Timing belt and CEL code questions

[Anthony Yacullo]

I bought my 97 gst from South Carolina (I am in Monroe, LA) and my dad drove it from SC to Louisiana for me. He put around 1k miles on it (Car has 120k). This car has only been owned by one person and only been in SC, going crazy to find if the timing belt has been change already. Is there any way to know other than calling mitsu and looking it via VIN? Any tale tale signs of a bad timing belt? I also have 2 engine codes showing, p1105 which I have done a little reading on, and my upstream o2 sensor. Any insight would be nice, thanks!

 

[pauleyman]

Assume is hasnt. Without paperwork to be sure there is no way to tell. I doubt its the original belt but even if thats true I would assume its 60k old and in which case still needs to be changed. Why didnt you just ask that one owner?

 

[Anthony Yacullo]

Assume is hasnt. Without paperwork to be sure there is no way to tell. I doubt its the original belt but even if thats true I would assume its 60k old and in which case still needs to be changed. Why didnt you just ask that one owner?

Well, the car was traded in at a Nissan dealer (not sure how long). Than I guess bought by some used car dealership, it was a pretty good find. They might have been late on doing it so I am going to go take the top cover off and see if I can visually inspect it.

 

[BlackGSXEclipse]

Assume is hasnt. Without paperwork to be sure there is no way to tell. I doubt its the original belt but even if thats true I would assume its 60k old and in which case still needs to be changed. Why didnt you just ask that one owner?

^^^^This is exactly right. If there's no paperwork to prove it's been changed then assume it hasn't. I wouldn't even take someone's word for it without proof. Always better to be safe then sorry.

 

[Gamovr]

You can try to feel the belt and see if it feels dry or shows signs of wear but I would agree with the previous posts that your better off just changing it. These being interference motors, if that thing snaps it could be gameover.

 

[pauleyman]

You can not visually inspect it. Trust me. Ive been at this since 1987 with mitsubishi. You're looking for the easy way out.
There isn't one. Just change it.i lost count of how many I had done years ago. If it looked bad it was so far past when it should have been changed it was just luck it didnt break.

 

[dsm199994]

Just replace the timing belt and bs belt. It's not worth the headache if that thing snaps on you. Do all the pullys and hydro tensioner and use all oem parts, timing isn't something to skimp out on.

 

[06legacygt]

+1 on changing it if you don't know the history. Not worth gambling and costing you a cylinder head later.

 

[NismoDSM]

looks are not always accurate, on my 98 gst the belt looked perfect then shredded while driving.

 

[Meech Meimaris]

First thing I was told by my mechanic is change the belt!

 

[Nuzzi]

Im about to do a full timing job, my belt looks like a brand new mitsu belt but im changing it anyway since I don't know the history. Point being that for under $200 I got a Gates kit and a OEM tensioner, so considering what you may have into the car its cheap insurance.

 

[NismoDSM]

Im about to do a full timing job, my belt looks like a brand new mitsu belt but im changing it anyway since I don't know the history. Point being that for under $200 I got a Gates kit and a OEM tensioner, so considering what you may have into the car its cheap insurance.

+1 much cheaper than an engine