Left the house last night around 10 to make the 2 hour drive back to school. Me in the new jetta diesel (new as in rusty '90 that I recently bought haha) and my GF in my '87 300D. We'd made it 1.3 miles and at the top of the hill she calls me freaked out that all the warning lights were on. So we pulled off and I saw the warning lights... EVERY SINGLE ONE. Then I saw the temp gauge yelled and obscenity and shut her down.

Popped the hood, the car had randomly thrown a belt.

Well... maybe not random... My friend said his mechanic replaced the idler pulley about a month before I got the car, and he removed the powersteering pump pulley to get to it:


So an hour an $59.60 later,


Didn't want to risk it again and I had to get get back up here. So pray to the #14 gods for me that in a week or two I just need to loctite the crap out of those bolts and all will be okay.

Yeah and you may want to get new bolts. There's something to be said about torque values.

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83 SD

84 CD

Uh, sounds like your friend's mechanic didn't know what he was doing. You don't need to loosen any pulleys to replace the belt, and you don't need to remove the power steering pump pulley to get to anything related to the tensioner. The water pump pulley may need to be removed to replace the belt tensioner lever arm, but not just the idler pulley. You only have to remove the belt to R&R the idler pulley. See the attached PDF file with the FSM procedure on belt removal.

On a related note, if you haven't yet seen it, you may want to read this article about the 1987 300D... it has lots of general information specific to this year/model:

http://www.w124performance.com/docs/mb/articles/124.1x3_buying_tips.txt

The W124 FSM is posted online at this link.

Attached Files

13-342.pdf (284.5 KB, 122 views)

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Dave
Boise, ID
Check out my website photos, documents, and movies!

Nice mechanic. I have never removed an additional pulley to route the 603's belt... it is tight but is able to be stuffed in there.

Tensioner spring could be dying. The tensioner shock dies often. The big lever on the timing case takes some pretty high torque, around 80ft-lbs.

Do the work yourself this time and tighten everything to spec, not just 'snug'

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I'm not a doctor, but I'll have a look.

'85 300SD 245k
'87 300SDL 251k
'90 300SEL 326k

Six others from BMW, GM, and Ford.

Liberty will not descend to a people; a people must raise themselves to liberty.[/IMG]

Bummage.

Clean/dry threads, new bolts, loctite BLUE. The red stuff will not please you for this application.

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James Marriott
2003 Buick Regal
1983 300D (228k, frau Auto)
1996 Suburban K2500 (192k, 6.5 turbo diesel/4WD towmaster 10,000)
www.engineeringworks.biz
1987 300SDL junker 170k
1982 300SD junker, 265k

On the W126 this is not required. You do have to remove the idler pulley to remove the tensioner arm from the car, but that can be done (carefully) with the fan in place too.

All the idiot lights came on because the alternator stopped spinning, which is how the cluster knows when to stop the lamp test.

-Jason

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1991 350SDL. 230,000 miles (new motor @ 150,000). Blown head gasket

Tesla Model 3. 205,000 miles. Been to 48 states!
Past: A fleet of VW TDIs.... including a V10,a Dieselgate Passat, and 2 ECOdiesels.
2014 Cadillac ELR
2013 Fiat 500E.

Yes, we know (don't we Jason?) that you don't have to remove the pulley or the fan to get at the tensioner.

I think my hands are still dirty from that job!

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Michael LaFleur

'05 E320 CDI - 86,000 miles
'86 300SDL - 360,000 miles
'85 300SD - 150,000 miles (sold)
'89 190D - 120,000 miles (sold)
'85 300SD - 317,000 miles (sold)
'98 ML320 - 270,000 miles (sold)
'75 300D - 170,000 miles (sold)
'83 Harley Davidson FLTC (Broken again) :-(
'61 Plymouth Valiant - 60k mikes
2004 Papillon (Oliver)
2005 Tzitzu (Griffon)
2009 Welsh Corgi (Buba)

Sorry mods I guess failboat isn't a well know term haha.

I've got a new fan to put on so that'll get done when I fix this. Gotta wait a few weeks.

Hmmm, then y'all are leaving the belt shock attached to the tensioner lever arm then, and removing the two together...?

Ya it's a tight space

Belt is back on and I replaced the cracked fan with a brand new OE one. Doesn't seem to be using coolant and isn't overheating. I think this #14 will live to fight another day.

Yahoooo!

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Michael LaFleur

'05 E320 CDI - 86,000 miles
'86 300SDL - 360,000 miles
'85 300SD - 150,000 miles (sold)
'89 190D - 120,000 miles (sold)
'85 300SD - 317,000 miles (sold)
'98 ML320 - 270,000 miles (sold)
'75 300D - 170,000 miles (sold)
'83 Harley Davidson FLTC (Broken again) :-(
'61 Plymouth Valiant - 60k mikes
2004 Papillon (Oliver)
2005 Tzitzu (Griffon)
2009 Welsh Corgi (Buba)

Always good to hear. I lost my belt some years ago with the tensioner failed and pulled a hole in the front cover. It was 1 mile from home and was the scariest thing that my car has ever done to me .

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1982 300GD Carmine Red (DB3535) Cabriolet Parting Out
1990 300SEL Smoke Silver (Parting out)
1991 350SDL Blackberry Metallic (481)

"The thing is Bob, its not that I'm lazy...its that I just don't care."

Is buying new head bolts and/or re torquing good preventive maintenance for a head that has gotten hot?

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What Would Rudolph Do?
1975 300D, 1975 240D, 1985 300SD, 1997 300D, 2005 E320 , 2006 Toyota Prius

On any aluminum engine, head and or block, yes.
Not to mention a new head gasket and since you have it off, have it (head) checked for warpage, or worse.

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83 SD

84 CD