I was driving my 89 300E last night to a friend's house and everything was just fine. 10 min later I started the car and heard a pop sound. Just then my SRS, battery and light bulb out warning lights turn on in the instrument cluster and then I lost power steering. I was driving for another 10 seconds so I can pull off the road and the temp gauge went from 80 degrees C to 120 degrees C right away. I pulled over and turned the car off. I opened the hood and found that the serpentine belt came off and I could hear the antifreeze boiling in the overflow tank. Also the line from the overflow tank which goes to the outside of the car cracked into 2 pcs. This happened late at night so I could not see anything else. I called a tow truck and they brought the car and I home.

I think the water pump went but not sure. What are your thoughts???? If it is the water pump how do you repair it and is this something I could do at home?

Thanks

Fab

First check all pulleys. They should be easy to turn by hand (except the crankshaft). If none of them is seized the belt is just broken. This is not directly hazardous for the engine (if you stop at once), but since the power steering fails can be dangerous. The belt should be regularly inspected and replaced if worn.

The belt is not broken. The belt is only 1 month old. The belt fell off. I will check all the pulleys and see what I find.

Thanks

The belt is not supposed to fall off. The most likely reason for this is a failure of the tensioner or one of the guiding pulleys falling off. Are you sure you retorqued the 19mm bold of the tensioner, if not the adjusting rod will break.

I concur. Probably tensioner related.

__________________
Auto Zentral Ltd.

I took a look at it anf found that the fan that cools the rad with the pulley fell off. I assume that I need to change the whole assembly. Is this alot of work and how do you replace it.

Thanks

search for 'fan clutch bearing bracket'

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-Marty

1986 300E 220,000 miles+ transmission impossible
(Now waiting under a bridge in order to become one)

Reading your M103 duty cycle:
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/showpost.php?p=831799&postcount=13
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/showpost.php?p=831807&postcount=14

I am having a hard time in find out how to remove and replace the fan clutch bearing bracket. Is there a link that I could go to or has anyone fixed one lately.

Thanks

Last year I did mine.
It's the part under the distributor that's held onto the lower block by 4 bolts.
I believe you have to at least loosen the metal coolant hose that runs across the bottom of it, as it blocks access to one of the bolts. There might be a gasket to replace on one end of the hose. If there was one I did not replace it and had no leaks... but I didn't remove the hose only loosened it and moved it out of the way.
One problem you might have is; not enough room between the radiator and what your doing. I bought as low a profile a socket wrench as I could find and found that conventional type L shaped allen wrenches worked fine.
You may also have to loosen some part of the alternator to access one of the bolts... cant remember for sure about that.
When the bracket is off you will need to save the idler arm pulley and it's dust cap (loosing the dust cap will greatly decrese the life span of the idler arm pulley).
This presents a good oppourtunity to clean off all the oil on the lower block and replace the distributor cap... (if that is in the cards).
Any more questions, just ask and I'll try to remember.
Good luck.

__________________
-Marty

1986 300E 220,000 miles+ transmission impossible
(Now waiting under a bridge in order to become one)

Reading your M103 duty cycle:
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/showpost.php?p=831799&postcount=13
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/showpost.php?p=831807&postcount=14

Thanks for the info. I am going to try to fix it starting on Wednesday. I will let you know how it goes.

You may want to check the belt tensioner and specially the radiator (for damage after belt coming off). As you already know, there is not much room in front of the engine...
Good luck!

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J.H.
'86 300E

This might sound like a stupid question but.... I did not get a chance to start taking apart the fan clutch bearing bracket but I did take the fan out (since it is detached from the engine). The bearing is still attached to the fan. How do I take the fan clutch off the bearing?

Also when removing the tension on the belt I know I need a 19mm socket but which way do I turn the nut, is it left or right. I just do not want to snap the bolt off.

Also I called for my part today and they are asking me for my engine number. Is this not the same as a VIN number. If not where do I locate the number in question?

Thanks

Fab

up

Nope not the same. I believe it is on the left side of the block on the M103. Hafta check. There shoud be 14 numbers starting with 103. The last 6 digits are all that really matter.

__________________
Auto Zentral Ltd.

I Just removed the old fan clutch bearing bracket. With all your input guys it took only 15 min. Thanks for all your help. I am now waiting for my parts. I need to put a new fan clutch bearing bracket, fan clutch, fan cooling pulley, fan, dist cap and dist rotor. The only concern I have now is After installing all the parts I need to re-install the serpentine belt. Does anyone know what direction it is installed in and also in which direction do I turn the 19mm bolt for the tensioner and how many turns do I give it?

Thanks

Fab