Timing Belt Renewal - What's Involved?

Once I get my car I intend to replace the timing belt, as well as other belts and hoses. Before it gets here I want to try to work out and order all the bits and pieces I need (hence all the posts I've been making about parts everywhere )

So a few questions for those of you with experience working on these cars:

• There's been some discussion of replacement of the Timing Belt Tensioner in other threads. I've posted a diagram here of the timing components. Is it only the Tensioner Adjuster that would need renewal?

• What seals and gaskets will need to be replaced? There isn't a kit for the Timing Cover and there are 9 different gaskets, but I wouldn't think they'd be too critical as the timing cover doesn't house a pressurised system...

• I also want to do the Hydraulic Lifters (Lash Adjusters). What gaskets and seals am I likely to need to replace?

 

First of all it is a good idea to replace everything while you are there such as the tensioner, water pump, spark plugs, etc. The tensioner is only $80 or so and you don't want to blow up the engine! Do it once and do it right.

As for the seals and gaskets, you should need to do anything really, unless you have problems with the little o-ring seals around the spark plugs and if you take the rocker covers off for the lash adjusters you might need to redo the gaskets for the rocker covers, but in saying that...

There is no real need to replace them anyway. They aren't going to break anything and the ticking it just a good way to figure out when you need to do the oil change!

 

Brad can you please tell me if the timing belt for the 6A13 is the same as our 6A13TT? Or are they the same engine and I'm just getting confused?

 

Thanks Brad. A few questions to clarify though:



As you can see from the above image, the timing belt tensioner includes three parts; the tensioner arm, pulley and adjuster. Is it just the adjuster you're talking about?

Given the pricing I've gotten from the Mitsi parts distributor, its sounds a little more than $80...

Timing Belt Tensioner Arm . . . . . . MD318809 . . . . $97.25
Timing Belt Tensioner Pulley. . . . . MD316826 . . . . $97.90
Timing Belt Tensioner Adjuster . . . MD308593 . . . . $269.30

Speaking of lifters, if I'm correct there are 24 lifters in this car - one for each valve... is that right?? I know noisey lifters won't damage anything... well, unless they seize up completely, then you can smash things! But I just HATE noisey lifters!! >.<

Steve there ARE two different versions - the standard which was in the Galant and the 2002 Diamante, and the Twin Turbo version which was in the VR4. From the diagrams and part numbers in CAPS I'd say they are quite different, yes.

 

2002 diamante??? really? any details or specs on that one?

The 8G 6A13 is quite different to the 6A13TT, for a start it is only SOHC and not DOHC, hence the timing belt is a completely different length!

You only need the pulley, check with Carsten to confirm this though.

There are 24 lifters, one per valve.

 

I Recently had to do a timming belt change. you can get the genuine belt from a guy on ebay and also most parts like water pump, Idler and tensioner. cam shaft seals are available from MMAL for $10 each. changing just the belt,water pump and tensioners will take a few hours to do if you got all the tools. getting the crank pulley off was the hard bit for me and I had to but a puller for it.You also need to compress the autotensioner using a good vice. Its all mentioned in the manual. One thing that I noted in my manual when tightening the cylinder head bolts(I had to change bent valves as well) was that the torque specs were wrong.- instead of 20NM + 120deg + 120deg, It had 20NM + 120deg. I later checked in a different version of the same manual and it had the correct torque spec.
You don't really need to change the lifters. you can just remove them and clean them to get similar results.

 

03158
03110
03152
03178
And don't forget water pump. - mine jammed and caused the belt to snap.

 

WATER PUMP
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Water-Pump-Japan-OEM-for-Legnum-Galant-VR4-6A13-Turbo_W0QQitemZ180166004473QQihZ008QQcategoryZ10400QQcmdZViewItem
TENSIONER
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Genuine-Timing-Belt-Tensioner-for-Legnum-Galant-VR4_W0QQitemZ180166004485QQihZ008QQcategoryZ10400QQcmdZViewItem
BELT KIT
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Genuine-Timing-Belt-for-Mitsubishi-Legnum-Galant-VR4_W0QQitemZ180166952920QQihZ008QQcategoryZ10400QQcmdZViewItem

I got the parts delivered in 2 days and they are genuine ! It is a little difficult understanding the guy in emails tough but he is o.k.

