TimingBelt Problems - Mitsubishi
Crispulo Vinluan
Galant GS broke. The owner's manual says that you should replace it by
60,000 miles. The entire Dual-Overhead Cam had to be replaced, by Mitsub.
mechanics, because the Timing Belt destroyed it when breaking. I took
Mitsubishi to Court but I ended up paying about $1,500 of a $6,000 repair
bill; because the Judge in my town, in my opinion, is a Fat-Cat establish-
ment guy who always favors the Corporations over the Consumer. You don't
have to believe me but many other people in the City of Alameda also feel
that way. Last week, at 75,000 miles, I had some work done on my car by an
independent Garage; a great bunch of competent, reasonably priced, honest
guys, with a company by the name of Unitech -- in Berkeley, CA. When I
picked up my car, a guy took a socket wrench, quickly removed a small plastic
panel and showed me that the Timing Belt was getting heavily worn, in a
symetrical way, after only 24,000 miles of usage! He suspects that the
Dual-Overhead-Cam was improperly installed by Mitsubishi mechanics. I
promptly called up Mitsubishi Customer Service and later went across the
street to a Mitsubishi Dealership. Their Service Dept. wanted to charge
me for at least 10 minutes of labor just to lift up the cover! I said no
way, I'll come back when the Factory Rep. is in town and use my own socket
wrenches to perform the minor task!
Has anybody heard of the same problem with this particular car? I've called
around town to other dealers and one of them told me that there was a recall
campaign, asked me for my auto identification number for a computer search,
but then they told me that my car wasn't involved in the recall campaign.
Should I believe them? Timing Belt replacement costs between 3 & 4 hundred
dollars. Is it false advertising when the owner's manual says that they
will last for at least 60,000 miles? Following my text, is an excerpt from
a kind of FAQ/SIG for Chrysler cars and a post about the Dodge Stealth and
secret warranties. If I'm not mistaken, the Stealth is the Dodge/Chrysler
version of the Mitsubishi 3000GT; and Chrysler uses many Mitsubishi compon-
ents, especially in the powertrain. These 2 Posts caught my eye. A Unitech
mechanic told me that the same small company that makes Timing Belts for
Mitsubishi also makes them for Honda. He said that there is a lot of bad
news about Mitsubishi Dual-Overhead-Cam autos and Timing Belts, but no
problems have occured with Hondas and Timing Belts produced by the same
factory. So no Japanese Bashing is intended! Anbody have any advice? I
see the Factory Rep. on Friday.
Cris Vinluan
=================================================================
RATIONALE
This group is designed to help Chrysler Corp. (CC) vehicle owners to
support each other, save money, and maximize their enjoyment of their autos.
Owners of CC products have established a successful mailing list on the
Internet, but it is fairly limited in size and availability due partly to
the need to keep bandwidth manageable and partly to the fact that most
people don't realize that a Mopar is a Chrysler product (and some define
"Mopars" as being only muscle or performance cars).
Rec.autos.misc is a good group, but, as in rec.autos.vw, Chrysler owners
need a forum where they feel unreservedly welcomed, and where they can
obtain esoteric information from involved people with similar experiences
and vehicles. A specialized group will also attract some people who are
specifically into Chrysler products but who do not currently subscribe to
rec.autos.misc or rec.autos.technical.
Chrysler products have quirks which most mechanics don't seem to be aware
of, leading them to replace transmissions when the fault is in a 20 cent
vacuum hose, or to replace the engine computer instead of plugging in a
hose or changing a sensor. Chryslers are considered "ordinary American
cars" (unlike makes which many mechanics will admit they are not
familiar with) -- but what will work on a GM or Ford will often not work
on a Dodge. There is a vast ocean of experience in Chrysler products out
on the Internet which may help individual owners, especially those who
depend on mechanics, to save time, money, and trouble. (Mechanics may
also be interested in honing their skills and taking advantage of others'
experience).
I believe that CC vehicles are common enough, yet idiosyncratic enough,
to deserve their own place in the Net hierarchy -- just as Volkswagens
are. In addition, I believe that it is important for CC vehicle owners to
have a place to discuss the problems and benefits of ownership, to
exchange detailed information and personal experiences, in a supportive
and positive atmosphere. In short, I hope to develop a group as vibrant
and helpful as the Mopar mailing list or the rec.autos.VW group have
been, while making this group accessible to all Dodge, Plymouth, Jeep,
Eagle, and Chrysler owners, even those who don't know what a Mopar is. I
also hope to reach those who do not have a general interest in cars which
would lead them to the other rec.autos groups, but who have a specific
interest in the CC vehicle they own and need help from others who have
From: bwe...@micom.com (Bill Weber (DVNS))
Subject: Dealer Sevice Bulletins and Secret Warranties
Message-ID: <1994Aug2.1...@micom.com>
Organization: Micom Communications Corp., Simi Valley, Ca.
