Where do you get European harmonic balancer dowel pins and center bolt for 1983 300D - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

palehorse13 · #1 04-12-2011, 08:14 PM

I have a 1983 non turbo European/gray market 300D that my Dad bought 10 years ago and I inherited when he died in 2006.
It has all the "normal" 300D bugaboos and I have just replaced the ignition
switch and lock cylinder and am in the process of "bug hunting" the loss of
vaccuum in the door locks.
In any case AFTER replacing the ignition switch and windshield I was driving back from getting coffee and the power steering all of a sudden got hard and the alternator light came on and the water temp started going up.
I stopped and when she cooled down started her up again and looked under the hood and the crank pulley and balancer looked to be turning at about a third the speed of the motor. When I got belts loose, the crank pulley and balancer assembly were loose/spinning on the crankshaft.
I was able to get the pulleys off and the big crank bolt out and the balancer fell into my hand.
It appears that the balancer failed some time ago (maybe 10 years and a
week) and some very artful (if not effective though it did last ten years)
mods were made to put it back together.
I need a European harmonic balancer (the one I have is cracked in two places), the alignment pins (not there though the slots in the crank shaft look OK) and the center bolt (the one I have has been spot welded and has three thrust washers on it and appears to have a 30mm head) to put her majesty (Brunehilda by name and disposition) back together.
I have been told that the European harmonic balancer is completely different than the US version. Any advice as to where to get these parts would be greatly appreciated.

kerry · #2 04-12-2011, 08:28 PM

I can't recall any comment on this forum in the past indicating that Euro dowel pins are different. Member Army is from Europe and just redid his engine so may be able to confirm or deny Euro and US similarities. However, in looking at the nose of your crank, the pin slots seem worn, although it's hard to tell from the angle. If so, you're going to have to drill new holes for the pins. There are threads on here on that topic.
Welcome to the forum and good luck. Your problem is actually not that uncommon.

palehorse13 · #3 04-13-2011, 04:33 PM

Kerry, Thanks for the quick response and information/advice. I went by a Mercedes parts distributor in my area, (Washington, DC) Brinson's. They have always been very helpful in getting me the right parts for this car. They pulled up an exploded diagram for my car (see attached). According to what they saw my car is supposed to use the harmonic balancer/dampener #101 pictured in the exploded diagram. The problem is that the hb/dampener I pulled off is identical to the hb #26 in the diagram. This is NOT the first time that the parts I have on the car dont match up with the "book" and I never know if it is an error in the book or some artful parts swapping/adaptation by the previous owner(s). For example there appears to be a 240D heater control in the console. It is my fervent hope NOT to keep putting the wrong/adapted parts on the motor

junqueyardjim · #4 04-13-2011, 07:09 PM

I don't think you are looking at this thing correctly, or perhaps it has been reassembled incorrectly. Your car requires both those parts, #26 is the balancer, and #101 is the vibration damper. It needs both. If your car has the A/C and Heater controls like the 240D, that is common on the Euro's. That is the standard manual control, which many folks would be happy to have on their 300D American version. All the US Imports came with the very complicated comfort controls.

http://www.unitcat.ru/mercedes/7/1/1/617912/143/03/015/

charmalu · #5 04-14-2011, 02:23 AM

Here are a few that have been posted in the past month. would there really be that much difference in a Euro 617 and a U.S. 617?

This first one is by ARMY, he is in Europe.

Warning OM617 dowel pins now supplied with incorrect length

I think I my harmonic balancer has gone bad.

Removing Harmonic Balancer w/Starter Motor Help Procedure

help please with loose part on front of my 300SD's engine

Charlie

Stretch · #6 04-14-2011, 03:39 AM

Welcome to the forum - let us know how you get on with your pins - I'm 99.99% sure the dowel pins are the same on both sides of the water.

It has been said before - it looks like you are missing the balancer - you need that bit too.

The picture you've posted that you got from the dealer looks just like my set up except for the main crankshaft bolt parts 86, 89 and is it 88 or 83? That is different from my engine - on my engine you have one bolt and 3 "spring" washers (they don't look like normal spring washers hence the quotes) instead of one washer and a sort of conical looking thing you've got there.

How did the dealer find this diagram - was it from the engine number or the chassis VIN?

palehorse13 · #7 04-14-2011, 09:22 PM

Thanks to everyone for their input and support.

I have ordered the replacement harmonic balancer (#126 in the diagram I previously uploaded). $368.00!

I have also ordered a new oil seal (which I understand is very easy to install poorly) and the alignment pins and big bolt and six little bolts.

I am a Chevy mechanic by experience and finding used parts for a Chevy 350 is a lot easier and less expensive. I like front oil seals you tap in with a hammer, harmonic balancers that are held in place with a woodruff key and torqued to a number that doesnt require you to lock up the flywheel to attain

I am hoping that when the parts come in (the HB is coming from the Fatherland) that I am not going to have to drill new holes for the alignment pins. I am having enough trouble getting my "arms around" having to heat up the harmonic balancer in a 350 degree oven for an hour or two in order to get it on the front of the crank and aligned.

