The parts man at the dealer told me it's torqued to 450 ft.-lbs. I went out and bought a bigger 600 ft.-lb. impact wrench to get it off, and it didn't work. I tried a 5 foot cheater bar. When I called the service manager at the dealer to ask him how he does it, he told me to use a longer cheater bar! Anyway I welded up a fixture to hold the balancer and went to a 6 foot cheater bar. The dealer went on to say his guys' torque wrenches only go up to 250 like everyone else's; to install, they torque to 250 and "add a tug".

For whatever reason they did not recommend replacement of the bolt.

__________________
Lenny

There are only three sports: bullfighting, motor racing and mountaineering; all the rest are merely games. --Ernest Hemingway

'10 GL550/'04 BMW 545/'99 BMW 323/'98 ML320/'87 VW GTI (race)

My 1998 ML320 "lost" the crankshaft balancer at 73,xxx miles. Since I'm not the original owner, M-B did not cover the problem. I'm told they will not even admit there is a problem, although the replacement part has a different number, indicating a design change. Cost me $1345 out of pocket. Makes me wonder why I bought this car after this and the battery replacement, door lock actuator replacement and most recently complete replacement of all four catalytic converters that had cracked. Fortunately the cats were under the Federal 80,000 mile warranty and so M-B paid. They did not however, pay for the $500 cost of replacing one exhaust manifold that had cracked! In 9 months I've averaged $200 per month in repairs! Mercedes quality? Hah! JRT

No just unfortunate. The 1st yr ML . That yr has nothing but problems,I belive there were like. 75 different fixes for the following yr.


I get rid of it.

yu hanvt experinced the sunroof going douth or the differ leaking or the racking going south. Take your losses.


Just my 2 cents from experience

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500E Sold
2006 Mini Cooper S
Modified,pulley,injectors,suspension
2009 E350 Sport AMG package

Another one bites the dust.

We had a '99 C280...The customer complained of rough idle. The rubber buffer was half missing.

We replaced it.....I saved it. I hope to get some pics for anyone who cares.

__________________
Benzmac:
Donnie Drummonds
ASE CERTIFIED MASTER AUTO TECHNICIAN
MERCEDES SPECIALIST 11 YRS

I care, love to see the pictures. Just bought updated balancer 08 00. Going to try to change myself with 6 foot cheater bar and pulley holder that i just bought for $125. I have a 1999 C280 and don't want to wait for IT to happen. Small hairline cracks already forming on front rubber.

Donnie strange. But i havent ran into a C class yet that needed it.

Only E class and ML. is that a coincidence you thin



Maybe the early 112 engines were alright, maybe laters were the problem.



Guido out!

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500E Sold
2006 Mini Cooper S
Modified,pulley,injectors,suspension
2009 E350 Sport AMG package

The harmonic balancer failed on my co-worker's 1998 C280 while driving on the freeway.

She took it to the dealer in Riverside, and they had to remove the engine from the car to fix it.

The bill was around $3,000.....

__________________
Paul S.

2001 E430, Bourdeaux Red, Oyster interior.
79,200 miles.

1973 280SE 4.5, 170,000 miles. 568 Signal Red, Black MB Tex. "The Red Baron".

I belive the reason for not using a flywheel lock and using a
pulley counterholder was the design of the crank itself.
If I can remember way back to late 96 when I got trained,
the modular (112 V-6 / 113 V-8) use offset or split journal
crankshaft throws. If you looked at them from the side, they look
like two offset O's, or like half an Audi logo. If the flywheel were
to be locked, and 400ftlbs of torque applied to the main crank bolt, the crank shaft could twist or even snap. Seen it done
before. The flywheel lock should only be used when loosening
the flywheel bolts.
That is why the main balancer counterholder tool is soo important.

The torque spec for these is 200nm plus a 95 deg torque angle.
A cheater pipe for the counterholder helps hold it against the frame or body. I use a 24" Snap-On breaker bar to do the job
of loosening and angle of torque.

The flywheel lock still works fine for all older 102,103,104,111,119
120 motors.

Work with care
DR.D

Dr D,
THank you for the answer to the question I asked earlier in this thread. nobody else seemed to know the answer.

Peter,
Auto Zentral Ltd.

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Auto Zentral Ltd.

I read through this topic and noticed most of the problems were on the 98 and up models. My question is when did MB start using this harmony balancer on their cars? I have a 86 and 95, should I check mine too?

dt - I don't think you have anything to worry about on the 86 nor the 95.

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Jim

I finally got the crankshaft bolt out, but in the process I made a small 3/8" hole in the case by jaming an 3/8" extension. What is the best way to seal it up?
thanks..

__________________
Tony S....
98 MB E320
85 MB 380SL
01 Subraru Impreza (sold)
04 Toyota Highlander
82 25' W/A Cruisers

To seal the crack in the case? J-B Weld and luck.

DOES ANYONE KNOW IF THIS HARMONIC BALANCER FAILURE OCCURS MORE OFTEN ON MODELS WITH FANS ON THE ENGINE AND LESS ON MODELS WITH ONLY THE ELECTRIC FAN.
THANKS

It seems to be a 50/50 split. All the ML's and C280's have had engine fans, all the other cars like E's and CLK's have all had electric suction fans.
However, 75% of these cars were brilliant silver. HMMMMMM.......
May be a conspiracy.

Dr.D