timing belt/ timing chain?

[jordan.fuchs]

A mate of mine blew his engine because his timing belt went at ~120000k's

Mitsu covered half the cost of the engine (as an act of good will) as it was just outside of warranty.

This was in an 08 ES btw.

[Craig]

Very helpful info, just one more question, how can you tell if ur timing chain stretch or not? THX

Kimi when mine stretched the engine got all sluggish and started to hunt while driving and would lose power all over the rev range and by the time I got it to Mitsu the ECU couldn't adjust the Cams anymore to compensate for the stretch in the chain.

Luckily for me when the Techs at Mitsu looked inside the cylinders with their camera there wasn't any damage to the Valves and Pistons so I didn't need a new motor (Although Mitsubishi had authorised them to give me a new one if mine was no good)

[himynameisdaniel]

The timing chain is critical to the operation of the engine.
These are high interference engines and if the timing gets too far out of normal it can cause damage to the engine not to mention rough performance and bad fuel economy. Generally you will get an error code when that value goes outside engineering limits.

Also if the chain snaps its good bye.

So proper maintenance of the chain is important.
visual inspection for proper signs of continuous lubrication and overall look of the chain.
Correction of any timing chain stretch (they will ALL stretch over time regardless of model, it just seems that the evo & RA stretch excessively )

personally i would inspect it when doing valve clearance.
The only other time would be either error code or serious performance troubleshooting.

[Mystique]

Isn't that like any other car though?

Nearly all cars have their timing belt/chain/whatever fancy term car people give them for it done anywhere between 90-110 thousand. :S

Every car I've owned has had a major service including the replacement of that part every 100 thousand if not earlier.

Personally, it's better to be safe then sorry.

[scott_drake]

Chain stretch on 4b11, let it stretch enough, your valves will hit the pistons and BYE BYE engine.....there is a few threads on here about this fault on evo x section, the new 2011 onwards 4b11's have the strong chain in them

[BZC-45S]

Your multi function display will flash an orange triangle warning light if the timing chain is stretched beyond the ECU and chain tensioners limits can handle.

Rough idle could be due to a variety of issues - vac line leak, spark plugs fouled, coil pack gone, bad batch of fuel, water in the fuel, dirty air filter, etc. I would suspect any one of a hundred factors before timing chain being responsible.