I have a '98 E300 diesel. Three days ago, I was driving down a street near my house and heard a clunk from under the hood, and I got the battery picture in my instrument cluster -- meaning the alternator was not working. It turned out that the pulley on my alternator had come apart. The portion of the pulley that the drive belt fits on separated from the rest of the pulley and had dropped to the plastic sheet below. The part of the pulley that stayed on the alternator shaft looks like a polished steel pipe about an eighth of an inch thick (maybe thicker).


My question is, can I remove the part of the pulley that remains on the alternator shaft with ordinary tools and replace it with a new one, again with ordinary tools? When I looked for the nut that holds the pulley on, I saw three sets of splines instead. When I checked on Peach Parts for a new pulley, I also noticed that they are selling a set of tools for removal of these pulleys. The tools cost $246.00.


It looks to me that Mercedes engineers have found yet another way to frustrate DIYers. They do it with hex head bolts, torx head bolts, reverse head bolts, spline bolts, and other ways that require special tools not ordinarily in our tool boxes. I never understand this. We are the ones who keep 20 and 30 year old cars on the road so that their sales people can declare Mercedes to be the best. Any help would be appreciated.