Need some advice for timing belt and balance shafts

[Passion 4 Speed]

All this reading about balance shaft belts breaking etc, get me worried about mines.. i jus bought a 1990 gs 2.0 with about 144K miles like 3 weeks ago.. I dont know if either the timing or balance belt has been changed.. but i plan to change them in the near future..the only thing i notice is that the car vibrates a bit around 2-3k rpms and then fades out at higher rpms is this normal for these cars? Does any one know how much am i looking at for replacement of these important belts... parts and labor? thanks!

 

[diviniti]

Parts are around $150-300.00
Labor is usually around $60-80 an hour.
Most shops call that an 8 hour job.

I wouldnt worry much about the vibrating, aslong as there isnt a noise going along with it.

 

[Passion 4 Speed]

O ok thanks but damn almost 8 hours... here in fl there charge 80 bucks an hour thats gonna kill me!

 

[diviniti]

Call around to everyshop you can for a estimate.
Even try getting a Local DSMer to install it for you.
Personally I would do it for a DSMer for 100-200 bux.

 

[FiReBReTHa]

go to orlando.dsm page look up in the review section, you can find someone, i forgot his name that did my clutch, im gonna ask him to do my T Belt

 

[NOSLO2PT0]

8 hours for a timing belt job? dayum. is he charging you for his lunch and nap time too? A good mechanic can do this job in less than 3 hours. Book time is just a hair over 5 hours for Mitsubishi.

 

[Passion 4 Speed]

oo ok thanks a lot guys!

 

[EagleAWD]

I am also going to need a timing belt in the near future. When you do timing I guess you do the balancer as well. But I have seen that some people remove them, and I see balancer shaft eliminater kits around online. What is the deal with it? Is it something that is unneccesary? Will it harm anything to eliminate it? Why is it even there? I have a 1990 Talon TSI,

 

[Passion 4 Speed]

Well i just recently did a lil visual check on the condition of the timing belt and it looks pretty good and the teeths are in good condition too. The teeth are round shape instead of square so from what i heard these are more stronger and last longer than the square teeth? this may be a stupid question but does carfax tell u if there was any records of ur car being worked by a mechanic in a shop? thanks

 

[Defiant]

You're not going to determine much by looking at a timing belt. The part that matters most is the root of the teeth. Failure is most often a matter of the crank sprocket wiping them off like snot from a brat's face, and usually at startup, shutdown or idle. With just enough spin stocked up in the flywheel to take out half the valves. It's caused by enough cycles of flexing, the drying out of the rubber, the microscopic failure of the belt's reinforcing fabric due to its enduring the hysteresis of the flexing rubber compounds that surrounds it, and of course just plain bad goddamned luck.
For best insurance, replace conventional timing belts -both cam and silent shaft- at 60K miles. Or, if the motor's been idle for long periods, a bit more often. And always do the whole set. The savings over not doing it versus the cost of a part in the system failing just doesn't work out.

 

[Passion 4 Speed]

thats some good info, thats gonna be a lot of $$ to replace all those parts and to do the belt job but better safe than sorry. Im going start saving up everyweek lil by lil. Im gonna get a new waterpump too while im at it. Imma jus hope that the previous owner replace his belts around 100-120 miles, cause im at 144K..sucks not knowing when these belts were replaced...Well now i know what to do and imma have all this replaced as soon as ic an so i can get this worry out of my way. thanks for all the help..=D

 

[FiReBReTHa]

is there anything else performance, or maintenance that might as well be done at the same time??

 

[drk mrk iv]

thats some good info, thats gonna be a lot of $$ to replace all those parts and to do the belt job but better safe than sorry. Im going start saving up everyweek lil by lil. Im gonna get a new waterpump too while im at it. Imma jus hope that the previous owner replace his belts around 100-120 miles, cause im at 144K..sucks not knowing when these belts were replaced...Well now i know what to do and imma have all this replaced as soon as ic an so i can get this worry out of my way. thanks for all the help..=D

My car is in the same situation as yours. The guy said he replaced it a few months ago, but I would rather replace mine again. Better be safe than sorry. Why don't you do the work yourself? I have never replaced one, but have total confidence that I can (and you too). Use the money you would spend on labor to buy mods that will increase the longevity of your car (better BOV, IC piping, ect. ect.)

 

[1fast4]

Where is the cheapest place to buy a timing belt kit? I was looking at the ones on prostreetonline.com( I think thats what it was) last night, looks like it comes with pretty much everything I would need.

 

[Passion 4 Speed]

Well i would do it myself if i knew what i was doing. And i dont want to learn either unless its on different car not mines...
1fast4.... thats a good deal for the kit, but the thing is mines is not turbo, but is a 2.0 dohc, will this kit still fit on mines, cause all they have is for the turbo models only..=/
see.....
Mitsubishi Eclipse 1989 - 1992 FJJ-0001-DSM $208.99
Trim: Turbo Specs: 4G63 Timing Belt Kit - bshaft belt, timing belt, tensioner pulley, water pump and auto tensioner.
all the good stuff that i need.