Hey Paul,

I sent you a PM. Please respond as soon as you are able to. Thanks.

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1999 Mercedes-Benz S600, 103K miles - garage queen
1988 Mercedes-Benz 560SEL, 89K miles - daily driver
2007 Hyundai Sonata Limited, 31K - daily driver

My old Nissan went 215K with no pulley problems. GM has made literally millions of these with the rubber in them, and they've been working fine for years. Without the rubber they would transfer too much crankshaft vibration to the belt and the accessories. The problem must be specific to this part; a rubber bonded balancer is not unique.

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Lenny

There are only three sports: bullfighting, motor racing and mountaineering; all the rest are merely games. --Ernest Hemingway

'10 GL550/'04 BMW 545/'99 BMW 323/'98 ML320/'87 VW GTI (race)

Received response from NHTSA to my inquiry on results of their investigation on the ML balancer failures, being one of the complainers to the NHTSA. Results of the investigation are available on their web site if you enter PE03058 in the search box. INCR-PE03058-17713P.pdf is the closing report. In summary, 55 complaints were registered by NHTSA, another 503 complaints were received by Mercedes. Apparently Mercedes also paid out 59,211 warranty claims on ML's for this defect. Also, 421,204 model year 1998-2000 Mercedes vehicles have this design balancer, with 255,930 with a balancer potentially subject to the same failure mode. As of April, Mercedes reported 5 related lawsuits. These are stats from the NHTSA final report. No consolation for those of us that shelled out $1500-3000 for collateral damage. But at least it's costing Benz. We can only hope for class action.

Further info from the report. Mercedes did not issue a TSB, but did issue "tech Tips" in 2000 to select factory technicians. This should have been a TSB to alert all. Mercedes also reported that the failure is progressive, with plenty of warning. Based on one personal experience, I do not concur.

I encourage all to read the report.

Received response from NHTSA to my inquiry on results of their investigation on the ML balancer failures, being one of the complainers to the NHTSA. Results of the investigation are available on their web site if you enter PE03058 in the search box. INCR-PE03058-17713P.pdf is the closing report. In summary, 55 complaints were registered by NHTSA, another 503 complaints were received by Mercedes. Apparently Mercedes also paid out 59,211 warranty claims on ML's for this defect. Also, 421,204 model year 1998-2000 Mercedes vehicles have this design balancer, with 255,930 with a balancer potentially subject to the same failure mode. As of April, Mercedes reported 5 related lawsuits. These are stats from the NHTSA final report. No consolation for those of us that shelled out $1500-3000 for collateral damage. But at least it's costing Benz. We can only hope for class action.

Further info from the report. Mercedes did not issue a TSB, but did issue "tech Tips" in 2000 to select factory technicians. This should have been a TSB to alert all. Mercedes also reported that the failure is progressive, with plenty of warning. Based on one personal experience, I do not concur.

I encourage all to read the report.

Lenny,
I know GM has used rubber mounted harmonic balancers for years and so have many other manufacturers. However the pullys are bolted directly to the crankshaft hub and the balancer which is just a heavy weighted ring is mounted with rubber to hub or is part of the hub. I hve seen a few of these fail, but have seen or herd of a lot of pullys mounted in rubber comming loose when the rubber gives up.

Paul

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84 500 SEL (307,xxx miles)

I just noticed a post on Benz World, where someone was told by MB service manager that they are in the process of doing a "recal" of sorts and some pople will be re-embursed. I will wait to see it happen but doubt it.

Several months ago, heck maybe even a year by now I had the HB fail on my ML320. I have a few posts many pages prior to this that I posted right after the failure occurred.
Well, for whatever it is worth one of my personal friends who works in the service department at the MB dealer here just told me that it is looking quite favorable that we will recover our money for damages that occurred due to a faulty HB. We'll just have to see if anything materializes out of this whole process.
I was one of those 55 registered complaints with the NHTSA as well as one of the 503 formal complaints to MB. Up to the point that my HB failure occurred EVERY single service and repair had been done by MB and they still refused to give me a good faith and it was out of warranty by just under 10K miles. I took it to an indie for half the amount that MB wanted for the repair. I must say that just like all of you I am VERY let down in the quality of this heap of crap.
My wife and I have a baby on the way (actually he was due 3 days ago, but he's a late arrival) and I am heavily relying on this vehicle to get us to and from the hospital 18 miles from my house...now GUESS WHAT!!....it's having problems again. Now it is not firing on all cylinders....GEESH!!!! OK, now I am just venting, lol.

