Fairtax4me Posted March 17, 2011 Author Share Posted March 17, 2011 I bought the kit from The Import Experts. The box says PCI, so I guess that's who assembled the kit. The bearings and water pump are GMB, not sure about who made the belt but it says made in USA. I think the bearings might have been fine had they not been subjected to the stress that the new belt was putting on them. The bearings seem to be probably mid-range quality, would last for the recommended 60k mile belt interval, but I don't think I would put much trust in them beyond that. I don't want to knock TIE, I've bought other kits from them for other vehicles and they were fine. I'm inclined now to stay away from PCI components though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olnick Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 Uh-oh, that's not good. The TIE kit we bought last September had a Mitsuboshi belt IIRC. Working like a charm so far. Get in touch with them and let 'em know the problem--maybe they'll offer some relief. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suba9792 Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 that sucks, I got a kit from them back in November and GD helped me put it on. Tensioners idlers etc GMB water pump, I haven't had any issue, what exactly did the noise sound like, so I can be aware JIC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fuzpile Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 I think it would be premature to panic over a kit which has been previously installed and doesn't exhibit the SCREAMIN CATs :eek:noises. The main things I see is new Idlers which have bearing "wiggle" . This combined with the previous post of finding belt material inside some cogs lays a trail. I can conceive where that may be if I was there. The combination of elements has the belt fighting itself and making noise in the process. -unless it's a bad belt. But Heck, Mitsubishi is good stuff . Then again I never Owned one. hmmmm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olnick Posted March 18, 2011 Share Posted March 18, 2011 It's not a Mitsubishi belt. It's MitsubOshi! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ericem Posted March 18, 2011 Share Posted March 18, 2011 Tomato, Tamato Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
naru Posted March 18, 2011 Share Posted March 18, 2011 Tomato, Tamato Not this time. http://www.mitsuboshi.co.jp/english/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fuzpile Posted March 18, 2011 Share Posted March 18, 2011 Very good point! I read the Mitsu..part in my head and thought to spell out an automaker instead of the belt maker. Now that i know more about their company, I expect the standards are very high and that would be the quality component of the kit. previously mentioned. where isn't the problem.:cool: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fairtax4me Posted March 18, 2011 Author Share Posted March 18, 2011 This belt is NOT a Mitsuboshi belt. Every Mitsuboshi I've ever installed had their logo clearly printed on the belt. Their belts are good quality that you can see and even feel in the material of the belt. I bought a Subaru belt today, installed it on the car with all of the old parts. The difference is night and day. With the "cheap" belt I had to persuade the tensioner bearing into place. With the Subaru belt the tensioner literally fell into place. No elbow grease, no force needed, I set it in place and put the bolt in. I started the car and what do you know... NO bearing noise. Nothing. Not even the worn out bearing sounds I had before. It wasn't even this quiet with the OLD belt! I'm going to call TIE tomorrow morning. I have to believe at this point that the belt they supplied was simply too short, and has caused damage to the new bearings and possibly to the new water pump as well. I'm playing with the idea of just buying OE bearings, or at least sourcing OE brand parts through an outlet besides the dealer. And I'll probably buy an OE water pump. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olnick Posted March 18, 2011 Share Posted March 18, 2011 Sorry you had to go through that bad experience, Fairtax. Let us know how your chat with TIE goes. And if necessary let them know there are a number of us following this story! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brus brother Posted March 18, 2011 Share Posted March 18, 2011 (edited) I have to be careful because U already know more and I don't know shinolas about 2.5 except. bad timing belt or belt out of alignment. Every now and then(not saying on Subies) a belt is smaller on one side. So then it would be the same if a worn cam sprocket was Smaller on one side with a perfect belt. So then there would be a noise where whatever locators tend to rub. and the winner is... Fuzpile! Edited March 19, 2011 by brus brother Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fuzpile Posted March 18, 2011 Share Posted March 18, 2011 Happy last San Patrick's to you all:) . My little input among all the others. It seems this is Not the belt it should be and I still suspect the bearings. I just have respect for Fairtaxguy for going thru all this. This was remarkable to do and record this which serves us all. There are now further reasons to suspect that particular kit yet I think it was a sequence of individuals rising to the surface. