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replacing timing belt


scals37
12-04-2007, 03:25 PM
just went in to my local shop about getting a new timing belt, ive heard clicking during accelerating my car so i figured that might be the problem, hes gonna take it in tonight at 6 and look at it tommorow, he warned me that replacing the belt could be upwards toward $600?? :uhoh:

i have never heard of a new timing belt costing that much, but he told me that due to the talon's engine, theyd have to lift it out and whatnot... what should i do?

SilvrEclipse
12-04-2007, 03:30 PM
Depending on what he is replacing that price may not be to bad. Its recomemded that when you do the timing belt service you replace the pulleys, tensioner, water pump, and the belt. Find out what he is replacing and let us know. 600 for just the belt is high.

You could do it yourself if you are mechanically inclinde some. I did mine without to much trouble. Took a solid day my first time. If you have the tools I would say go for it. Its not that hard.

scals37
12-04-2007, 03:33 PM
well, i might have tried if i was at home, but i am away at school, without a garage/tools and theres like 6 inches of snow, so thats out of the question... but are you saying that id HAVE to get all of those replaced? cause like i was saying, a timing belt alone shouldnt be that much

SilvrEclipse
12-04-2007, 03:37 PM
How many miles are on the car? When I did mine at 60k I just replaced the belt. I would recomend replacing the belt and pulleys at the very least. Specially since your not doing the work, might want to throw a water pump on there also, if it goes out you have to tear the thing back apart since it would be right there.

At least find out how much more it would cost. All of these parts should cost less than 100.

gthompson97
12-04-2007, 03:49 PM
A timing belt is $75 itself so it'd be pretty hard to find the rest for $25. I'd say under $250 though.

scals37
12-04-2007, 03:58 PM
ill know for sure tomorrow, im gonna drop it off in an hour... but would he really have to pull the engine out to do it?

btw the engine has 70K on it, the water pump was replaced right before i bought it according to my the guy i got it from...

david-b
12-04-2007, 03:58 PM
A timing belt is $75 itself so it'd be pretty hard to find the rest for $25. I'd say under $250 though.

Where is this? When I got mine from the dealer it was $125. Rape-age action there.

scals37
12-04-2007, 04:01 PM
do you guys think maybe i should take it to a chrysler dealer instead? this guy has worked on my current car and previous car, as well as some friends' in the past and has been somewhat reliable... but i dont know about this time

gthompson97
12-04-2007, 04:30 PM
Where is this? When I got mine from the dealer it was $125. Rape-age action there.
OEM Mitsu belt from SBR is $75.

do you guys think maybe i should take it to a chrysler dealer instead? this guy has worked on my current car and previous car, as well as some friends' in the past and has been somewhat reliable... but i dont know about this time
A dealer would just rape you even more. And he doesn't need to pull the motor to replace the timing belt. And if they replaced the water pump already, my guess is that they also replaced the timing belt, so you shouldn't need to do it until it's got about 60k on it.

Thor06
12-04-2007, 04:34 PM
First off, why would ticking mean bad belt? I've never heard this...

Second, $600 for a T belt job doesnt sound too bad to me. They bill probably $75/hr shop labor plus maybe $200 in parts so that leaves $500 for labor or 6 2/3 hours. If they can get it done in that time I'd say thats pretty good, I would take a good 12 hours or so to do a T belt myself, but I actually give a fuck about what I am doing whereas I bet any normal grease monkey doesnt.

kittay
12-04-2007, 04:37 PM
I've never once pulled the engine to replace a belt or any of the pullies. However, the timing belt is the only thing on my car I didn't do myself. I had Brendan do that. Making sure the timing is correct is very important, and I don't trust myself to do that.
But 600 sounds insane to do a timing belt!! But I've never paid shop prices for labor..

But Mitsu is the cheapest place for parts.

I don't think a belt would make a ticking unless one of the pullies is eating at the belt. I had that happen. Unless the belt was skipping teeth, but you would know that real soon (your car wouldn't be running now).. you may want to pop the hood and play with the throttle and listen to where the sound is coming from.

scals37
12-04-2007, 04:41 PM
alright well, what would that ticking be... only happens when accelerating from low speed to high.... usually around 2000 to 3000 rpms... i sprayed belt dressing on it to see if it would silence it, and it did for a few days, friend told me it was prolly the timing belt, so i took it to the shop to be looked at

gthompson97
12-04-2007, 04:57 PM
You sprayed belt dressing on which belt? I hope it wasn't the timing belt, if you did, that belt is now ruined. The ticking noise could be anything. Have you checked for any exhaust leaks? An exhaust leak will usually tick under acceleration.

