timing problems?

[talontedEcLiPsE]

I have a 1991 eclipse gs turbo. Last night, (if it even happened last night or just started happening today) I was on the big "racers showoff' road, where people go to mess around with other cars and race and meet girls and everything. Anyways, I did maybe 2 or 3 burnouts throughout the night. After the last one, I noticed the car kinda moved a little funnier after, but after a couple stop-and-gos it was fine, no problems, I forgot about it and drove around for another hour or so, no burnouts, but a couple races, and then went home. The car ran fine, and I went to my friend's house this morning, ran fine. I started the car up to go home about 5 or 6 hours later, kinda ran a little funny. It had a slightly different tone to the muffler sound, I'm sure anybody can notice the little things on their cars. I drove it home, and when the rpm's would climb as I drove, it would start to do an unusual lag at around maybe 3000-3500 rpms, in pretty much any gear. Not a big lag, just something that only the ownner would notice. Anyways as soon as I got home, my mom comes out of the house and instantly asks "whats wrong with your car?!" I took the timing belt cover off and right there in front of me are two big chunks in the timing belt, plus signs of wear. The timing belt was replaced about 6k-7k miles ago, and I dont think it should be going bad this fast. The cams looked to be aligned right, and I dont know if anything else was mis-aligned. I didnt want to crank it or move it anymore until i figure out whats happening. Does anyone have any ideas what is going on? Please help!I have a 1991 eclipse gs turbo. Last night, (if it even happened last night or just started happening today) I was on the big "racers showoff' road, where people go to mess around with other cars and race and meet girls and everything. Anyways, I did maybe 2 or 3 burnouts throughout the night. After the last one, I noticed the car kinda moved a little funnier after, but after a couple stop-and-gos it was fine, no problems, I forgot about it and drove around for another hour or so, no burnouts, but a couple races, and then went home. The car ran fine, and I went to my friend's house this morning, ran fine. I started the car up to go home about 5 or 6 hours later, kinda ran a little funny. It had a slightly different tone to the muffler sound, I'm sure anybody can notice the little things on their cars. I drove it home, and when the rpm's would climb as I drove, it would start to do an unusual lag at around maybe 3000-3500 rpms, in pretty much any gear. Not a big lag, just something that only the ownner would notice. Anyways as soon as I got home, my mom comes out of the house and instantly asks "whats wrong with your car?!" I took the timing belt cover off and right there in front of me are two big chunks in the timing belt, plus signs of wear. The timing belt was replaced about 6k-7k miles ago, and I dont think it should be going bad this fast. The cams looked to be aligned right, and I dont know if anything else was mis-aligned. I didnt want to crank it or move it anymore until i figure out whats happening. Does anyone have any ideas what is going on? Please help!

[talontedEcLiPsE]

sorry about posting that twice. I typed it in wordpad and then i pasted it to the site, i must have accidently pasted it twice.

ps- I took the car into a shop today, and they (not surprisingly) subtly mentioned that it was all my fault. anyways, they say that the lower timing belt cover melted a little bit and then became brittle, then snapped off a piece and it fell into the timing path, and shot the little piece of plastic through the belt, thus putting the holes in it, and then skipping the timing to create the rough ride. I thought that was pretty much bs they were giving me so that they could gyp me out of some money. Anyways I bought a new timing belt and i had another intact timing cover and they are gonna take care of it. has anyone else had a problem like this, or does anyone else think that something else might have been the problem besides a little piece of brittle plastic actually shooting through a belt? this hole was a good 2 inches long, i figure that it probably stretched a little bit. anyways, thanks a lot. im kinda hoping that i never have timing problems again, but im also kinda hoping that the head blows up or something so i have an excuse to rebuild the motor lol

[kjewer1]

Having the timingbelt cover take out the tbelt is common. But if it skipped more than a couple teeth, you'll get your wish, there will be some bent valves. Be sure they chack for that before reassembly. Also if this is not amitsu dealership, there is a 98% chance they will fuck up the job, and you'll lose the head within 5k miles anyway. Print out the vfaq on tbelt replacement, or give them the link and tell them to read it. They all thing they have done 10,000 tbelt jobs before blah blah, but the mitsu setup is critical to get the gap on the hydraulic tensioner right. Even the dealer screw it up 25% of the time. Good luck.

[EclipseRST]

Originally Posted by 95 GSXracer

Also if this is not amitsu dealership, there is a 98% chance they will fuck up the job, and you'll lose the head within 5k miles anyway. Print out the vfaq on tbelt replacement, or give them the link and tell them to read it. They all thing they have done 10,000 tbelt jobs before.

LOL that is so bad but its very true!!!

[talontedEcLiPsE]

ok i got the car back today. I didnt have time to show him or tell him about the vfaq, because he already had the car after i learned about the vfaq. The car runs absolutely perfect. he might have reset my crank angle sensor i thinik, but im not sure. anyways, now that i have it back what things should i look out for on the car to make sure he didnt mess up anything? obviously the performance might start lacking, but any other telltale signs of belt message-uppage that i could see before it damages anything?

[Rooikat]

just curious, where at in MI?

[kjewer1]

The belt is either on time or the valves are bent. There is no lack of performance, or any other in between state. Well, it can be off one tooth or two and live, while lacking in performance, but thats usuall in the case of a bollixed up install. When it fails it fails bad. The best thing to do would be to measure the gap at the tensioner. But that requires pulling the acc belts, motor mount, and tbelt cover.

[talontedEcLiPsE]

eastpointe....what about you?

[Talon007]

My TB cover broke and ripped my TB. I could hear the piece hitting the hood when I was driving, so when I popped the hood, I almost shit myself and shut off the car immediatley. Got off lucky, tossed on an extra jobber belt kicking around, and got another TB cover. It'll get another Mitsu belt this winter, whenever I can find a garage to park my car in, working in -30C and 5' of snow sucks