I was looking under the hood today because I heard some weird noise in there. Low and behold, there was a chuck of rubber spill out of the balancer. I did a search about it here in this forum, and found this is a very common problem among the v6 series engine. I am happy to find that there is no damage as of yet, so I would like to replace it asap.

I am pretty new to Mercedes repairs, but I am pretty mechanically able. Where should I buy a replacement? Since this is a common problem, would local Benz dealer provide me of one for no charge? Is there a step by step procedure about this repair, with proper torque specs for the nuts and bolts?

Your help is greatly appreciated.

Regarding if MB will give you a balancer at no charge depends how old your vehicle is; if you are the original owner;and how often you come in to the dealer for work. The part isn't very expensive at the dealer, but i am unsure what they go for in the after market world. The hardest part of the job is removing/ installing the balancer bolt. There is a special tool used that fits in the balancer to hold it. I usually replace the front crank shaft seal (there is also a special tool to install seal),balancer, and bolt (being a stretch bolt). The torque spec is 150 ft-lbs and then 90 degrees when installing.If you decide to do this job, i can supply you with more info, but he dealer only charges about an hour(or call an independent shop), so it might not be worth the headache.Good luck.