Mitsubishi Timing Belt

Mitsubishi 3.8 Liter DOHC V-6 Timing Belt. You cannot see the whole thing when the engine is in the car. Once you have removed a couple dozen bits and pieces, you can see part from above. To see the lower end, you need to take off the right front wheel and the splash shield. Nice that someone pulled their engine out just so we could see this.

I just realized our Mitsubishi Endeavor was overdue for a timing belt. The factory maintenance schedule calls for replacement at 105,000 miles and we are at 113,000. Not something you want to stall on as failure of this $2 part will destroy your $5,000 engine, so belly up to the bar and flex your credit card or prepare for two days of hard labor.
    It probably costs more than $2, but it doesn't really matter how much it costs because the big pain is the time and effort needed to do the work. The Endeavor, like most modern cars has the engine mounted transversely, which means the front of the engine (where all the belts are) is pushed up against the right front fender. A whole boat load of stuff has to come off before you can even see the timing belt, much less get to it. A shop will charge 5 or $600 just for the labor.
    Since you are going to all this trouble, it might be a good idea to replace some other items that are in there as well, like the water pump, tension rollers and a couple of seals. I had Accurate Auto do the work. The bill was just a shade over $1,000. The engine might still blow up, but it won't be because I neglected some important maintenance.
     Accurate Auto used to be in an old, converted gas station downtown that didn't have hardly any parking. Then I started going to Eric Heaton's on 25th. Eric lost a technician and now he has a backlog of work as long as your arm. I didn't want to wait on this deal, so I called Accurate and found that they had moved to a spacious facility next to Hale's restaurant on TV Highway.