Hey guys and gals first post here. I'm a HUGE fan of auto forums and frequently visit them for cars I own. I'm posting a question because I worked on my girlfriends car briefly and might have created a problem. She an awesome gal and I don't want to turn her off to my mechanic skills, so I'm putting out a cry for help...


Question = 2007 mitsubishi outlander V6. 60k miles. I pulled the front part of the timing belt cover off to check her belt, which the dealership claimed was 'due' for replacement but I wanted to assure myself and her its good for about 100k. It was. Reinstalled the belt cover with the 4 bolts, didn't overtighten I don't think. Now shes complaining about noise from her engine compartment, and her steering is a little hard to steer sometimes. Did I somehow loosen the serpentine or something!? There was a bolt down by the alternator, kinda hidden under the cover but seemed to be holding it on that I took off, looked the same as the other ones. Was that bolt possibly holding the alternator tension? PLEASE TELL ME I DIDN'T LOOSEN HER TIMING BELT

She is a traveling nurse and left a few hours after I did this to Washington DC and is there now. I live and did the timing belt cover thing in Maine!!!!! Just thought I'd ask for some advice.

I talked her through some troubleshooting over the phone. Her power steering fluid is good. Shes getting a slight chirping sound now from the vicinity of the timing belt cover and claims it all started right after I did this. I did not reinstall a small rubber piece of weatherstrip looking material (about 3 inches) that was on the bottom of the timing belt cover. It didn't want to stay on and just looked like it was there for chafing or something....

Any help would be great. I love this outlander amazing car.

 

with her steering seeming difficult I'd have to wonder what you might have done to the serpentine belt tension... The chirping sound could easily have something to do with the belt. I have an 03 outlander that I'm in the process of getting running again after a timing belt snap (not while I owned it) The mfg recommendation is every 60k miles from what I understand, however I've heard that many make it to 100k. If all you did was take the timing cover off (the top one?) my 03 has top and bottom timing belt covers then there is no way you did anything to harm her timing in my humble opinion. It does sound like the serpentine belt is slipping possibly... so is there a chance that you didn't reroute the belt correctly? (did you even take the serp belt off?)... if you didn't even take the belt off... then how could you have caused a problem... try to get ahold of the service manual for that engine... and see if like you said there may have been an alternator adjustment screw that you just didn't get quite tight enough... I don't think the mitsu engines work that way, but I know what you are talking about... my 87 nissan d21 has the belt tension adjusted by just such a sliding configuration... ask her what engine she has and try looking up some info based on that specific engine rather than outlander alone... my engine for example is used in galants, eclipses, talons, etc... so that might make answering you question easier... cheers mate hope its unrelated... after all you were just trying to save her some cash... replacing a timing belt ain't cheap, but its better that messing with a broken one.

 

Hey flux can hows it going? Best of luck with the 03 hope it all works out. Thanks for the input.

Just to clarify, yes, all I did was unbolt the 'top' timing cover with the 4 funny looking bolts and have a peak. I didn't take either belt off or really do anything else other than put the cover back on and gently tighten.

The only thing I was worried about is one of the bolts was somewhat hidden down by the alternator and wanted to make sure it had nothing to do with tension. On many cars, you tension the serpentine with the alternator. I checked the serpentines belt tention after reinstalling the top cover but she did drive a ways. I dunno maybe I didn't line up the cover quite right and its rubbing... or my nutty girlfriends over reacting.

How much you wanna bet its the latter?

I might purchase a shop manual for her (me!) unless someone has a downloaded version.....

 

By the way, I keep looking for my thread in the outlander forum and I don't see it....hate to be a noob but whats going on here?

 

Have you checked fluid level of the power steering? Has it been changed out yet? I think you may need to get a bit more descriptive of the noise she's hearing.

Forum posts are jacked up site wide. Go into your forum and then click on "Last Post" to resort them.

 

Hey cernst how are ya?

As I mentioned in my first post, her power steering fluid is good. I walked her through checking it over the phone and its right on the max line so its not that but thanks.

Its hard to get more desriptins from her over the phone. Again shes 700 miles away and doesn't know how to describe what shes hearing.

Could the timing belt cover be rubbing against the belt now? I put it back on the way it came off and it seemed pretty idiot proof.

 

not likely that... timing cover only goes on one way... I know on my 03 you have to put the bottom timing cover on before the top, but in your case you only removed the top...

Hmmm... I have the digital version of the shop manual that covers the 03, not sure how much yours will have in common with that. Apparenly the second gen outlanders start in 07... different engines for sure according to wikipedia.

In the long run you could just find a mechanic for her and order the timing belt water pump kit off ebay... the kit will run something like 130-160 with water pump I believe... , it will also have a couple new idler pulleys, Any honest mechanic will just charge you labor and you can give em the parts. I'm guessing they won't bill you much more than 5 hours or so... well worth it considering it will trash the valves immediately if her belt does break. She's probably got 10-20k miles to play with. I would not push beyond that under any circumstance from what I've read in other forums...

 

Hello again flux. Ya, I'm not sure the 03 shop manual will do me any good but thanks just the same.

I pretty much convinced that I didn't do anything to cause any of the new issues, nor that the 'new issues' are actually anything serious at all. Shes still driving the thing every day and I keep asking her about it and she hasn't said anything weirds going on. I'm going to sit back and wait on this one and hope it all goes away...

As far as when to change the belt, I totally hear ya I could be playing with fire so we won't go too long. The belt looks like its still in excellent shape, but somewhere betweeen 80 and 100k we will change it. I doubt I'll change the pulleys or water pump. Dunno why that would need to be done as p.m. before 100k unless Mitsus aren't as good as I thought....

Anyway thanks so much for the input. I should be floating around on here for years to come. Cheers!