Please help, no power steering, overheating, awful clatter - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

TWeatherford · #1 09-04-2008, 10:54 PM

Hi all,
Was driving my car tonight, all the sudden I start hearing an extra clickety clack over the general diesel chug. It didn't matter if I was idling, or moving along (I was in traffic), and then I noticed the temperature climing high. On my car, it stays right above 80 (Celcius I assume), occasionally goes up higher, but comes right down. It just kept going up. I pulled her over and started diagnosing. About that time I noticed that the belt that goes to the power steering pump, as well as the fan, had stopped. When it comes on, it has the awful clatter. Mostly its off though. And then of course, with the belt to the power steering pump not going, I lost power steering. I drove it home (short distance) stopping twice to let her cool down so as to not overheat.

I'm not as mechanically savvy as I wish I was, so forgive me, but whats going wrong here? Some type of clutch that isn't engaging properly, or is it the water pump? And as an aside, how bad is it to drive without power steering? It will stay where it is for now, until fixed, but earlier it was either drive home or get towed, so I opted to drive the 5 or so miles.

Thanks in advance.

pawoSD · #2 09-04-2008, 10:57 PM

The power steering has its own belt as do the water pump and alternator. Is the battery light on? It sounds like you lost all belts or worse....dun dun dun....the front pulley on the engine may have come loose (meaning it has sheared off its mounting bolts!), explaining the clacking sound and lack of rotation. You may have a significant repair ahead. Inspect the front (big pulley) at the bottom of the engine and see if it is still attached properly or turns correctly. Both Power Steering loss and water pump (why the temp is climbing) point to a major problem.

kerry · #3 09-04-2008, 11:28 PM

Yep, I'd say there's a problem with the crankshaft pulley. Don't drive it anymore because the repair becomes much more difficult if the pin slots get destroyed.

TWeatherford · #4 09-05-2008, 08:23 AM

Greeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaattttttttttttttt. Yeah, all my lights on the left were on, including the battery light. I neglected to mention that occasionally the fan and power steering would come on, accompanied by the awful rattle. Then they'd go off, and the rattle would go away. Any more tips to further diagnose this problem?

tangofox007 · #5 09-05-2008, 08:39 AM

Check the bolts that secure the crankshaft pulley to the balancer. If you are lucky, you will find that they have sheared. (In that case, the pulley will be hanging by the belts or missing altogether.) If your luck isn't so good, you will find that the balancer is spinning on the crankshaft. Either of those conditions will affect all the drive belts: power steering pump, alternator, water pump, a/c compressor.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TWeatherford

I neglected to mention that occasionally the fan and power steering would come on, accompanied by the awful rattle. Then they'd go off, and the rattle would go away.

That's a bad sign. Suggests a loose balancer.

TWeatherford · #6 09-05-2008, 06:38 PM

Ok, I went out to have another look. I certainly can't see that the pulley itself is loose. It looks to be on just fine. I got under the car, grabbed the pulley, and found that I have ever so slight amount of play up and down and back and forth. So probably the harmonic balancer is not properly attached to the crankshaft. I guess at this point I need to remove the radiator and tear into it, see if the end of the crankshaft is buggered beyond repair. If it is, put in a used engine, which will probably wait until this winter. If not, maybe a new balancer and bolt will fix it. Can I rent a harmonic balancer puller at a regular auto parts store, or does it have to be some fancy Mercedes thing?

TWeatherford · #7 09-07-2008, 10:08 PM

A few days ago I figured out that my harmonic balancer is not correctly attached to my crankshaft. I've never gone that far into an engine, a valve adjustment is about the most serious work I've done on an engine, but I'm mechanically inclined and feel good about fixing this problem. I've read and read on this forum and elsewhere about this problem, and have a pretty good handle on whats going on, however there are some gaps I'm not sure about.

The current plan is, since I'm in college and the car is on the street where I parked it, to tow either home (3 hours away) or to a friends garage. There I will remove the radiator, front pulley, and take off the old harmonic balancer. Hopefully the crankshaft won't be thrashed, I can put new dowel pins in very carefully and put on a new harmonic balancer. Maybe I'll get it done in one weekend, maybe it'll take longer.