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnceggleston Posted March 18, 2011 Share Posted March 18, 2011 i fear that over the years, TIE has been lowering the quality of the parts in their kits. the first kit i bought 3.5 years ago had the an oem quality metal water pump gasket. the last one i bought did not. i never checked the brand of the idler bearings but they now ship GMB. i do seem to remember that the first kit had a double bearing in the lower idler but i'm not sure. the last 2 have had single in both. my $.03 worth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fairtax4me Posted March 18, 2011 Author Share Posted March 18, 2011 and the winner is... DING DING!!! I think I would call it just the wrong damn one, but I think "incorrect" can fall into the "bad" category. I owe everyone here many many thanks for listening, responding, and encouragement. My ego was a complete wreck for a week because of all this. I really think I would have ended up putting another engine in the car, and then would have had the exact same problem afterwards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brus brother Posted March 19, 2011 Share Posted March 19, 2011 DING DING!!! I think I would call it just the wrong damn one, but I think "incorrect" can fall into the "bad" category. I owe everyone here many many thanks for listening, responding, and encouragement. My ego was a complete wreck for a week because of all this. I really think I would have ended up putting another engine in the car, and then would have had the exact same problem afterwards. Yup, I cut that board three times and it is still too short! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nipper Posted March 19, 2011 Share Posted March 19, 2011 I have never heard of TIE. I have to remeber to ask people what brand of belt they used next time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnceggleston Posted March 19, 2011 Share Posted March 19, 2011 I have never heard of TIE. I have to remeber to ask people what brand of belt they used next time. The Import Experts, they sell kits on ebay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nipper Posted March 19, 2011 Share Posted March 19, 2011 The Import Experts, they sell kits on ebay. SO my questiioning of some ebay sellers are legit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fairtax4me Posted March 19, 2011 Author Share Posted March 19, 2011 I bought a kit for a Toyota from them and it was all OE parts. Mitsuboshi belt, Koyo bearings, Aisin water pump. Worked and fit great. It was an Aisin assembled kit though. Btw Aisin is the maker of the Subaru OE belt tensioner, and I think Subaru OE water pumps as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nipper Posted March 19, 2011 Share Posted March 19, 2011 Btw Aisin is the maker of the Subaru OE belt tensioner, and I think Subaru OE water pumps as well. Correct they are. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fairtax4me Posted March 19, 2011 Author Share Posted March 19, 2011 Spoke with the folks at TIE today. They are going to give me a full refund. I found out they stock the OE NSK tensioner idler and cogged idler, and OE Koyo smooth idler, much cheaper than dealer prices, so I may see if I can get a deal on just the idler kit from them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olnick Posted March 19, 2011 Share Posted March 19, 2011 Tell 'em exactly what you want and tell 'em you want the best price they can give you. They owe you one! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnceggleston Posted March 19, 2011 Share Posted March 19, 2011 i was on their website looking at parts and pricing just before you had this problem. they have lots of parts, and almost none are cheap. the GMB water pump that comes with the 2.2L timing kit for $125, sells for ~$65. when they add it to their kit, the price goes from $90 to $125. either 65 is way high or the kit is a real bargain. i'm not sure what this means, except that i will not be ordering a GMB pump from their web site by itself. it's good that they accepted responsibility for the problem. any one can make a mistake. it's how they correct it that makes all the difference. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fairtax4me Posted March 20, 2011 Author Share Posted March 20, 2011 Well, the guy I spoke with on the phone told me they might also cover my cost to ship the parts back if I included a copy of the receipt for the shipping. That's a big ol' "might", so I guess I'll find out if he was just blowin' smoke up my rump roast in a week or so. The kit I bought apparently consists of a Gates belt (which leaves me wondering what the hell happened to Gates quality control) two GMB single roller bearing smooth idlers, one GMB double roller bearing cogged idler, one GMB double roller bearing tension idler, and a GMB water pump. The belt is "unbranded", apparently the cost is considerably less if the name is not on the belt for copyright reasons. I think there is a quality difference as well because I've used many Gates serpentine and V belts in the past and they always seemed to be better quality than this one. I am curious if anyone who has bought Gates' timing belt kit with their branded belt had any trouble with it being too tight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fairtax4me Posted April 1, 2011 Author Share Posted April 1, 2011 I haven't put the car back together yet, but figured I would update this anyway. I have new OE parts on the way, courtesy of The Import Experts. I don't think I can say enough about how well they've treated me with this whole deal. They took the faulty parts back no questions, gave me a full refund including the original shipping cost, that I had within just a few hours of them receiving the parts. They were extremely apologetic, very sincere, and dedicated to keeping me as a satisfied customer. They then put together a kit of OE idlers for me and threw in Priority Mail shipping for one hell of a good deal. I won't say exactly how good, but it's about a third what the same parts would cost at a dealer. I'm hoping to have them by this weekend so I can get it back together and running. I know where I'm going first for timing parts from now on, or for anything else they have that I might need. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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