603 Crankshaft Pulley Failure - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

MBDFahrer · #1 09-03-2006, 03:05 AM

Well, its been a while since I've posted here, but I'm in dire need of advice. This year, I've been doing more long distance driving with my 603 than all other years. I've been down to Oceanside twice, and a trip to San Jose and back. Although I don't know what the exact cause is, but 2 days after the trip home from Thursday, the crankshaft pulley is busted. The symptoms included intermittent power steering failure, lights dimming, and overheating the engine with a #14 head.

So now the questions are:
What should I do?
What causes the pulley to fail in such a fashion?
How common is this failure?
What would be a ball park estimate on repairing/replacing the failed components?

At the moment, the belt is off, and not much else has been done. All the pulleys spin freely, so it seems nothing else has failed. The crankshaft pulley can also be spun by hand and also has some play.

dkveuro · #2 09-03-2006, 04:10 AM

Is it just the outer part spinning or the whole assembly ?

If the outer...get a replacement crank damper pulley.
If the whole assembly, that's the Woodruff key broken out...a very rare occurence.

That would mean the crank nose is badly damaged and another pulley will be a loose fit on the crank, not good.

.

Wiz3D · #3 09-03-2006, 11:49 AM

Yep ... what dkveuro said .... if the crankshaft snout is torn up, forensically speaking, it is likely that someone forced the balancer on wrong once upon a time and destroyed the dowel pin reliefs ... a shame

I have a 617 952 layin' here in my yard that I r & r'd for a friend with the same issues ... stay positive pull the balancer off, inspect the crank snout and hope for the best.

MBDFahrer · #4 09-03-2006, 03:48 PM

Thanks for the replies. What tools will be required to remove the crank damper pulley and is it necessary to pull the radiator?

As of right now, from what i can feel, it seems the whole pulley wobbles. It also spins pretty easily.

MBDFahrer · #5 09-09-2007, 01:03 PM

Well after a year, I've gotten some assistance with the 603. It seems that there's some damage to the vibration damper, and possibly the crank snout. I need someone else to confirm it.

and the old vibration damper

and another view of the vibration damper

lietuviai · #6 09-09-2007, 01:16 PM

How can something like this happen?

MBDFahrer · #7 09-09-2007, 01:31 PM

The car was a salvage title, I'm pretty sure the guy that rebuilt it was a monkey with a impact wrench *sigh*

pawoSD · #8 09-09-2007, 01:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jmak124

The car was a salvage title, I'm pretty sure the guy that rebuilt it was a monkey with a impact wrench *sigh*

How many miles on the engine? This is the first time I have heard of it happening to the 603 engine...

MBDFahrer · #9 09-09-2007, 01:55 PM

She has 199,408 miles on it.

Another question that has come up is... what kind of woodruff key does it use?
I ordered one from the dealer via the part number from the EPC and they gave me this:

Whereas worldpac lists this as the key:

To further add to the confusion, the key shown on the EPC looks like the one from worldpac also.

lietuviai · #10 09-09-2007, 03:22 PM

The woodruff keys pictured below would appear more like the one you need.
There doesn't appear to be much left of a groove in your crankshaft to install the key.
You could try some epoxy on the shaft and see if that helps keep the pulley in place.

Matt L · #11 09-09-2007, 04:52 PM

The image isn't clear enough to tell, but perhaps there is half a key in the crankshaft.

Epoxy isn't going to help here.

Hatterasguy · #12 09-09-2007, 04:58 PM

The slot where the key fits is totally shot. You either need to replace it or fix it.

You may be able to weld some material in and then grind/file the slot straight again.

Someone messed this up at some point, these don't just fail.