scals37
12-04-2007, 06:26 PM
well, the prick told me to bring it in at 6 when they closed, and of course i get there and some other guy says they have no room to hold it for the night.... SOOO i will be bringing it in at 8 tomorrow morning, afterwards ill have more answers :banghead:

TalonEclipseMixGsx
12-04-2007, 08:14 PM
The ticking could be alot of things, you might want to pin point the problem before you go dropping all your cash on things that don't need to be replaced. Like said above, and exhaust leak could be it. Is it coming from the engine compartment or from like the drive train? A worn CV joint will make a ticking noise when it is going out. It could also be lifter tick, which is very common in these cars. Both of my DSM's do it. Hell I've even read that one of the signs of crankwalk is a ticking from somewhere in the engine(probably that magnetic pickup hitting against the crank sensor). Most of the time a belt wont be the culprite. When is the last time your timing belt was replaced?

gthompson97
12-04-2007, 08:43 PM
You wouldn't hear lifter tick during acceleration unless it's really really bad, but even then, it would have to sounds like a rod bearing going out at idle. Most, if not all, DSMs get lifter tick at idle. I'm still betting on an exhaust leak.

vanilla gorilla
12-04-2007, 11:48 PM
As far as the ticking goes, I'm not sure about that.

If the car has alot of miles on it and/or your not sure when or if the timing belt has been replaced, then you should go ahead and replace it.

At my dealership the timing belt alone is about 75-80 bucks.

My dealer qouted me $650 for a t-belt change, which included new t-belt, balance shaft belt, tensioner, tensioner pulley, waterpump, and labor. So $600 for all of this is about right, if he is going to change everything, not just the t belt. And yes you should go ahead and replace all of this at once.

And no you don't have to pull the engine to change it.

Thor06
12-05-2007, 01:06 AM
Makes shit a hell of a lot easier though :).

Do you guys realize hes a 420a? Has anyone done a T belt change on a 420a? I dont know, I've never heard an RS/GS with lifter tick, but I definately think you should find a different friend to diagnos your car.

SilvrEclipse
12-05-2007, 08:18 AM
I changed my t-belt. Deffinately dont have to pull the motor. I did end up taking 3 motor mounts out and supported the motor with a jack and piece of wood from the oil pan. The motor will have to be let down some and get the crank pulley off.

I can have everything off the car and taking off the t-belt in about 2.5 hrs. If you have the right tools.

TalonEclipseMixGsx
12-05-2007, 09:15 AM
I know on a cold motor, or after I just changed the oil, the lifters on my talon will tick non stop at idle and while driving a few miles. Of course this is neither on the 4g63 nor the 420A.

gthompson97
12-05-2007, 01:22 PM
Do you guys realize hes a 420a? Has anyone done a T belt change on a 420a?

I've done so many of them I could do it in my sleep. The only thing that sucks really bad is getting the motor mount plate off, its no fun.

david-b
12-05-2007, 01:23 PM
Makes shit a hell of a lot easier though :).

Do you guys realize hes a 420a? Has anyone done a T belt change on a 420a? I dont know, I've never heard an RS/GS with lifter tick, but I definately think you should find a different friend to diagnos your car.

420a can get lifter tick... any car can. Mine had a little at idle before I swapped the head. Had only 106k miles on it. But it is possible, although during acceleration doesn't sound like it. Is it coming from the head for sure? It's hard to say what it is without more info.

scals37
12-05-2007, 04:00 PM
ok, so the problem was an exhaust leak.. last time i take advice from friends... the guy wanted to charge me 400-500 to fix that? not sure if thats about right or not... also had to get my door handles replaced :shakehead get this, walk out to the car to take it to the shop today to find out that one door handle had been ripped off, the other just flat out broken...?? had to open the car with a coat hanger and the guy tells me that it will be 350 to replace the door handles..... i just can't win when it comes to repairs

SilvrEclipse
12-05-2007, 04:46 PM
Sounds like you got some bad luck man. All 2gs door handles break, when mine did it was only the driver side though. I bought a new one off ebay for like $25 and it cost me $25 to paint it. I put it on myself.
i would still look into the timing belt if it hasn't been changes before

gthompson97
12-05-2007, 05:02 PM
400-500 to fix an exhaust leak? That guy is crazy. Depending on where it's leaking, it shouldn't take more than 1-2 hours at the maximum, and the only reason it would take that long is because you'd have to remove rusty ass bolts. If it's just a bad gasket or something, it should be a very easy fix.

