Our '10 XLS presently has only about 105,000 km, but it still has its original timing belt which supposedly must be changed at 7 years OR 160,000 km, whichever comes first. Our vehicle was bought in Nov of '09, so the 7-year point was reached last November.

In order to maintain our Canadian vehicle's 10-year powertrain warranty (as far as the components that might be damaged by the timing belt being changed go), I have to get that belt replaced by the Mit. dealership. I've been told point blank by the service manager that if any other place than Mit. does the job, if there is a problem with that job or damage resulting from that job, the place that did the job will have to deal with the damage.

I'm considering whether to have the dealership do the job or do it myself. One thing is for certain, I know that if I personally do the job, it will be done right. If the vehicle had a typical powertrain warranty of 3 or 5 years, I'd be doing the job and not even be thinking about other people doing it or the warranty angle.

To make the decision easier, I'm in the process of creating a list of parts for a complete, and I do mean complete, timing belt job. I don't want to have any issues whatsoever for the next 100,000+ kms, so, in addition to the timing belt, I'm going to replace the water pump and the camshaft and crankshaft oil seals. I've got a list of parts below, but please note that the number "4" should be "3" for the number of ignition coils.

While I'm under the hood I'm also considering replacing the rear spark plugs and their ignition coils. Am I crazy to do this at our vehicle's mileage?

I'm going to go OEM on all of the timing belt related stuff, as well as the seals and gaskets, but the almost $90 ignition coils I'm not so sure about. Some big name ignition coil manufacturers are charging only $20 to $30 for coils. Are there big differences in Mit quality versus all the others when it comes to coils? Anybody know who makes the coils for Mitsubishi?

Thanks for any other advice on the lengths I should go to to ensure another 100,000 km+ of zero timing-belt or oil-seal related problems.

 

I'm about to do my 2nd timing belt soon. I'd pass on the coils, crank/camshaft seals, crank gear, . I'd go aftermarket on just about everything. Nothing special about a gasket, a tensioner, a belt...someone makes it, mitsubishi doesn't. just be sure to get quality parts.

I also passed on the water pump and tensioner my first round, I'll be doing that this time, but saving old ones..."just in case".

 

Thanks for the input, ccernst.

How many miles were on your vehicle at the first change and, now, at the second? I ask because I'd like to get at least some idea of how many miles the timing belt should reasonably last mileage-wise anyway, and how many miles one can expect out of a Mit. water pump before it starts to leak when the coolant is changed according to the maintenance manual schedule.

I have another question for the forum. Two of our vehicle's differential seals (where the drive shafts enter the diff.) started to leak at different, widely-spaced times and both were replaced at no charge under the powertrain warranty. Does anyone happen to know if the cam and crank oil seals that I mentioned above were to start leaking during the powertrain warranty period, would the replacement of those seals also be covered under the warranty, as the diff. seals were?

I ask this because if their replacement for leaking/"weeping" are indeed covered under warranty, if I were running the service dept. of a Mit. dealership and an under-warranty vehicle were brought in for a timing belt replacement, I'd seriously consider replacing at least the cam seals during that job, perhaps because "I just happened to notice them leaking while replacing the belt". Doing this would eliminate the possibility that the original seals might start leaking and have to be replaced during the period time between replacing the timing belt and the end of the warranty. If I do the job, I'd replace them for essentially the same reason, but of course I will have to pay for them and all the other parts. Actually, the same argument applies to replacing the water pump. Is the water pump also covered under the powertrain warranty?

Thanks.

 

First time I did it was something like 105k-107k miles. I'm at 198k miles now, will do it at around 200k miles.

knock on wood, the only leaks my vehicle has had was a leaky lower oil pan seal (fixed that myself during an oil change/pre-100k miles) and a rear diff output seal. The rear diff seal leaked because the seal actually wore down the CV shaft surface. I replaced it with a new seal ($8) and tried to place it on a fresh part of the CV shaft surface....it is leaking again...and by leaking, the diff is moist and on rare occasion there is a drip in the garage...I'm not worried about it.

I changed my coolant once at around 65k miles with Peak Global Lifetime coolant...haven't changed it since.

 

Thanks again.

In the past I have been told by the Mit service manager that the original Mit water pumps last a very long time and what you say supports his contention. 198,000 miles equals about 318,650 kms and your pump has not yet begun to leak, but here I am considering replacing our '10's water pump at around 65,000 miles (105,000 km). It's one thing to be proactive, maintenance-wise, but I'm now thinking that I would be certifiably insane to replace the pump at so few miles. More sane to do it at the next timing belt replacement.

Because the various pulleys are not subject to deterioration because of age, as the timing belt supposedly is, the pulleys must be designed to last for at least the 160,000 kms (roughly 100,000 miles) recommended for the first timing belt replacement. And from your vehicle's experience, the same reasoning holds for the hydraulic tensioner, which is expensive as the Mit OEM part. Maybe it would be insane to replace these parts now, too.

This job may end up costing a fair bit less money than I previously thought.

Thanks again.

 

here in the states, they recommend timing belt every 100k miles along with spark plugs. no mention of tensioner/water pump....but mechanics all over state you should change them "while you are in there". I gambled and came out okay.

that being said, this time, I will be changing out a lot more parts. However, I will be inspecting them and saving what is good. if the water pump is good, then maybe at 300k miles, I'll put the original back in.

I really haven't had much go bad on this thing. I'm still on my original brake rotors....they DO need to be changed...but I can squeak another 1.5k miles out of them just for bragging rights.

I shop a lot at RockAuto.com...I had all the parts I thought I'd need already in a cart, but I checked and it was gone. so I rebuilt it:
RockAuto
The only thing not included would be the pulley idlers.

Edit, I also remember, I was bad when I did it last time. I didn't think to get the upper intake plenum gasket, so used good quality gasket sealer...has worked just fine...but this time I'll be good.

Edit 2: Just noticed that the water pump says HITACHI WUP0027 as being the OE part. Good to know!

 

Thanks very much for the additional information!

Did you find that you needed this tool to hold the tension pulley in position?

This is a very good video of a DIY timing belt job on an Endeavor. Is this procedure close or identical to that on a '10 XLS?

Here's another that might be applicable:

Thanks again.