Mitsubishi Repair: Timing belt change, mitsubishi eclipse gs, mitsubishi eclipse

Question
Hi,

There is a Mitsubishi Eclipse GS coupe on sale. It has run 71,000 miles and the seller is not sure if the timing belt is changed or not. If i buy do i need to change the timing belt. Is there any way to find out whether the timing belt needs to be changed or not?

Usually they say it has to be changed at 60k miles. Is that so?

Your inputs would help me decide buying this car.

Thanks,
Vanitha

Answer
Vanitha: Some people say 60,000 miles and other say 100,000 miles for that timing belt. The problem I see is you have no idea how the car was drove, if it was taken care of such as repairs and then such. So if buying used I would get that timing belt replaced soon. If the timing belt goes while driving the car, you will have to do a engine overhaul. So the timing belt changing is much better to do before it breaks. There is no way to know if the timing belt is weak, but though a large job it would be better for the car in the long run. What year is this car anyway? Some of the newer models do have problems with the timing belt and so you might want to either forget about buying the car or else get that belt changed. So why is the guy selling the car anyway? I mean these are questions you should be asking? What shop did he get the work done on the car at, maybe you could check with them as to what they might tell you about the repair on the car and its up keep. I hope this helps and God bless: Linda