I had my harmonic balancer checked out on my 98 E320 with 68K miles.

My independent shop said it showed some sign of small cracks and he pointed them out to me. With the engine running the balancer seemed to be running true and not out of round.

I also took it to my dealer and had them offer their opinion. They basically gave the same response, but said to keep an eye on it. The dealer confirmed they've seen problems with harmonic balancer failures on this engine, but offered no assistance. The response was if and when it fails, we'll talk about it then. And since it didn't show signs of immediate failure, they won't do anything about it now.

I plan to have my indendent replace it in the next 1-2 weeks. My service shop charges less than $200 to replace it. The dealer wants close to $500. It's just not worth taking the chance and not replacing it for a cost less than $200.

Shame on Mercedes-Benz for not taking a proactive position and performing a mandatory recall. As in the case of FSS and the oil change fiasco, it'll probably take a class action lawsuit and years of haggling to get any resolution on this. Which by the way, was the FSS lawsuit ever settled?

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Dave

1998 E320
2001 SLK320
2000 Lexus RX300