I'm in quite a bind financially right now but feel compelled to stop pushing my luck and get this service done on my 2003 Gallant. It has 80k miles. A buddy of mine advised me to just have the belt itself replaced and no other parts including the water pump. Does that make sense? Is that the cheapest way to get by? Don't the tensioner pulleys, etc. also have to be replaced or does it depend on wear? Thanks for the help!

 

Yes those other things do have to be replaced. The results can be.....well.... catastrophic. If you want to take that risk then.. be my guest. Be smart...dont cheap out on your car!

 

Thanks, so you're saying the same kind of engine damage can occur if those other parts fail from wear as well?

 

Yes. If the belt is not kept under correct tension... then it will slip and jump teeth... = bent valves. If the pulley breaks.. (and it has before in some cases) the same can happen

 

Makes sense, thank you.

Would you always suggest replacing the water pump as well regardless? Do those things ever leak? I understand that its the labor cost that usually neccessitates this regardless of its condition?

 

Replace it all. Most of those (if not all)should have been replaced at or close to your 75K mile mark.

 

If you dont replace the water pump you could overheat... causing spun bearings or anything like that.... that a little more than just bent valves...thts your entire motor.

Yes, all of it needs to be replaced regardless of condition.

 

Interesting the different advice I've gotten on this service from 3 shops I called.

1st advised only to have the timing belt replaced and that they would inspect the rest and make a decision on replacing at that time.

2nd said to have the timing belt replaced and if the water pump needed to be removed to replace the belt (I assume it does because it is turned by the belt on this car?) then they advise to replace it. This shop also mentioned I might need a "tensioner kit" that contains the tensioner and 3 idler pulleys but they didn't think they would need replacement.

3rd said they recommend replacing the timing belt and water pump regardless but likely nothing else will need to be replaced.

So it seems to me I'm locked into replacing the timing belt and water pump, would be smart to replace the tensioner and pulleys even though they likely could wait till the next timing belt service if I adhere to the seemingly very conservative 60kmiles recommendation from Mitsubishi.

I wish I had money to burn...[&:]

 

The 2nd is closest. I would go with them.

 

My 01 4 cylinder Galant just turned 89k. Im almost certain th belt and wp havent ever ben done. How much work should I expect, what are all of the parts that I should replace when doing the job, and what is a reasonable amunt to expect to pay to have the job done? Also, ay chance I could get to 100k without trouble or is that really dangerous?