Are you talking about this step?

15.Loosen the tensioner pulley lock bolt.
16.Turn the torque wrench attached to the special tool
MD998767 counterclockwise until the slack in the timing belt
is taken up.
17.Turn the torque wrench clockwise from the position of step
16. until the torque wrench reading becomes 3.5 N⋅m (31 inlb),
then tighten the tensioner pulley lock bolt.

I do it by feel and sight by slack and position of the two holes in the tensioner pulley. Spin over a complete revolution, check grenade pin, double check with feeler gauge on tensioner rod length.

 

Yes yes I was talking about this step. I am always ending with those 2 holes at 4-5 oclock when I set it to 30in lb and I never had a problem in the past but ofcourse on my personal engine I have some whining noise. I did spin engine couple revolution and after 10-15min grenade pin can be insert or removed freely, so look like it is good but whining still there. I notice that when car is cold and I first start it there in no whining but when gets warm it starting to whine. Make me crazy hahaha. Maybe I am just overthinking it.

 

fkn hate chasing noises

 

I know me too, especially when you did this job so many times with not a single issue. I hope it is not a oil pump failing. Pressure is good but I am running stub shaft no balance shaft. Belt was no too tight so I dont see a reason of brand new oil pump fail. I will chase this freaking noise a little more and post the results.

 

cant you use some kind of stethoscope to verify where its coming from?

 

I did used stethoscope but I can't find it. It is hard to verify it with stethoscope because when engine is spinning and all pulleys are spinning. I will try again and post results.

 

Inspect the gold colored crank position plate for rubber residue. The belt can track out of alignment just far enough to rub it and make a squealing sound. If you inspect the old belt you may see a bevel worn on one edge from this contact. There was a TSB about this and a thread here on the board. I put on a gates blue belt and it did this. After about 10k miles it went away. Most noticeable on cold start on cool days. Doesn't hurt the life of the belt.

 

What was the TSB fix? Link to the TSB, please?

 

i cant remember if the issue with the cylinder block bracket was an exclusive evo IX issue or whether the VIII could experience similar noise because of it. You may have to search, but there was an issue with timing belt noise coming from the belt rubbing on the bracket, but not every evo had this poorly designed/cast bracket. This is the bracket i'm referring to: https://stmtuned.com/products/oem-ev...-block-bracket

I replaced mine when i did the timing belt job....just in case. I do still have my old OEM bracket laying around if you'd like to try swapping that out. good luck!

 

I was just thinking about that the other day. Will definitely check that.

 

Hmm, I installed this bracket brand new with the whole engine rebuilt and that's when this sound started. I was trying to loosen up the tension on the tensioner and noise still the same. Will check if the belt is not touching the bracket.

 

The TSB was about the bracket but the Timing belt was not touching the bracket. There was a machining error that put the idler pulley at a slight angle on the bracket. This causes the timing belt to track off center at the crank pulley. This allows it to hit the two eared sheet metal crank trigger wheel.

If this is happening there will be rubber rub marks on the trigger wheel.

I can't find the TSB but it exists Mitsu dealer should be able to find it. Not likely they will do the work.

Mitsuatb

 

Old Post I found - not my write up Mitsuatb:

Ok....here is the deal. Just picked up the car. The dealer tech said that ALL Evo 9's have an issue with the timing belt rubbing against the crankshaft position blade wheel. Here are the new parts they installed on mine to remedy the issue:
Part Number MR984375 Adjuster, Timing Belt Tension Qty 1
Part Number MD369999 Pulley, Timing Belt Tension Qty 1
Part Number 1091A133 Bracket Cylinder Block Qty 1 *****Updated New Part from Mitsu that supposedly fixes the noise problem. Original bracket was machined incorrectly by supplier to Mitsu*****
Part Number 1145A038 Belt, Valve Timing Qty 1
Part Number MR984778 Belt, Balancer Timing Qty 1
Mitsubishi Techline Case #140114
Service Description: Removed and replaced Timing Belt Adjuster, Tensioner Pulley, and Bracket as per Techline. Replaced Timing Belt and Balance Belt while Tensioner Bracket was replaced under warranty.
They also replaced the crankshaft sensor blade on the car but left it off the reprinted repair bill they gave me. Oh well. Total cost for me was $159.76 for the Timing Belt and the Balance Belt that I had them put in new as opposed to the old ones.

You can have the tech at your dealer call the techline and look at my techline case number to see all the part numbers for your repair if needed.

I'll let you guys know if I hear the noise anymore over the coming weeks!Last edited by Fsae_Alum; Dec 29, 2010 at 09:09 PM.

 

It is also possible to flip the idler on the small balancer belt. The idler has a lip and it should be on the outside edge of the balancer belt and visible looking from the wheel well of the car

Mitsuatb

 

You mean the idler for the small belt for balance shaft? I am not running balance shaft at all so no belt there. I Opened everything again yesterday and I installed new tensioner pulley. For some reason I can see when I rotate the crank a lot of times the belt on crankshaft sprocket is far away from the crank trigger plate. Belt is on the end of the crank sprocket like it want to slip out of the crank pulley but will not do that because oil pump sprocket has lip. I opened another spare eng that I have in garage and belt is on the center on this crank sprocket so it has around 2-3mm space to the plate and 2-3 mm to the eng of the sprocket but on engine I am running that has whining noise belt is flat with crank sprocket. When I push the belt all the way to the crank plate and I rotate engine 6-7 times belt is already flat with the sprocket, so it is moving away from the crank plate. Making me nervous a little. What is going on???