Brunehilda is in great shape (the interior is a little ragged) but I figure this will cost me about a quarter of the car's value. It is a funny thing that (probably like a lot of other people who are members of these type of websites) I think she has timeless styling and a distinctive "personality". Right now that distinctive trait is "bit_h"!

Thanks again and will keep posting the progress.

palehorse13 · #8 04-15-2011, 08:44 PM

From the VIN Brinson's determined that the motor number was 61791212152492. The part that is most broken on my car (which I would call the harmonic balancer Mercedes calls the counterweight. Here is a partial list of the parts and numbers I ordered:

What I call it Part number What Mercedes calls it
23. Alignment pins (2) N 000007 008244 cylindrical pin
26. Harmonic balancer A 617 031 01 07 counterweight
113. Pulley bolts (6) N 000000 001448 screw
116. pulley bolt washer (6) N 000137 008212 spring washer
86. Harmonic balancer bolt N 308676 018001 screw
89. H balancer bolt washer(3) A 127 993 00 26 Disc spring

I am also getting a new front seal and spacer (#20 and #17 in the exploded diagram as well as #29 though I don't have the slightest idea what #29 does).

I have included some pictures of the old parts.

Stretch · #9 04-16-2011, 04:04 PM

#29 is a peg that sticks out to be detected by a proximity sensor for a tachometer if you have one fitted.

palehorse13 · #10 04-30-2011, 08:08 PM

Did you ever hear the VERY BAD joke about the guy who was trying to repair his Dad's old Mercedes and after getting a LOT of very good and much appreciated, experienced advice/counsel/and observations bought about $500.00 worth of parts and went to work to put the car back together.

Because of this experience he was able to install a new front seal using a cut up yogurt cup.

Because of this good advice he was able to deal with the slight burring on the idents on the crank.

Because of the sage counsel he was able to grind off the balancer alignment pins so they were flush.

Because of reading about other people's experiences he was able to determine that getting at least 220 foot pounds on the balancer bolt is critical.

Unfortunately when this guy got about 135 foot pounds on the balancer bolt the bolt pulled out of the crankshaft threads!

"Wrecked him, hell! Damn near killed him!"

Where do I go from here? Can the crank be tapped out? In the car?

Do I now need to try and find a Euro crank/crank kit?

If I want to swap motors can I install a US motor?

Additional sage advice warmly solicited

kerry · #11 04-30-2011, 09:08 PM

Holy crap man, that is very bad news. A US motor should be a direct swap. Don't know about re-threading. Talk to a machinist.

junqueyardjim · #12 04-30-2011, 09:32 PM

Can't be! You have something wrong or you did something wrong. You can't have that HB installed properly, with the correct washers on it and in place, screw it in to where you have to use the torque wrench and pull out those threads with 135 ft lbs of torque. There just is no way for that to happen.

Stretch · #13 05-01-2011, 03:39 AM

Oh no - can you post some pictures?

I did ask about new cranks at the dealer a while back - they are unobtainium - they did give me the impression, however, that you may be able to get a block and a crank together in one package... but seriously you'd be better off getting a second hand crank.

I could probably get you one here but it would be 1) expensive, 2) the postage would make it more expensive than a replacement engine where you are...

Tell us where you are - may be there is a forum member near by who can give you some on site advice?

layback40 · #14 05-01-2011, 05:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by palehorse13

Did you ever hear the VERY BAD joke about the guy who was trying to repair his Dad's old Mercedes and after getting a LOT of very good and much appreciated, experienced advice/counsel/and observations bought about $500.00 worth of parts and went to work to put the car back together.

Because of this experience he was able to install a new front seal using a cut up yogurt cup.

Because of this good advice he was able to deal with the slight burring on the idents on the crank.

Because of the sage counsel he was able to grind off the balancer alignment pins so they were flush.

Because of reading about other people's experiences he was able to determine that getting at least 220 foot pounds on the balancer bolt is critical.

Unfortunately when this guy got about 135 foot pounds on the balancer bolt the bolt pulled out of the crankshaft threads!

"Wrecked him, hell! Damn near killed him!"

Where do I go from here? Can the crank be tapped out? In the car?

Do I now need to try and find a Euro crank/crank kit?

If I want to swap motors can I install a US motor?

Additional sage advice warmly solicited

Yes you can. Just put an over sized high tensile bolt with similar thread pitch in there after you tap it.
No big deal. But then I guess its easy for me to say that.
The hardest part will be cleaning the hole before tapping.
Make sure you use a tap for a blind hole & tap it in as far as you can. Dont break the tap off in the hole. Soap is one of the best tapping lubricants.

Diesel911 · #15 05-01-2011, 10:38 AM

Were you able to get the end piece (other half of the Bolt) of the old Bolt out of the Crank shaft before you tried to install the new Bolt?