Distribution: USA
Date: Tue, 2 Aug 1994 16:47:22 GMT
Lines: 30
Xref: nntp.crl.com rec.autos:993 rec.autos.misc:14146
My new girlfriend has a Dodge Stealth purchased new about 4 years ago. She
has had ongoing problems with the electrical system. The alternator, starter,
and other parts have supposedly been replaced. Still, the car dies with a
dead battery and needs a replacement battery every 5-6 months. One of the
symptoms she describes is this: The voltmeter indicates 14 volts when she
first starts out, then slowly drops to under 12 volts. This sounds like
the alternator output drops as it gets hot, possibly due to a poor design.
Several motorcycle models I know of have exhibited simalar symptoms and the
manufacturers quietly replaced the alternator stator with a more robust part,
but only when the owner complained loudly enough. The appropriate service
bulletins and secret warranty info were published in some motorcycle mags.
Does anyone know how I can find out if there have been any service bulletins
or secret warranties on the Stealth? I know such things exist, but I don't
know how to find them. I don't trust the dealer to tell the truth on this
matter. The car is a blast to drive, but this problem really takes all the
fun out of it.
Rex Jennett
Crispulo Vinluan (cvin...@crl.com) wrote:
: In 1992, at approximately 51,000 miles, the Timing Belt on my 89 Mitsubishi
:
ljg
>In 1992, at approximately 51,000 miles, the Timing Belt on my 89 Mitsubishi
>Galant GS broke. The owner's manual says that you should replace it by
>60,000 miles. The entire Dual-Overhead Cam had to be replaced, by Mitsub.
>mechanics, because the Timing Belt destroyed it when breaking. I took
>Mitsubishi to Court but I ended up paying about $1,500 of a $6,000 repair
My story (for comparision):
In 1993, at approx. 50,600 miles, the Timing Belt broke on my 90 Mitsubishi
Eclipse GS DOHC. I was up in Rocklin (Sacramento) on a Sunday and had a tow
truck take me to the big Auto Mall thinking there would be a Mit. Dealer up
there. There wasn't, and I had to get back to Marin, so I left it parked at
the Toyota Dealership and had friends bring me back down. Monday morning
the toyota dealership called said that they looked at it (briefly) and
suspected the timing belt and that a Mit. Dealer would have to work on it,
and told me where the nearest was; Toyota did not charge me anything. 10
more minutes on the phone and the Mit. dealership made the arrangements for
getting my car moved (about 17 miles apart.). They called me later that
day, and informed me that the Timing Belt had snapped and that they
suspected most; if not all of the Cam and valves would have to be replaced.
The good news was that Mit. would take care of it all under "Goodwill",
since I was so close to the warrenty expiration. Delays (minor) made we
wait till early the next week to pick up my car, in the mean time the found
that my Exhaust Manifold was cracked so they replaced that also (again under
Goodwill). When I picked up my car all I had to pay for was the Tow! (Which
Statefarm reimbursed with a smile.) Total cost to me: 1 week, $0 dollars.
My question: Why such a big difference in treatment?
Les Geiger
Crispulo Vinluan
: In 1992, at approximately 51,000 miles, the Timing Belt on my 89 Mitsubishi
:
Crispulo Vinluan
: In 1992, at approximately 51,000 miles, the Timing Belt on my 89 Mitsubishi
:
Crispulo Vinluan
: In 1992, at approximately 51,000 miles, the Timing Belt on my 89 Mitsubishi
:
Todd Day
also discuss the Galant VR-4 since it shares the power train with
the AWD versions of the TEL cars.
There are a few people on the list that have had timing belt problems.
However, this problem was acknowledged by the factory and they
did do a followup recall. Apparently, there was a bad run of timing
belts in 1991.
Anyway, if you would like to subscribe to the list, you can send your
request to talon-...@di.com. If you would like to look at our
home page, the URL is http://www.rain.org/~today/talon.html. There
are links to the archives plus a link to factory technical service
bulletins thru '93. The FTPable archives are located at
rain.org:/pub/talon.
-todd-
--
Todd Day
to...@di.com
to...@rain.org