It pays to listen to your car!
 

On the way home from the range today, I detected an unusual growl or rumble. I shut down the stereo and listened intently as the growl intermitently came and went. The timing was consistent with changes in the roadway, and my initial thought was that I was hearing tire noise. For some reason I kept the radio off.

Once the stop and go traffic cleared I opened up to 80+MPH and was just cruising when I started to hear the growl, immediately followed by a very faint "clang" (one time). I went to the shoulder and popped the hood.

Much to my surprise I saw the A/C tensioner wobbling for and aft and while watching, the pulley began rythmically clanging against the fan. I shut the engine down and promtly cut the belt with my knife (no tools on board), soon as I did the pulley fell free from the tensioner shaft. I picked up the pieces, put them in the trunk and finished my drive home without further icident.

I hate to think what would have been wiped out if I hadn't been paying attention to the car. Perhaps the radiator, hoses and who knows what else. As it stands, all I need is a new tensioner and belt.

I'll post a picture of the assembly soon.

Isn't it interesting how we develop selective hearing as a defense mechanism for our sanity, yet with our cars we are
all ears!!
Good Call.

unkl-I'm SURE none of our wives (girlfriends, etc) would have the SLIGHTEST idea what do you mean..

Hey now Piotr! I am teaching my seventeen year old daughter about how to maintain her 190E. She was the one who heard the loose bolt for the alternator THAT I FORGOT to tighten.

But generally I do know what you mean....

haasman, send your daughter my way...I need a gf that can appreciate benz. =)

Same thing happeend to me, but my ac compressor clutch locked, fliped the belt off, hit the ps belt and turned it sideways, so I cut both of them off and left the wp, crank and alternator belt on. it scared me because black smoke went up and that was the belt getting chewed up. Im glad it didnt hit the alternator belt because I would have been stranded 200 miles from home, luckily I was near a sears, but I did not have another belt. I am glad you are safe Mike.

Now that I have time to get caught up...
 

here is the picture I took shortly after the pulley bit the dust.

http://www.pe.net/~mktangas/idler_pulley.jpg

Not a whole lot left there, basically just the bracket. Today I had a little down time at work so I was shopping at FastLane, saw they had the pulley OR the pulley with bracket. Soon as I got home I just had to checkout how bad buggered the bracket was, hoping to save a couple dollars.

While checking out the assembly prior to pulling the bracket, I thought it looked like there was a allen bolt on the end of the shaft. Sure enough an 8mm allen hex fit in there just fine. A quick twist and the end bolt came out, allowing me to remove the inner piece of the pulley bearing.

That is great news, makes it easier to fix and saves me a C-note too boot. Just ordered a new pulley and should have A/C again in a couple days :D. I should have checked this out last week, the temps here are well over 100*F once again.

Glad to read nothing else was damaged Mike! :)

Good advice --- every week or so, I turn the radio off, roll up the windows and listen. That's what started the whole thing with that darn rattle which I never pinpointed.

BTW: Did you catch my post from a few days back? I got rid of it!
Rattling Solved

Yep Ted, I caught that post, was really pressed for time trying to get the match results and prize money out to competitors, NRA and the State Assoc., just didn't have much time to reply to many posts. Glad to see it is finally quieted.

BTW, how's the weather there tonight? Saw on the news about Ladysmith, unbelievable, nice little town too. Fairly close to my Dad & our property, about 60 miles or so, and I can't get through tonight on the phone. News didn't say what the track was so I don't know what other areas were hit.

Mike, I hope all is OK with your property!

By now you might have a good idea of where the tornado hit, but here's a local Madison news article: tornado

Three of them hit Ladysmith (hard), Wausau and Antigo. Luckily no one perished, last I heard.

I talked to my Dad the evening of 9/3, everything is fine there - cabin, house and property intact. They had some wind and a little rain but no tornado action.

Also on 9/3 my parts arrived from FastLane. New pulley installed in minutes with a new A/C belt and everything is normal. First thing I noticed upon start up, after the pulley replacement, was that the peripheral noise at idle was noticeably quieter. I always thought this car just had noisy belts, now in hindsight I think it was the bearing talking. So there's another early warning sign, if the idle noise seems louder and sounds like worn belts, check out the idler pulley.

Good to hear all is well in his neck of the woods.

"Excessive" belt noise?! Yup. Will have to look into that soon. Thanks Mike!

Haasman-read unkl300d post, then mine, then think back to where you are in the middle of a repair requiring 3 hands (by yourself) and then your better half decides that THIS is the best time to tell you what she needs to get during the groceries trip you promised her almost an hour ago... (or substitute a favorite book or tv program for the repair-same principle) :p. Congrats about your daughter. Mike- I drove in Delaware for two years w/o AC (just install it 6 weeks ago). I'm REALLY glad you've got yours back.