New to the forum but I've been reading posts for a few weeks.
I had a 1989 Dodge Raider (aka 3-door Montero) back in the early '90's and we loved that vehicle... built like a tank.
Since we had such great luck with the Raider, we decided to buy this 2007 Galant. Sort of high mileage (for the year, 88k miles) but this car drives and runs like a brand new car (see pic below). I read in the maintenance manual that the timing belt should be replaced at 60k miles and after speaking to the original owner, it was never replaced. I took it to a local Firestone auto center (a friend of mine works there) and they did a good job replacing the belts. The car ran fine all the way home. A few days ago, I noticed that once it was warmed up (like driven for at least 15 miles) the idle was very low when sitting at traffic lights (low enough that the car would shake a little). I never noticed this before the belts were changed so I brought it back to ask the mechanic. He checked all the electrcal plugs, the vaccuum lines, and he even cleaned the throttle body, but the car still idles very low when warm. Any other ideas? I read that since the battery was disconnected when they did the work, the computer may have relearned the settings based on a dirty throttle body so that was his reason (I believe) for cleaning the TB. Could the timing be off?

Thanks,

Wally
2007 Galant

 

I figured it out myself. I had my daughter sit in the car and while her foot was on the brake, she placed the transmission in reverse. I noticed the engine had a slight shake on the timing belt cover side where the mechanic had to remove the motor mount to remove the cover. Low and behold the guy stripped one of the motor mount bolts (they bolt to what looks like a tapped hole in the unibody I believe).
I'll stop back tomorrow and bust him... they'll have to re-tap the hole or place a nut under it if possible, I can't see it well unless I remove the inner fender well plastic and I paid them to fix it first.

Wally
2007 Galant

 

I pondered the idea of taking my car back to Firestone where the mechanic "hid" his mistake and acted like he had "know idea" why the car would have a shake in the seat (after he couldn't tighten one of the motor mount bolts because it was stripped) so I ended up bumping up to the next size metric bolt and tapping the hole myself. Because it's about 10" down from the top, I ended up welding a tap to a 3/8" old socket so I could use extensions to lengthen the reach and tap the hole without removing the motor mount, worked like a charm.

Wally
2007 Galant

ps. anybody else but me even checking this thread out?