bummed.... engine running but accessories not turning. 1982 300CD Turbo
 

got to work this morning and had an alt light and no power steering. the sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach said sheared crank. I verified it under the hood but have not removed anything, I am still at work. I am going to have the wife pick me up and go get the trailer to take it home. whats the best and worst I can expect? is it simply a key or is there some other big problem lurking?

found this thread, hopefully it is just the cap screws

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/diesel-discussion/211644-engine-running%3B-no-belts-turning-no-pulleys-turning.html?highlight=sheared+key

Now I'm bummed too, good luck you'll get it!

Not an uncommon problem on 617's. Should be fixable. Even if the pin slots on the crank nose are bad, new pin holes can be drilled.

I lost an alternator key once. Though the alternator sized. Lost the pulley and everything. (going from San Francisco to Elko, Nv. it happened on 80 outside Fallon NV) Got towed back to Elko pulled the Alternator. It was a $10 fix. new key and pulley. Never figured out why. But it was good t go.

Hopefully it will be a relatively easy fix. Good luck.

well its the worst. the keys on the crank nose are bunged along with the id of the balancer. I am going to go get a new balancer from the pnp, not sure how much material is gone from the crank nose. when drilling new holes, is the hardness of the crank and balancer similar? is it better to drill new holes or enlarge the current ones?

There are a couple of threads which describe drilling the crank. My recollection is that the new holes were drilled 90 degrees away from the existing ones.

Yikes....how tight did you have the belt tension set? I keep mine all quite loose to prevent this issue....

Does belt tension have any effect? I'm pretty sure MB knew there was a weakness and if my memory serves me correctly, even recalled the early W116 SD turbo engines because they were throwing off their balancers.
Any idea why it failed in this instance?

What corrective action was taken in conjunction with the recall?

Possibly locktight on any fastenings? They have been known to loosen off I think. Miserable experience to have. Especially if damage has occured.

I cannot think of anything else they might have done during the recall except perhaps harder pins as well if they suspected shearing was an issue.

Not sure. I'll do some searching.

Haven't been able to find anything. Can't remember where I read about the recall.

yeh looks like I will drill 2 holes 90 degree off. The engine was making a clattering noise for 3 weeks. I searched and searched and couldnt find it. I finally decided it was the motor mounts. looks like that guess was wrong. I think the last straw was turning the engine by the crank bolt to do the valve adjust and my own inexperience with these engines. the bolt was loose when I was turning the motor over, but it didnt clue me to the bigger issue, I just retightened it

It does not hurt to try but I am sceptical that drilling new holes will last for long. I had one I bought like this and had to get a new crank. (used).

Can you elaborate? Were there completely new holes drilled? How did it fail and why? I thought the last report from the people who had done the job and posted on this forum was that the repair seemed to be fine.

as long as the crank/balancer fit is still good, im skeptical here actually, I dont see any reason why 2 new holes shouldnt last the life of the car. I will drill them then ream them to final dowel pin size. It should be the identical holding power per the design. if the balancer to crank fit is to spec, what would be wrong with the new holes?