03 auto lancer, 72,000 miles.

at about 1/3 throttle, there is a belt whining. doesnt happen at idle, hard acceleration or light driving. only putting a load on it, say going uphill where you depress the pedal down right before it would downshift for you.

i dont know what to check.

 

Only thing I can suggest is to replace the belts. I had the same problem. Exactly how the whining on my car happened. I just took it in, replaced the belts and haven't had a problem for about 5k miles. (I am at 89k overall by the way). You might have already tried that but if not check that out.

 

If you've never replaced them, now is the time.. I only have 43,xxx miles on my car, and I just got them replaced along with adding in the RRM crank pulley. My belts were squeaking before, and now they are fine. You can pick up the OEM mitsubishi belts from the mitsu dealer.. I think it came to almost 80 bux for both of mine. (main crank belt + accessory/alternator belt) You might also want to do the timing belt soon if you've never done it. If that timing belt slips or breaks, say goodbye to your valves and say hello to a ton more money being spent trying to fix all that it damages. =)

 

yeah, mine is doing the same thing, around 2K rpms. I hate it! Who actually (what company) will replace the belts?! Any ideas!? Napa or somewhere?

 

You can do it yourself which can be a pain in the butt with the way our belts are setup.. or you can take it to a local tuning shop, local mechanic, mitsu dealer, etc.

 

mine does the exat same thing, 2000rpm and theres this slight squeal from the belts. Its at 60K miles and i THINK its on the oem belt.

 

our belts are a 30 minute change. they are pretty easy to get to.

 

wouldn't the dealer charge us an arm or leg to replace?

 

You would have to ask what your local dealer charges.......

 

OEM belts are expensive from mitsu. generator belt is around $30 and drive belt is around $70...add in the labor and they'll probably tell you about $225. in reality, they will try to convince you to do the water pump and timing belt at the same time since it's recommeded to service them all at that milage. i would advise doing so as well.

 

Its my girlfriends car, so the upkeep on it isnt the best. She's the second owner and bought it with 58,000 on it so I doubt the timing belt was done. I know its an interference engine and the belt should be done soon.

What are the belts for? Alternator (?) and something else? Aftermarket belts fine or do you guys recommend OEM? Any writeups for them? I can do it myself.

 

the only aftermarket belt you find is a timing belt...there is the timing, alternator, and drive belt.

 

my cars been doin that for 10,000 miles, its a common prob with lancers, its not really that bad and itll just decrease the life of the belt that is doing that, so im gonna just drive mine till it snaps if it happens ill post a thread but i think its fine, its only slipping a tiny bit

 

i bet that it is your serpentine or alternator belt, everytime mine begins to squeal i will replace it and then i have no more squealing.

 

Any autozone, advance, or pep boys carries replacement serp belts for cheap. Just replaced mine for about $10.
Make sure you check that the tensioner pulley is installed correctly. When I replaced mine, it turned out that the squeaking was not due to the belt, but the bolt that goes through the center of the pulley was not reinstalled correctly the last time someone changed the belt. It was a little rusty and so the mechanic thought he had tightened it all the way but didn't. A little WD40 and some elbow grease solved the problem!