times before I was finally able to get it tensioned with the adjustable pulley. So I'd suggest that while my original belt still appeared to have lots of life left in it that isn't going to do any good if it jumps time and takes out the engine's valves. So, I'd suggest that if you want to run the timing belt beyond 60K you at least reset the tensioner so it can keep the belt tight.
BTW, this isn't an easy job to do on an Evo. The cams want to be anywhere but at the timing marks. So, if you don't have experience with this have a professional do it.
The water pump looked and felt new with no sign of leaks. Still, the only way of getting a proper look at the water pump is with the water pump pulley off. I'd say my water pump had more life in it too. However, I could only feel the condition of the bearing. This tells nothing about the seal. Seals go out when they want to.
The bearings in the idler and tensioner pulleys for the timing belt felt just a smooth as the new ones I had in their shipping containers. So, I think these could have easily gone to 120K.
The balancer belt still had proper tension and still looked good but not as good as the timing belt. I'd be a little more hesitant about running it to 120K. Also, the tensioner pulley for the balancer belt was slinging grease. The seal was going bad. This pulley would cause trouble before 120K in my opinion.
So, what it boils down to is I probably could have gotten by with replacing the serpentine belt, balancer belt, the balancer belt tensioner pulley and resetting the tension on the timing belt. I think I would have had a good chance of making it to 120K with just these parts.
The down side is you have to take everything apart to get to the balancer belt. But, if you have more skill than money then this might be the way to go. I'm not saying that you will find the wear I did, this is a real example of what I could have done had I needed to save money. I think you still need to take things apart, or if need be, have someone else do it, so that you know the actual condition of things inside the timing cover.
Mitsubishiparts.net has a whole timing kit with everything included for this service for relatively cheap to the dealer charge. I think I only had to buy one extra belt for $25 that my bro said I should change since I was at it. For those that are unsure of needing to do it at 60k, I didn't do mine until 85k. Thats' not to say you should wait around, but those belts do last. Just check for signs of ware, like cracks and dry rotting. GL.
Mistuparts.net says free shipping, but when you go to order it taks on like $60 for shipping.
I declined and got all my stuff from extremepsi for cheaper
My stuff was all 56K or so and all looked perfectly fine. I guess its good insurance, but im sure its a little overkill.
I declined and got all my stuff from extremepsi for cheaper
My stuff was all 56K or so and all looked perfectly fine. I guess its good insurance, but im sure its a little overkill.