New member/Plastic Timing Cover Question.

[z3bra]

Just popping in to say hi, just got a 94 eclipse GS and it's good to find a decent message board for it. Been lurking a few weeks with the new signups disabled.

Currently it's all stock, but for 500 bucks I figured it was a decent deal since it just needed a new clutch. Well pulled that out and noticed my rear main is leaking, got looking more and decided to just fix all the leaky spots so now I've got the oil pan, front main, balance shaft, and cam seals on the road to replacement. Doing the timing/balance belts while I'm there but after pulling the cover I'm glad I decided to replace the front seals as there was a significant amount of oil leakage on the belts themselves.

In taking this apart I noticed the alternator and power steering belts have worn through the plastic timing covers due to some warpage of the covers. Is this a common problem? I ordered some new ones from Talahassee Mitsubishi. Incidentally, thanks for posting their number in the Lifter thread, it saved me about 35 bucks compared to my local dealer. Anyway on the new cover I'm thinking about putting a piece of thin gauge stainless sheet where the belts wore through last time to hopefully avoid replacing these on a regular basis, and was wondering if this issue has been addressed before or is it just something that takes 8 years and 150,000 miles to actually happen and I'm worrying too much. Never had another car where this has been the case even with alot of miles so the fact that they'd get holes worn in them by the belts surprised me a bit.

Anyway, good to find a great resource for us 1.8 people.

[MrDSM]

ive never heard of that happening, did you notice if all of the bolts were in the timing cover? Could have talked to me and got one from me for 5 bucks if you take it out of my hair.

[z3bra]

Yeah all the bolts were in and snug, that was the first thing I would suspect too. Oh well guess I'm out 45 bucks but they'll be new and shiny black for a week or two now.

I was debating taking the old one and just cutting out the center sections where the holes were and making a new flat section out of some 20 guage or so stainless and then bonding it in place of the old plastic, but then I looked at how beat up they were in general and said the heck with it. Not sure why they warped though, never seen that happen on any other engines. The main area of wear would be in the 1 to 3 o'clock position on the lower piece right by the crank pulley's outer diameter if you're looking at the pulley side of the engine straight on. Top one had a big crack on it anyway, probably due to whoever did the last belt change. Needed new gaskets for the covers anyway and the new ones are supposed to come with em.

I bought the car from my cousin or given the oil leakage I probably wouldn't have. Didn't realize how bad the leaks were intially, but I know it's for the most part been taken care of and not abused too horribly, heck the clutch I pulled out of it with 150k miles on it appears to be the original, has the Mitsubishi star stampings on both the disc and the pressure plate. Not bad at all, biggest downside is that it has the proverbial buttload of oil leakage and greasy black buildup all over the engine's front side by the exhaust, all over the alternator and other stuff around there.

I'm seriously tempted to just yank the whole engine out just to clean it up it's so nasty. I've got the hoist to do it with and that makes it very tempting indeed. Were it not for the fact I'm in the Phoenix area and summer's getting near, i'd probably even consider doing a full rebuild. The garage being such a hot and generally unpleasant spot in the summertime is about the only thing that's stopping me. Well that and the expense of machinework, new pistons etc.

How are the 1.8's mileagewise when it comes to rebuilds? This one has a history of oil changes pretty regularly. I know the Nissan engines in the Z cars pretty well, and they're just starting to get broken in at about 100,000 miles, 300,000 mile engines not even needing to be bored again is not uncommon on the old Z cars. Any idea how this engine compares?

It was due for a belt change now anyway, and based on the amount of oil leakage and how easily the balance shaft belt broke when I was trying to use it to get the balance shaft pulley bolt out as an impromptu strap wrench, I'd be replacing it soon one way or another anyway and at least this way it won't require a tow back to my house as well.

Anyways, enough rambling, (I'm at work, need I say more?)

[saturdaynight]

When my timing belt was replaced, there was noticable rubbing on the t-belt cover. I've heared of some other having this issue though not very common.

[Blackboost]

z3bra...

Welcome to the family! The 4G37 engine is a super reliable engine, you can rack a lot of miles in it and the thing just refuses to die as long as you take good care of it.:D

As for the timing covers...
I think they weren't seated all the way in their groves, which could have let them come in contact with the belts. I have seen my share of belt-eaten covers and 99% of the time its due to improper cover installation.

[1992eclipse]

I dunno about all that belt rubbing the cover stuff but I do have some comments on the build of the engine. A few months ago I rebuilt the head and changed all the belts but one thing I was amazed about was the inside of the block, it still had a beautiful cross-hatching like it was brand new. I think that says something about the longevity of these engines when properly maintained.

Dennis

[ginsu417]

I'll vouch for thier reliability - even under heavy abuse.

[z3bra]

Good to hear it's just how the cover was seated that's most likely to blame, typical mechanic's screwup somewhere 50,000 miles ago I guess.

As soon as Talahassee Mitsubishi (Thanks to whoever posted their number since it saved me about 30 bucks!) gets my new ones to me I can start putting this thing back together finally.

Hopefully all the silicone "boogers" from someone using way too much for the pan gasket that I pulled off the pickup screen didn't create too much of an oil starvation problem.

Gotta fix the AC too pretty soon too, it's getting hot here.

And finally again I'm glad I found this place, I'm used to having a few good msg boards for people that just can't leave their cars well enough alone from the factory and up till I found this place everything has been 2.0 centered.

[ginsu417]

That would be me... and yes, talahassee mitsu rocks. I should make a vendors list and ask blackboost to sticky it ...

[z3bra]

Sounds like a great idea, and yes it was you in the noisy valve lash adjusters thread that mentioned em. Only downside is the shipping time, but I've got other ways to get to work so waiting was an option. (Too many "toys" and the wife hates it ;) ).

Kind of immaterial but should anyone need any Geo Tracker/Suzuki Sidekick or Datsun Z car (1970-1983) Advice just ask, I've rebuilt engines and loads of other stuff in both of em so fire away.

[Blackboost]

Originally posted by ginsu417
That would be me... and yes, talahassee mitsu rocks. I should make a vendors list and ask blackboost to sticky it ...

Go ahead and do it...;)