help please with loose part on front of my 300SD's engine - Page 2 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

#16 03-09-2003, 03:10 PM

Your in Gainesville right? Try Continental Imports. I had my car towed to them when it flat out died at the rest stop on 75 just south of Gainesville. Starter just died out of the blue and nothing would bring it back to life. Charged me $140.00 for the starter, $55.00 labor. Clean shop, honest people. Was towed in at around 4pm in the pouring rain, had me back on the road by 5:30.
So here is at least one honest shop around your area.

P.E.Haiges · #17 03-09-2003, 04:44 PM

RG5384,

Doesn't one of your friends have a car and a chain or a rope? It would save you a few bucks if you could get your MB to a garage that way. If you can find a pipe to put the chain thru it will prevent you from running into the tow car. Remember the brakes don't work very well without vacuun assist. You should keep your left foot on the parking brake.

P E H

RG5384 · #18 03-09-2003, 05:35 PM

none of my friends have a car capeable of towing my car, and unfortunately i'm in jacksonville, not gainsville. there is a shop about ten minutes away that i'll probably have the car towed to. Dont think i'm risking driving it home anymore, thanks for everyones help, and if anyone has any more advice i'd love to hear it. Thanks,
Ryan

rivermasternc · #19 03-09-2003, 06:25 PM

I think that is a wise decision Ryan. Hopefully the repair will not be too expensive. Post a follow up after the shop has had a chance to look at it. We'll all be interested in more information on the failure mode, especially those of us with 617.951's.

-Scott

RG5384 · #20 03-09-2003, 06:44 PM

well, unfortunately my wise decision has been veto'd and once again i'm driving the old girl home. I'm really nervous about making the trip especially after reading everything on here, but we do not have the money to pay someone to repair the car, and i have the knowledge to repair it myself(with the exception of statically ballancing the new dampner), so IF it does make it home that will be the only labor charge. I'm going to check the six bolts on the fan before i leave, and hopefully have one of my friends who is in training to be an ASE mechanic give it a once over, then just make very minor throttle changes and drive it really easy and hope she gets me home. If it does fly off during the trip, i guess we lost this gamble(i'm well aware the odds are not on my side as it is). Would there be any better chance of making the trip if i were to drive say 60-65 instead of 80-85 on the trip home? Thanks again for all your help, and i do realize i'm taking a big gamble right now, but unfortunately it seems my only solution. If i dont drive it home the car will be parked for a few months up here, and school gets out at the end of April, so any way i look at it the car has to get home. Towing it from here to tampa doesn't seem like a financially sound idea either, so this is what i'm left with. I am kind of frusterated at the car because of this though, this is the type of problem i would expect from my old buick, and my switch to a mercedes diesel was to avoid problems like this, guess it's all in the luck of the draw. Thanks once again, the car is now officially parked untill friday where i hope to get her home.
sincerely,
Ryan

RG5384 · #21 03-09-2003, 06:53 PM

one more real quick question: is there any way that the driveshaft i hit in the road a month or two ago has anything to do with this being loose/broken?

kerry · #22 03-09-2003, 07:00 PM

Ryan:
I don't get it. If you have the ability to fix the car, why don't you do it before you leave? If you do a search on harmonic balancer on this site you will find a number of posts, some of which describe the difficulties involved if the notches for the pins get damaged.
Pulling the radiator to get access to the area should only take a half hour or so.

Kerry

RG5384 · #23 03-09-2003, 07:12 PM

the reason i can't fix it here is i am in a dorm parking lot, without proper jacks, and i also dont have all my tools with me. i have no way to drain the fluids so that a racoon etc will not die from the radiator fluid etc etc. Basically, this is not a job i'm legally allowed or willing to do in a dorm parking lot. Any ideas on ways around this i'm all ears. I'm talking over AIM with a friend who's dad is a service tech at a mercedes dealer, so hopefully i'll get some more insight there. Thanks again for everyone's help
RYan

P.E.Haiges · #24 03-09-2003, 07:13 PM

And what when your MB breaks down after 50 miles? All of a sudden you have the money to tow it 250 miles? The towing will cost more than the repair if you do it before it gets worse.

If you don't have the money for a tow home, what will you do with the car? Leave it along the road until April? It would probably be scrapped by then. It would be better to leave it in the dorm parking lot now.

