The wrath of winter...603 question too!

In spite of little annoyances that this winter's snow and extreme low temperatures have brought down, such as the front right inner plastic fender pulling out, new rattles, rock chipped windshield from passing sander, heater blower motor bearings acting up when 15 degrees or lower, salt all over the car and underbody, and with no practicle means to hose it off! Carpet wet on my side, even though I've got a good rubber mat that has high boarders! *****-*****-moan-moan!

Can anyone identify the sound that I hear that seems to be coming from the front of my 603 engine? I'm hoping that it is as simple as the belt tensioner. Here are the symtoms: Only at idle I hear at pretty loud clicking and tapping sound, or sounds. These sounds are random in time between taps and clicks and do not follow any cycle. I've pretty much ruled out injectors, lifters, power steering pump, IP, alternator, as possible sources but not 100%

As soon as I touch the pedal and raise rpm's by 100 or so, the sounds go's away. Back to idle and the sounds are there but will go away for a few minutes but always seem to return after a short trip to get milk etc.

Anyone have a guess??? BB

[Brian Carlton]

Boy can I sympathize.

Took the SDL to Connecticut yesterday on my usual weekly trip. Stop for fuel, leave it running (its about 15°F.) and get back on the highway.

WTF. No heat. I mean nothing. Not even the slightest bit of heat.

Take it to Newington CT and it provides heat after it comes back down to low rpm's. EXCELLENT!!!

In the late afternoon, get in to take it back to NY. NO HEAT. 110 miles, 18°F. with no heat. Stop in NYC. Leave at 1:00 a.m. this morning. 60 miles. 8°F.
NO F____ING HEAT!!

In answer to your question, I think you are on the right track. It's either the belt or the tensioner is out of whack. How old is the belt?

[dieseldiehard]

Interesting Brian, I have been letting my wife drive the '87 300DT while her '83 300D is getting painted. It (the 87) suddenly is showing intermittent heat and I fear if its not the Monovalve, it might be the control panel (luckily I picked up a used one in good condition)
Life in the MB lane I suppose.
Oh, as for BusyBenz's noise, I would press against the belt tensioner, use a broom handle or something, see if it isn't the bearing or something related to the tensioner.
My fleet:
1971 220 (gas) 4-spd manual 106441
1979 300TD w/ ’85 turbo engine 296650
1983 300D 243280
1985 300TD 223470
1987 300D 262300

[Plantman]

I had a similar experience with my SDl.

It sounded like a bearing went bad. So I got a long crow bar and carefully wedged it in against the tensioner. Vibration gone, tensioner bad.

.02

On another note, I don't have to worry about having heat, only hurricanes.

[Brian Carlton]

Yep, I have to check the monovalve first. But, I thought that it failed in the open position?

Then onto the auxiliary water pump. This is the more likely culprit because I recently purchased a new pump on e-bay as a spare.

Clearly not the smartest thing to do to the SDL.

Of course it could be the control unit. I've got another one of those as well.
If the monovalve is good, I'll just disconnect it and see if I get heat.

I'm more inclined to think that it is not the pump because I get NO heat. If the valve was open and the pump was not working, you would think that some heat would happen at 3000 rpm.

[snoopy007]

my 92 300D gets a new tensionor shock about every 15,000 miles for the exact same noise and symptom. If the broom stick dosn't work I pull the belt start the car and it's wisher quite. Of course don't run it long

Most likely it's your Belt Tensioner and Pulley. It's a drag.

[Hatterasguy]

Probably the belt tensoner, they never last. Put some pressure against it and push it back towards the engine. I bet the noise goes away. I use my hand just don't touch the fan!!! $30 and kind of a pita to do.

I know what you are saying, my SDL gets more wear from December to March then it does the other 8 months out of the year.

I clean mine all of the time, I washed it twice so far this week. Just use hot water and move fast.

But I got lucky thanks to a nice trucker I am enjoying my new clear windsheild.

[Smooooth]

My Vote - Belt Tensioner........

I just replaced mine (Thanks Again Hattie)

Stephen

Thank you all for your replies.

Having never had to replace one, I don't know what the symtoms are but can only speculate, guess, assume, three words I hate!

It is awfully hard to hear where precisely the sounds come, but the idea of wedging something between to absorb sound, or alter it, will very l likely reveal the culprit!

The ribbed belt has not been changed in at least 4 years! I did look it over good last summer while replacing the water pump and it still looked pretty intact without a gazillion cracks, and decided to change it in the spring. BB

[Hatterasguy]

Anytime Smooooth, I have not forgotten about the pic of the dead pedal. I need to get my AOL back up and running before I can post any pics. Netscape is slow as mud. I have a few pics of my SDL I want to post to!


BusyBenz those belts last a very long time! This summer I helped my friend change his on his E300D. It was the original! 6 years and 147k miles! Thier was a few cracks in it but still he might have gotton another few thousand miles out of it.

Originally Posted by Hatterasguy

But I got lucky thanks to a nice trucker I am enjoying my new clear windsheild.

What kind of new windsheild did you get, and where you fully satisfied with installation?

I just put a new windsheild in last spring because the original was getting hard to see through all the pitting! BB

[Hatterasguy]

I got a Pilkington, I guess Volvo uses them? I am pretty happy with the install. He seems to have done a nice job expect he scratched my hood! Their not big but they are their. My hood is full of chips and needs to be painted but still. If the paint was nicer he would be painting my hood. I will wash my car tomarrow and see how bad they are and if I can buff them out. I want to paint it in another year or so anyway.

With my old windsheild it was getting dangerious to drive towards the sun. It was bad. I was very happy when that truck cracked it!

If memory serves correct, in Connecticut, I once lived in Mystic, windsheilds are covered even if you do not have full coverage insurance, I think?

Oh yes, Pilkington, (looks like pukeington) is the same as my replacement too!

[Hatterasguy]

Well if you have glass coverage they are covered 100%. Also they cannot raise your rates, but they can drop you if you have to many claims. I only have glass and theft on my SDL. Collision would drive my insurance through the roof! I hope it goes down when I turn 20 this year.