For parts I know I'll need the dowel pins, and a front oil seal, correct? A new harmonic balancer is in order, or should I go for a used one? I could get one from a pick-n-pull but that would take time and a lot of effort, or maybe a member on here is parting out a car and could help me out. Since I'll have the main pulley off, and they are prone to shearing off the six allen head bolts that hold it on, should I replace those as well? What else should I have ready to put in? I'll probably do an order tomorrow from Phil.

Now as for tools... I have a small but probably sufficient selection. I'll probably buy a big honkin' torque wrench, or maybe rent one, for the 200 ft.lb bolt holding the harmonic balancer to the crank. I know I'll need a 27 mm socket as well. I have a little 3/8 brass dowel I can use for the dowel pins... I'll rent a harmonic balancer puller. Anything else you all know of I might need?

Cervan · #8 09-07-2008, 10:24 PM

you dont need a torque wrench for the harmonic balancer, getting it "as tight as you possibly can" works too.

tangofox007 · #9 09-07-2008, 10:39 PM

In addition to the seal, replace the crankshaft spacer. It is a sleeve on the front of the crank where the inner lip of the seal rides. The spacer gets a groove worn into it. Sometimes the groove is offset from the center enough that you can reverse the spacer and reuse it. But I recommend against that, since it is impossible to know exactly where the new seal lip will ride. The trick to getting the spacer off is to pry it from two points, 180 degrees apart, simultaneously. If you try to pry it off from a single point, you may never succeed.

The toughest part of the job is getting the balancer lined up so that the dowel pins will go in. It's a lot harder that it might seem that it would be. A small mirror will be great asset; unless you don't have an a/c condensor, you won't be able to see things directly.

Larry Delor · #10 09-07-2008, 10:46 PM

Not sure if you have come across it yet or not, but the two metal pins are not exactly 180 degrees from each other. If one pin is at 0 degrees, the other is either at 175 or 185 (depending on if you are going clock-wise or CCW). You won't need a measuring device, if you eyeball it up close and personal.

Good Luck!!

TWeatherford · #11 09-08-2008, 11:50 AM

Thanks for the info/advice. Any opinions on new vs. used harmonic balancer?

Tangofoxo007: maybe I'm just showing what I don't know, but do you mean the AC compressor (not condenser). If so, my compressor is frozen, happened right after I bought the car (like 10 miles down the road on my way home). Can I just remove it altogether, or are there holes its covering that need to have crud kept out?

tangofox007 · #12 09-14-2008, 04:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TWeatherford

Tangofoxo007: maybe I'm just showing what I don't know, but do you mean the AC compressor (not condenser). If so, my compressor is frozen, happened right after I bought the car (like 10 miles down the road on my way home). Can I just remove it altogether, or are there holes its covering that need to have crud kept out?

Sorry, I didn't mean to ignore your question, but I failed to notice it until now.

I meant condenser, in as much as it is in the way when dealing with the balancer, even when the radiator is removed. But you have that taken care of at this point. When I replaced my front seal, I did not want to remove the condensor on a working a/c system, so I had to do most of the work using a mirror. (That gave me new appreciation for the skills that a dentist must develop!!!)

There is not much advantage to removing an inop compressor, unless you have already decided that it will never be returned to service. Removing the drive belt will eliminate the possibility of any additional complications.

Did your compressor experience a "sudden stoppage?" If so, that could have contributed to your current problem.

TWeatherford · #13 09-15-2008, 12:34 AM

No problem at all. My compressor did seize, but that was 15,000 miles ago. Maybe it did contribute, but probably wasn't the straw that broke the camel's back. Now that I think of it, when I get back to the car (in a friends garage) I will have to make sure that the alternator and power steering pump aren't frozen up (don't know if that is even possible). A failure like that would obviously contribute greatly to my problem. When my compressor froze, it just ran really rough and hard, making a horrible squealing noise, for about 1 minute, and then the belt broke and it was over. I had purchased the car literally less than an hour previously, and was driving it 10 hours home, and had no idea what was going on. This is the first car I've seriously wrenched on.