Hi folks

I have Canadian outlander 2017 v6 6B31 engine with 60k kms. Is it time to change the timing belt? Local dealer told me they suggest this to be done on 100k kms or 7 years max. According to the 2017 warranty and maintenance manual this should be done every 105k miles or 10 years even for severe schedule 1. Is it really 10 years change interval or I am looking at the wrong manual? This is the manual I am referring to https://www.mitsubishicars.com/content/dam/mitsubishi-motors-us/images/siteimages/pdf/what-drives-us/warranty/2017MY%20Warranty%20Non%20Turbo%20Complete.pdf

Regards, Petar

 

Let's see. 2017 plus 7 years is 2024, which is right now. What an amazing coincidence! You don't think that the dealer's "suggestion" has anything to do with the dealership's profit, do you? Automobilte dealerships never lie, right?

If I were you, I'd replace the belt and other related components close to, but below, the manufacturer's recommended 105,000 miles (168,000 km). (I personally replaced our 2010 XLS' belt at about 128,000 km in 2022. The vehicle now has roughly 132,000 kms. I turn 74 next month, so there's a very good chance that that will be the last time our vehicle's timing belt is replaced while it is owned by us.)

Good luck.

 

Thanks for the response, Outlaander. What was the condition of your belt after 12 years if use?

 

Luckily for you, I saved all the old parts from my timing belt job (plus water pump, gasket, tensioner, idler pulley, cam seals and crank seal, along with new accessory belt and other belt). (I saved these because, along with receipts and photos I took while doing the job, I wanted to be able to prove to the next owner, beyond any reasonable doubt, that all of these parts were in fact replaced when I said they were replaced. This will be a good selling point, I believe.)

The condition of the old belt is good. In fact, I can not see absolutely any wear on the belt -- no cracks anywhere. Considering the conditions that these belts endure, they are absolutely amazing, but they and their associated parts are a nightmare to replace (for inexperienced me, anyway).

(If I had it all to do over again, in 2013 -- when we bought our Outlander XLS -- we should have instead bought an "old technology", body-on-frame, easy-to-fix, uncomplicated, reliable, 4.6L-V8 2011 or earlier Mercury Grand Marquis, Lincoln Town Car, or Ford Crown Victoria which are all essentially the same Ford vehicle. The fuel economy of these big, comfortable tanks is only slightly worse than that of our V6 Outlander.)

Anyway, here are some photos of representative areas of the original OEM belt that I just took after reading your post.

 

Thanks for the photos mate. Yeah it looks like brand new, I guess it was build to last. Very nice that you were able to change it on your own.

Old technology sure sound better and more reliable even though it might be a bit less efficient. I live in Europe and here v6/v8 engines are more rare. I imported mine from Canada some time ago.

I am wondering what is the difference between min and max of your fuel gauge? For me it is like 40l difference but according to the manual the fuel tank is 60l. 20l for a reserve seems a lot.

 

This simple thing I cannot really help you with because my wife and I have never let the level drop below 1/4, but FWIW, I can say that it takes very roughly 40 litres to fill from 1/4 to full.

I strongly suggest being religious about fluid changes -- espeically coolant and transmission ...... and to use a cabin air filter that is HEPA rated. Hopefully the fresh coolant will maximize heater core and thermostat life and the HEPA filter will maximize AC evaporator life, as well as heater core life. Should either or both the core and evap. have to be replaced, the dash has to be disassembled in order to remove the plastic assembly that contains them. The evaporator and core are relatively inexpensive parts, but the labor cost is high. The thermostat is also more difficult to replace than it really should be.

Good luck with your vehicle.

 

How often do you change your cooland and transmission oil and do you use OEM?

I saw in the manual that the original coolant is changed after 10. I ordered pH meter and would check the coolant with it and also use multimeter - I saw this in Chris fix video. Here the dealership charger quite a lot for OEM coolant ready for use, around 15USD per liter.

I am going change the transmission fluid every 50k km/5-6 years. Here the price of the dealer is quite ok comparing to the local shops - around 400usd including oil and labor.

Thanks for the advice men. Good luck with your vehicle too.

 

I don't know if your '17's transaxle is the same as our '10's. But, if it is, here's a thread I started in 2013 that, because of its popularity, became a sticky thread on the first page of this forum:
https://mitsubishiforum.com/forum/mi...ocedure-44706/
I contains all kinds of useful information.

There are many brands of coolant that claim to be appropriate for virtually all vehicles. When I did our timing belt job, which included water pump, I had to completely drain all coolant. When I refilled, I used this stuff.
https://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/p...one+antifreeze

 

Thanks men. Very useful information indeed.

How often do you change coolant and ATF fluid?

 

The coolant in probably 8 years, which will be a total of 10 years in the vehicle. The transmission, I haven't decided yet, but it's going to be at least another 5 years.

I think more in terms of time rahter than kms. When we bought our vehicle in 2013 it had aboiut 89,000 kms on the odometer. Today, 11 years later, our vehicle has about 132,000 kms. I did the timing belt etc. job two years ago at roughly 128,000 kms. Therefore, in the last two years we have put roughly 4,000 kms on the vehicle, or about 2,000 kms per year, which is not a whole lotta driving, which is why, if our vehicle should for some unexpected reason die, I'll be trying to convince my wife that we should acquire a low-km, land-yacht, Crown Vic., Town Car or Grand Marquis. They're like a living room on wheels. Bad on gas, but not much worse than our gas-hog, amazingly noisy Outlander.