well i hate to see you give up...

but you could do this....every time i go to the shop its 500 bucks..


you might consider letting the expert diagnos the problem and you doing the
work....

the first learning experienc on this car is changing the oil and
the next learning exp is the front of the engine... belts,
waterpump, alt, fan, radiator, ac, ps....


so think about it..... good luck.

I would think it's the alternator belt/s. The white smoke could be the water pump, I hope it's not though. Either way, it's surely electrical as well as mechanical. That's the only thing I could think of. Water pump circulates coolant so it might account for the white smoke? (coolant burns white, correct?)

Goodluck!

As said before, if the Alternator stops turning, the dash lights up.
So, the alternator stopped turning. Not burning colant! Burning rubber from the belts.
There may be an issue with the harmonic balancer which may have comeapart and is not rotating, causing the inner to rotate inside the outer, and the rubber sandwich is melting, causing the squeal.
Start the engine and see whether any belts are turning. any not turning?
Stop engine and identify function of belts. If all not turning, suspect H/balancer, if only one is not turning, the driven item is suspect.

Investigate, learn and enjoy.

__________________
Tony from West Oz.
Fatmobile 3 84 300D 295kkm Silver grey/Blue int. 2 tank WVO - Recipient of TurboDesel engine.
Josephine '82 300D 390kkm White/Palamino int.
Elizabeth '81 280E, sporting a '79 300D engine.
Lucille '87 W124 300D non-turbo 6 cylinder OM603, Pearl Grey with light grey interior


Various parts cars including 280E, 230C & 300D in various states of disassembly.

Ok, everbody who guessed alternator was right. It has a new one and runs as nice as ever. I could probably have done it myself a lot cheaper, but as I said before, if I was gonna do that, it wouldn't be done for several weeks. I appreciate everyone's help. Perhaps I'll have more time and feel more up to tackling the next project that comes along. Thanks again for all your help.

the alternator siezed? that is a first time for me.

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

Walgamouth, really not that uncommon. After seizure never took one apart. Just assumed bearing had disinigrated and jammed but lets you know what real belt howl sounds like. Last one was my daughters isuzu at 160k. May not be as common with german alternators though. It is hard to take the first step in starting to work on things yourself for some. It takes on quantum leap proportions until some confidence is gained in my opinion. This is more typical today for several very understandable reasons. The very complexity of things today for starters compared to thirty years ago. For me it was a neccesity but until a certain amount of self confidence is gained everything looks hard. My son in law is a good example. I found his dad had not started him off doing things. So it was required to support him in his earlier attempts. He does pretty well now but still does not return my tools promptly enough if at all. Guess will have to will them all to him as by the time it's activated he will probably have them all anyways at the rate he's going.

i was thinking german. it is walgamuth by the way. no 'o'. no harm. i am used to mangling of my name.

__________________
[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

Sorry about the name, tired I guess. Spent weekend with the only maintenance free thing we own, the cottage. Digging up soil to find problem in water supply. Well I thought it was maintenance free. Pretty good week. Got to my mail drop in maine to find excellent sheet metal waiting there for one of my mercedes. Stopped at volkswagen to see if new diesels were in and the price on way home. Suggested list is 31k plus 15% sales tax here with leather and sunroof and alloy wheels wonder how much I can work it down to. She totalled her 2000 jetta tdi last august when the tie rod broke at 52 thousand miles or 85 thousand kilometers. Suggested she wait for new body style. Ploy worked but the jig is up. My wife said she would always be happy years ago if she did not have to drive our older cars. A new car from time to time seems to do it. Figure I am getting off cheap.

sounds as if you're very busy.

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

Summer is so short here it becomes almost frantic to get everything done. And this spring/early summer has been abnormally cool.The rest of the year just seems to be a period of waiting for the weather to improve. Really is not pleasant if I cannot fit in my old car activity as well and this seems to be a marginal year for it. Do not mind stealing his thread a little as the problem is resolved. Really thinking of having a energy efficient building errected as energy costs here are now so high I cannot afford to heat the old building or it just does not make economic sense to do it. That would enable me to stay well occupied off season. But my age does not favour that move either. On the other hand you cannot take anything with you so will make a decision shortly one way or another.

At the thought of you having to drive a ford tempo, your benz should have magically sprung to life and sustained the pain to get you to and fro work.
Seriously though...hide that tempo under a tarp and put it on the street...it and the benz best not be sharing driveway space.

I had a very similar problem as the original post on this thread today... the loud squealing, the smell of cooked rubber, and the christmas cluster.

When I got the alternator out, I found that one of the small bolts had loosened, popping out into the path of the rotating thingy. The loud noise was metal on metal. I used a hammer to slightly reshape parts that were bent a bit. Alternator still seems to be ok (it's only a year old, and that was my first venture into auto repair-- should've waited on the bosch I think). I'm not sure this is the most common cause for the noise and smell... just thought I'd add my experience.
brian

That same exact thing happened to my dad's '83 last fall....I towed it home with my car We put in a new bosch reman and belts, and its been perfect since, he had white smoke/squeal too, the original belts were toast.

__________________
-diesel is not just a fuel, its a way of life-
'15 GLK250 Bluetec 118k - mine - (OC-123,800)
'17 Metris(VITO!) - 37k - wifes (OC-41k)
'09 Sprinter 3500 Winnebago View - 62k (OC - 67k)
'13 ML350 Bluetec - 95k - dad's (OC-98k)
'01 SL500 - 103k(km) - dad's (OC-110,000km)
'16 E400 4matic Sedan - 148k - Brothers (OC-155k)

Wow...since the problem had been resolved, I never thought to look at this thread again...didn't know so much had been posted. BTW although I have no problem working w/ parts of the car (I've become an expert at removing interior door panels, still chasing that vacuum leak) some of the stuff under the hood is a little more work than I care to tackle at the moment. Oh, and Brandon, the tempo currently resides at my grandparents house, as their spare car. Unfortunately, my car gets to live on the street at my house, as my hours are so different than the rest of the families, that it doesn't get to stay in the driveway. Thanks to everyone for the help...just knowing what to tell the mechanic is helpful.

Spray the belts with water and see if the squealing goes away. If it does you need to tighten whatever belt it lose. But it sounds like your alt bearings are failing, not a big deal well unless they seize while you are driving. Is the alt belt on a 617 connected to anything important like the water pump? If not you could just pull the belt off and drive it; changing an alt is a pretty simple job.

__________________
1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200