 

Trev, Charandeep, thanks a million. I'll take that belt back to Mitsubishi on Monday. I hope this dude is quick with postage!

 

Workshop manual

Happy you mentioned "my manual" do you have a real VR4 TT workshop manual? If so you are going to be very popular. Where did you get it? or can we have a copy. The only one I have seen so far on Ebay and the English Club VR4 does not cover our cars and has no wiring diagrams.

Ian

 

whats this manual your talking about? Is it a Mitsubishi workshop manual??

And is it for sale anywhere?

cheers

 

Wikipedia Article - see SOHC listing

Yea I was hoping I was wrong on that one... There's just over $1000 worth of lifters there! >.< I did them (only 8) in the magna, made SUCH a difference. Cleaning & re-priming them only fixed it for a week or so, so needed new ones. Genuine were $60, aftermarket were $11!! If I get knocking lifters in the VR4 I'm gonna SCREAM, I swear!

Yea read your thread, Chander - that was NASTY!

Thanks for the heads-up! I'll find out some more pricing and compare, but once you add shipping looks like a similar price to the local Mitsi parts distributor here.

You mean the Camshaft Oil Seal? Part number MD153103, CAPS ref 03130?

Which manual did you use Chander? Was it this one? Or a the 6A13TT one for the VR4, as Ian asked??

Multiple copies of the manual? Dude how are you getting copies of all these? The only copy I have is the one linked to earlier for the non-turbo...

As mentioned above, on my Magna I didn't have good mileage with cleaning and re-priming... I guess I'll hold off and just hope like hell the VR4 lifters are a LOT better!!

So the Belt, Tensioner Adjuster and Water Pump I get, but you also recommend replacing the pulley's? Do they throw bearings or something?

 

When you say you noticed a big difference after replacing the lifters, was that in regards to power and economy or something, or just the noise?

 

Nah noise - it rattled like a bastard

 

make sure you have enough oil and get an exhaust and you will never hear lifters lol

 

yep, thats my trick to sorting out the lifter problem!

 

LOL I'm just anal about stuff like that - cranking the stereo is not exactly the best way of fixing noises you can hear in your car that shouldn't be there...

 

Sorry guys, I don't have the original VR4 manual. I believe it is only printed in japanese. I however came across three closely related manuals:

1. The 8g galant manual ( http://ozvr4.com/resources/workshop-manual/)
2. 6A1X Engine Manual. (http://rapidshare.com/files/62946678/6A1_Engine_Manual.pdf)
3 Another 6A1X Engine Manual.
(http://rapidshare.com/files/62947772/6A12_6A13.pdf)

On both the 2nd and 3rd manuals, you will note the difference in cylinder head bolt torque specs as per page 11A-1-6 and 11A-12-6.

I had originally torqued the bolts 20Nm+120deg and they still did not seem tight enough, so I decided on using the ajusa specs for their head gaskets, which was to 10kpm in steps. I ended up breaking a head bolt in the process before even reaching 9kpm torque.

After getting the broken bolt out using ezyout and extra long drill bits, I finally came to the conclusion that the 20NM+120deg+120deg seemed about right, After about reaching this level of tightness the bolt just seemed to stretch until it broke and torque did not increase any further.

As for changing the belt, I would definately do the water pump. The tensioner and bearings arent that Important but after my recent experience and considering that those parts are all moving on the timming belt, they will probably have the same amount of wear as the water pump and if any one of these fail and cause the belt to come off or snap, you are looking at almost an engine rebuild.

An interesting thing I noted when I got the Ajusa head gaskets was that the packaging mentions them to fit a 6G73(2.5l V6) engine as well. Their website catalog also confirms this - http://www.ajusa.es/us/catalogos/catalogos.php

 

Just a quick question, does anyone have any pictures of the side of the engine? without all the covers on so we can see what it looks like and where the water pump is located?

Ive seen it in CAPS but wanted to see a real photo

 

Thanks heaps for the info Chander!!

Did you have to lift the engine out to get to the timing gear?