That's not a big repair to do outside in FL where its warm. You are going to be sorry if you lose the car when you wouldn't have to.

As for driving it home, slower would be better. It will be much easier to find the parts when they fly out.

P E H

rivermasternc · #25 03-09-2003, 07:30 PM

Ryan:

Your long message raises an important question. You make reference to tightening the 6 bolts that hold the fan on.

The Main pulley with the vibration damper, harmonic balancing ring, and crank shaft is not the same pulley as the pulley the fan is on. The fan pulley is directly connected to a viscous coupling mounted off the water pump shaft.

I'll send you some more info. This distinction will be critical for your dad and the MB Technician.

-Scott

RG5384 · #26 03-09-2003, 08:14 PM

I read something on this site that led me to beleive that the dampner was two peices of metal held together by a rubber compound. If that is true, only the front half of the dampener is loose, as there is an almost identical circular ring sitting right behind the loose part, that is still held on tight. My friend that i was talking to also made the distinction between the bolts that hold the fan on and the bolts that hold the pully and damnper on. I'm going to look tomarrow to see if the bolts are still there, or if they have fallen out or sheared off. The pulley itself is not loose, which is what is confusing me, i would think that if the dampener were held on with the same bolts that held the pulley on, if the dampener were loose wouldn't the pulley also be loose?. I might be able to fix this at a friends apartment that friday evening or saturday, so i wouldn't have to drive a broken car home. Thats my best looking alternative at the moment.
Ryan

kerry · #27 03-09-2003, 09:06 PM

Ryan:
I looked at the pictures in my Mercedes shop manual. There are two parts in addition to the pulleys. There is a balancer and a vibration damper. The balancer is attached to the crankshaft as I described in the prior post and then the vibration damper goes on before the pulleys. The six bolts go thru the pulleys, and the vibration damper, screwing in to the balancer.
I still cannot picture these three parts separating from each other unless all six bolts came out. If that was the case, the belts would not turn.

RG5384 · #28 03-09-2003, 09:23 PM

thats the thing that is confusing me the most right now as well, from everythign i've read my pulley should be about to fall off. The only indication i've had that the pulley might be loose is a very very slight wobbling of the belt that runs to the power steering pump. I'll know more tomarrow when i look at it, and my friends dad is sending me the shop diagrams for the entire system tomarrow when he's at his work. I'm also going to call a mercedes specialist up here and try to talk to them about it, and my dad is going to look through some maintenance books(For a W123, but same engine) tonight and then go talk to a mercedes specialist accross the street from his work. I'm gonna try to find a girl with an old compac and take out the mirror and put it on a pencil so i can look around down there also. I can't tell you how much all of the time and effort everyone has put into this means to me, i can't thank you all enough.
Ryan

kerry · #29 03-09-2003, 10:02 PM

Ryan:
I don't think you should need a jack for this job. Everything shcould be accessible from above or easily from below without lifting the car.
I can't see any indications of there being two parts to the balancer in my Haynes manual. The balancer is slid over the end of the crankshaft, held in position by two dowels which fit into mating half slots in the balancer and shaft. A large bolt which goes directly into the end of the crankshaft secures it in position. The pulleys are then bolted into the balancer with six allen head bolts.
So, to figure out what it going on you are probably going to have to remove the radiator, loosen the belts, remove the six allen head bolts and then the pulleys should come off. You should have a clear view of the balancer at that point.
Something seems a bit odd to me about your description of the problem. You describe the situation as if the pulleys are still fixed in place but the balancer is loose. From what I can gather from looking at the pictures in Haynes and reading the assembly/disassembly process if the balancer is loose, the pulleys should be loose also because they are bolted to the balancer. Are you sure it is not the pulleys that are loose? If it is the pulleys, the repair could be as simple as tightening those allen head bolts.

P.E.Haiges · #30 03-09-2003, 10:44 PM

You might have to only tighten the large bolt with the 27mm head. A 1 1/16 inch socket will also fit. You can do this without taking out the radiator or anything else. It would certainly be a good place to start. Turn clockwise to tighten.

The engine might turn so if you have a manual shift, put it in high gear with parking brake engaged. If automatic, you will have to hold the balancer, possibly using a vise grip plier clamped on it.

P E H