replacing timing belt

[scals37]

just went in to my local shop about getting a new timing belt, ive heard clicking during accelerating my car so i figured that might be the problem, hes gonna take it in tonight at 6 and look at it tommorow, he warned me that replacing the belt could be upwards toward $600??

i have never heard of a new timing belt costing that much, but he told me that due to the talon's engine, theyd have to lift it out and whatnot... what should i do?

[SilvrEclipse]

Depending on what he is replacing that price may not be to bad. Its recomemded that when you do the timing belt service you replace the pulleys, tensioner, water pump, and the belt. Find out what he is replacing and let us know. 600 for just the belt is high.

You could do it yourself if you are mechanically inclinde some. I did mine without to much trouble. Took a solid day my first time. If you have the tools I would say go for it. Its not that hard.

[scals37]

well, i might have tried if i was at home, but i am away at school, without a garage/tools and theres like 6 inches of snow, so thats out of the question... but are you saying that id HAVE to get all of those replaced? cause like i was saying, a timing belt alone shouldnt be that much

[SilvrEclipse]

How many miles are on the car? When I did mine at 60k I just replaced the belt. I would recomend replacing the belt and pulleys at the very least. Specially since your not doing the work, might want to throw a water pump on there also, if it goes out you have to tear the thing back apart since it would be right there.

At least find out how much more it would cost. All of these parts should cost less than 100.

[gthompson97]

A timing belt is $75 itself so it'd be pretty hard to find the rest for $25. I'd say under $250 though.

[scals37]

ill know for sure tomorrow, im gonna drop it off in an hour... but would he really have to pull the engine out to do it?

btw the engine has 70K on it, the water pump was replaced right before i bought it according to my the guy i got it from...

[david-b]

Originally Posted by gthompson97

A timing belt is $75 itself so it'd be pretty hard to find the rest for $25. I'd say under $250 though.

Where is this? When I got mine from the dealer it was $125. Rape-age action there.

[scals37]

do you guys think maybe i should take it to a chrysler dealer instead? this guy has worked on my current car and previous car, as well as some friends' in the past and has been somewhat reliable... but i dont know about this time

[gthompson97]

Originally Posted by david-b

Where is this? When I got mine from the dealer it was $125. Rape-age action there.

OEM Mitsu belt from SBR is $75.

Originally Posted by scals37

do you guys think maybe i should take it to a chrysler dealer instead? this guy has worked on my current car and previous car, as well as some friends' in the past and has been somewhat reliable... but i dont know about this time

A dealer would just rape you even more. And he doesn't need to pull the motor to replace the timing belt. And if they replaced the water pump already, my guess is that they also replaced the timing belt, so you shouldn't need to do it until it's got about 60k on it.

[Thor06]

First off, why would ticking mean bad belt? I've never heard this...

Second, $600 for a T belt job doesnt sound too bad to me. They bill probably $75/hr shop labor plus maybe $200 in parts so that leaves $500 for labor or 6 2/3 hours. If they can get it done in that time I'd say thats pretty good, I would take a good 12 hours or so to do a T belt myself, but I actually give a fuck about what I am doing whereas I bet any normal grease monkey doesnt.

[kittay]

I've never once pulled the engine to replace a belt or any of the pullies. However, the timing belt is the only thing on my car I didn't do myself. I had Brendan do that. Making sure the timing is correct is very important, and I don't trust myself to do that.
But 600 sounds insane to do a timing belt!! But I've never paid shop prices for labor..

But Mitsu is the cheapest place for parts.

I don't think a belt would make a ticking unless one of the pullies is eating at the belt. I had that happen. Unless the belt was skipping teeth, but you would know that real soon (your car wouldn't be running now).. you may want to pop the hood and play with the throttle and listen to where the sound is coming from.

[scals37]

alright well, what would that ticking be... only happens when accelerating from low speed to high.... usually around 2000 to 3000 rpms... i sprayed belt dressing on it to see if it would silence it, and it did for a few days, friend told me it was prolly the timing belt, so i took it to the shop to be looked at

[gthompson97]

You sprayed belt dressing on which belt? I hope it wasn't the timing belt, if you did, that belt is now ruined. The ticking noise could be anything. Have you checked for any exhaust leaks? An exhaust leak will usually tick under acceleration.

[scals37]

well, the prick told me to bring it in at 6 when they closed, and of course i get there and some other guy says they have no room to hold it for the night.... SOOO i will be bringing it in at 8 tomorrow morning, afterwards ill have more answers

[TalonEclipseMixGsx]

The ticking could be alot of things, you might want to pin point the problem before you go dropping all your cash on things that don't need to be replaced. Like said above, and exhaust leak could be it. Is it coming from the engine compartment or from like the drive train? A worn CV joint will make a ticking noise when it is going out. It could also be lifter tick, which is very common in these cars. Both of my DSM's do it. Hell I've even read that one of the signs of crankwalk is a ticking from somewhere in the engine(probably that magnetic pickup hitting against the crank sensor). Most of the time a belt wont be the culprite. When is the last time your timing belt was replaced?