defiancy
12-05-2007, 05:10 PM
I believe it. This place down the street from my work was telling my co-worker it would be 600 dollars to replace the intake manifiold gasket on her Saturn.

vanilla gorilla
12-05-2007, 05:39 PM
ok, so the problem was an exhaust leak.. last time i take advice from friends... the guy wanted to charge me 400-500 to fix that? not sure if thats about right or not... also had to get my door handles replaced :shakehead get this, walk out to the car to take it to the shop today to find out that one door handle had been ripped off, the other just flat out broken...?? had to open the car with a coat hanger and the guy tells me that it will be 350 to replace the door handles..... i just can't win when it comes to repairs

350 for door handles? At advance auto parts they are like $20 a piece. But then you gotta paint them. But $350 is still ridiculous.

SilvrEclipse
12-05-2007, 06:05 PM
You need to give that mechanic a nice swift kick to the nuts

kittay
12-05-2007, 07:34 PM
ok, so the problem was an exhaust leak.. last time i take advice from friends... the guy wanted to charge me 400-500 to fix that? not sure if thats about right or not... also had to get my door handles replaced :shakehead get this, walk out to the car to take it to the shop today to find out that one door handle had been ripped off, the other just flat out broken...?? had to open the car with a coat hanger and the guy tells me that it will be 350 to replace the door handles..... i just can't win when it comes to repairs
So who broke the handles? If it was the shop, make them pay to fix it. If not, that's damage to your property. They're responsible for.

I can't immagine paying someone else to touch my car.

JoeShmoe
12-06-2007, 06:52 AM
So who broke the handles? If it was the shop, make them pay to fix it. If not, that's damage to your property. They're responsible for.

I can't immagine paying someone else to touch my car.

:iagree: $500 exhaust leak + $350 door handles - hours of dicking around = ass rape w/o Anal Ease:icon16:

scals37
12-06-2007, 02:41 PM
nah, they were busted before taking it in... found out that some person that isnt too fond of me meddled with my car on a drunken night... ill be taking care of that REAL soon :nono:... anyway, i HAD to get the handles fixed regardless because of all the snow up here and i def didnt want to leave my door unlatched while trying to find a shop that would do them for a reasonable price, as for the leak.. he said the car is def driveable and just wouldnt pass emitions... so ill be able to compare prices at other shops for that

kittay
12-06-2007, 03:53 PM
The door handles are fairly easy to change out. I've already done mine after the release broke.
You have to remove the inner door plastic, then the hardest part is getting the lock out of the handle.
If you're good with fiddeling with stuff, I'd check the price at Mitsu for the handles.

Have you checked and looked at the exhaust leak? Like after they told you about it, did they point it out to you?

scals37
12-06-2007, 05:44 PM
i have yet to get the car back, so when they call me ill make sure to get some answers

scals37
12-07-2007, 02:12 PM
heres the bill:

check car for idles low at start - $25
replace door handles - $150
handles - $87 ea
clean throttle plate - $75
total after tax - $456


told him to not worry about the exhaust just yet.. he had written down "egr valve port hole out of head leaking exhaust"

SilvrEclipse
12-07-2007, 02:24 PM
man 150 labor for changing 2 door handles. Damn

scals37
12-07-2007, 02:34 PM
yea the guy was telling me that the other mech was doing it and complaining about how hard it was to do, and his hands are all cut up... blah blah blah... im sitting there just thinking about how bad i was getting raped... wouldnt have suprised me if he had informed me of a magical unicorn in my tailpipe, ala dane cook

gthompson97
12-07-2007, 03:09 PM
wouldnt have suprised me if he had informed me of a magical unicorn in my tailpipe

Jumping around poking holes in the exhaust and shitting on the filters. :lol:

SilvrEclipse
12-07-2007, 03:43 PM
Jumping around poking holes in the exhaust and shitting on the filters. :lol:

LMAO!!

Those door handles are difficult to replace. I think it took me about 3 hrs to do one. You have to push a rod into the plastic clip but you cant really get to either.

scals37
12-08-2007, 01:42 PM
anyway, should i go ahead and get quotes about the exhaust? will it be ok to drive around for a bit

gthompson97
12-08-2007, 02:06 PM
It won't hurt anything driving it like that, the ticking might get a little louder over time, but it has nothing to do with the driveablitiy of the car.

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