Somehow I missed out on the service campaign to replace the harmonic balancer on my 1998 ML320 with 94,000 miles. Two dealerships in the past few years never informed me and I did not get a mailing from MB.

So here is what happened. I was at a signal an noticed a big truck next to me and thought; Wow, that sure is one noisy truck. The signal changed and the truck went away and the noise was still there and it was coming from my ML320. Once I started to pull forward I noticed that I did not have power steering and the battery charge light went on.

I pulled into a parking lot and looked under the hood. The belt had no tension.

Fast forward.

Towing Charge - $180
Repair Charge - $644

The dealer replaced a "broken" harmonic balancer under the service campaign and charged me for a belt tensioner, belt & cooling block cover seals.

The dealer now says that the balancer was only cracked and that the lack of power steering was related to the belt tensioner failure and has rejected a request to pay for the towing charge. They also reject any reimbursement for any of the other repairs.

Since the loud metal on metal grinding noise continued even when there was no tension on the belt, I think that the sound was coming from the harmonic balancer. If the belt was loose it could not have been turning the belt tensioner and causing it to make so much noise.

My questions:

1. Could a failure of the harmonic balancer have caused the belt tensioner to fail?
2. Could a failure of the harmonic balancer have caused the oil leaks in the cooling block covers?
3. Or is it just a coincidence that the belt tensioner and oil leak starts at the same time as a "crack" in the harmonic balancer?

Your ideas on my problem would be appreciated.

in Hawaii