Regards,
John

A buddy of mine has an E430 with the part no. 112 035 09 00 (BTR 99M10) marked on the harmonic balancer wheel behind the serpentine belt drive that is on the outside diameter of the harmonic balancer. His car has a slight vibration at about 45 miles per hour and, based on this thread, I looked his harmonic balancer over throroughly. It has what appears to be a nearly continuous network of small cracks at the center of the rubber, which is worse in some places than others. I was wondering if this is the precursor to a failure, or is it perhaps the flashing from the mold? In any case, I advised him to have a the service manager where he gets it worked on take a look. Anyone know, though, if this is the beginning of the end? The car has about 102,000 miles and is a 2000 model. Jim

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Own:
1986 Euro 190E 2.3-16 (291,000 miles),
1998 E300D TurboDiesel, 231,000 miles -purchased with 45,000,
1988 300E 5-speed 252,000 miles,
1983 240D 4-speed, purchased w/136,000, now with 222,000 miles.
2009 ML320CDI Bluetec, 89,000 miles

Owned:
1971 220D (250,000 miles plus, sold to father-in-law),
1975 240D (245,000 miles - died of body rot),
1991 350SD (176,560 miles, weakest Benz I have owned),
1999 C230 Sport (45,400 miles),
1982 240D (321,000 miles, put to sleep)

Change it anyway; the newest part# is 112-035-13-00-05, and while I have been assured that it contains an entirely new rubber formulation to virtually eliminate this problem, I'll believe it when I see it... (yah, I'm from Missouri...)

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Don't ask me, I'm a shop-owner by default

My ML 320 caughed up the center of it's harmonic balancer last night. Rubber bushing is shot but everything else appears to be unharmed. Serpintine belt and all it's friends look fine.

Read all posts and have a few questions for the informed.

May I just replace the rubber bushing or do I need a new pulley wheel?

Estimated cost of part?

Difficulty level for shade tree tech with a box of Sears tools?


Mucho thanks for any help-

Brian

Mine failed on my E320 @ 60359 miles.

What year is your E320?

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Paul S.

2001 E430, Bourdeaux Red, Oyster interior.
79,200 miles.

1973 280SE 4.5, 170,000 miles. 568 Signal Red, Black MB Tex. "The Red Baron".

Happened to my wife's ('99 C280) car at about 39 kmiles. It damaged the timing chain cover and the oil pan. Cost over $2000. Good thing it was still under warranty. I look at it frequently ever since.

Alfonso
Chula Vista, CA

Hmmm, ours seems to be on the early end, but...

Late production '96 S420, 88,500 miles, "pronounced wobble" in the main crank pulley and slapping noise as the tensioner flopped back and forth with the vibrating serpentine belt. Looks like it's gonna be HB, bolt, belt, front main seal, by the book. No more than a few hundred bucks, and the dealer is checking into getting MB to pay for the parts.

Interesting reading the notes from techs on quality of newer Benzes. My dad swore by them. My wife's dad does too, but his last was a late '80s SEL. I never owned one. Bought my wife the used '96 with 37,500 miles a few years ago -- looked new and hardly broken in for a car that should run a quarter million miles without breathing hard. I said, "No dear, anything that costs THAT much we experiment with a USED one first. Well, the bumper-bumper warranty that came with it paid out about $17,000 in repairs over two years, and we've paid out a bit less than $4,000.

Not encouraging.

I am very appreciative for this forum on this issue! My car is a 98 E320 wagon with 80k. I checked out the balancer and it is the original part#. The rubber is just starting to show the signs. Took it to the dealer I purchased it from used, (Mercedes of Tacoma, Wa). The service writer, Sandy was honest and forthcoming with me and offered to replace the unit including parts & labor for less than $100. I purchased an aftermarket warranty from them in which the part was not covered, so I am pleased on the outcome. I set an appointment next week for the work to be done. I was curious if there are any other issues I should be concerned about on this particular model?
I have 3 other 124's which have been bulletproof and which I might add the build quality and materials are far better, however the 210 is a rocketship compared to my inline 6's even with the added weight....Gary