I purchased a 1999 E320 in April 2003. It had 43,000 miles on it, now it has 50,000. After reading this post, I went back and reviewed again the maintenance records, and saw that this car was towed to the shop June 2002 at 36,565 miles because of this HB issue.

It was repaired under warranty. The repair invoice states that the engine was removed, replace upper and lower oil pans, front engine timing cover, oil level sensor, serp belt and HB. It looks like they recorded 17 hours worth of work. WOW!

Although this was repaired prior to my ownership, I want to support those who are experiencing this issue. Does it help for me to log this repair as well, even though I personally didn't experience it?

Do I need to be concern with this happening again?

RJ

Well, my 99 ML320 with 67K miles can be added to the list of casualties having fallen victim to the Mercedes dark world. Just yesterday the harmonic balancer failed and found that it cut into the front engine cover as well as the oil pan cover.

Mercedes Benz of Cincinnati gave me a quote of $3700 to repair/replace the parts. Seems a little steep to me after reading prices that others have reported back as low as $2200 for the same repair from an authorized facility.

Can anyone give me a breakdown of each parts price and mercedes code for labor hours involved for each of the parts. I feel like I 'm getting screwed.

Please feel free to leave your input on this. I want to be near the beginning of the line on the day we get a class action suite against these tight bastards. I keep telling my self that simple little $80 part could have fixed this all if it were replaced ahead of time but now I have an undrivable car and and i'll probably be digging really deep into the 'ole pocketbook for money after paying off this one.....

I have the paperwork from the repair work on my car, it list all the parts, and the verbiage of what they did, but it states warranty where the cost would be located.

Johng,

If you are going to pick up the tab, find a good indy to do the work (look under recommended shops). Lots of times MB will replace a part that can be repaired.

__________________
Bill Streep
San Antonio
'57 190SL (toy)
'08 S5500 (mine)
'09 CLK550 (wife's)
'06 SLK350 (daughter's)
'11 GLK350 (daughter's)
'03 CLK310 (spare)

Regarding removal of the crank bolt, on other cars, I was able to remove the bolt by putting a socket with breaker bar over the bolt, resting the end of the breaker bar on the ground, then jabbing the starter. Would that work on these engines?

The forum is invaluable in listing and informing. One thing stands out, most of you allow yourselves to get screwed without taking any action. I had a inssue with a subframe and neglect by dealer and mercedes, I forced the issue and was prepared to go to district court(over $2000) and reached a settlement. Stop complaining and get hold of a good lawyer, put he ball in their court!! Rrgards, Abe G

Thanks to all the information on this Forum, I decided to get the crankshaft balancer replaced on my 2000 ML320 since it was part number 112-035-00-00. The vehicle has 38,331 miles on it and is going out of warranty next month. It was due for its next FSS servicing last week and during that time I wanted Mercedes to go over it and fix all outstanding warranty issues such as the auxilliary fan wiring harness with larger fuse, the window switch module that goes bad and thought I would get the crankshaft balancer replaced under warranty if they would cover it. If they would not fix the crankshaft balancer under warranty, I told them I would pay to have this done so that I would not have to undergo the aggravation of it coming apart at some inconvenient time. If this part ever gets recalled, I would just try to get compensated for the repair I previously had done.

When I went to pick the vehicle up, instead of replacing the crankshaft balancer, they replaced the belt tensioner under warranty(part no. 112-200-09-70). I complained to the service writer and he told me that I did not know what I was talking about and this part was indeed the crankshaft balancer. In my opinion, Mercedes Benz and the dealerships are doing a disservice to their customers. I buy a Benz but receive the service quality of an American brand dealership. If Daimler-Chrysler keeps this up, they will not be around in the future in their current form.

On these engines the bolt is torqued to 450 ft-lbs. I was able to break a socket using this technique, and I won't try it again!! You need two breaker bars; one holding the balancer itself, braced against the frame, and the other on the bolt, with at least a 5-foot cheater bar unless you're really built. I got a Craftsman (Ingersoll-Rand) 600 ft-lb impact driver just to do this job. It was not up to the task.

__________________
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)

Mercedes has replaced my original balancer part no. 112-035-00-00 with part no. 112-035-13-00 showing 13 design changes to this part since introduced. This was done under the new car warranty just prior to expiration in approximate another month.

Not sure if it is due to the new balancer or if the old balancer was showing signs of coming apart, but the new balancer seems to result in smoother and quieter engine idle.

I waited for the repair and the Mercedes technician was able to replace the balancer in a little less than two hours.

Was the H/D replaced by the same tech that put the belt tensioner on and told you that you didn't know what you were talking about? Like you don't know a thing about a Benz....what a joke!! That is how you make a living but I won't say any more
and let the cat out of the bag!

Tobias MB
4 MBs

I read this thread with great interest since my car sports a 112 035 05 00. I need to point out just because the 3rd set of number in a part have moved fro “00” to “13” has no relative correlation to the number of design changes. This can indicate many different things from left or right to different OE suppliers. Assuming the largest number is the most current is not always the rule that applies when dealing with what version a given part may be.

For example 126 320 05 30 and 126 320 08 30 are different valved shocks for the same application, or 124 820 89 59 and 124 820 90 59 which are left and right headlight assemblies. Things like brake pad changing the 3rd set of number can indicate complete different application like 001 420 06 20 and 001 420 08 20.

Don't know if it is the same tech or even if the new balancer solves the issue, but the bottom line is that there is a new balancer installed that should last as long as the old balancer (38,000 miles) and I should not have to worry about it again for awhile. Contrary to other thoughts on this forum, until they can fix this problem, I am looking at it as a regular maintanence item that needs more attention than spark plugs. My opinion, although personal, is that my 1994 C280 is more reliable than this new stuff that Mercedes is trying to market to us today. While at the dealer they had a new 2004 AMG E-Class for $90,000 that probably still had the harmonic balancer problems we are talking about today. Sorry, but for this price I expect some very real solid engineering that make this vehicle bullet-proof. If not bullet-proof, Mercedes needs to step up to the plate and support their vehicles with uncontested refreshment of parts that are not up to Mercedes perceived quality.

My personal experience reflects that not only that Mercedes needs to address their quality issues, but they need to work on the dealerships that market and support their products. It is getting to be that the dealerships act like any other American brand dealership and do not offer the above and beyond service that has been typical of the past. Yes, this supports the independets who generally offer better service for better prices, but it does nothing for those who buy new and rely upon warranty repairs. In the end, all will lose out because less Mercedes will be sold, the vehicles will be in the scrap-yard at 100,000 miles and the independents will have less vehicles to service.

I expect my 1995 C280 to last reliably until around 180,000 miles. My 2000 ML320 may last reliably unitl around 100,000 miles while I expect the same of my 2003 C230K sport coupe. The bottom line is the manufacturers are all trying to make a vehicle that is reliable to 100,000 miles. After that, it is hard to justify the $75-95/hour that it cost to repair a vehicle today. It is much more efficient to pump these new cars off an automated assembly line than it is to keep them running. My personal opinion is that if you want to drive a Mercedes, it is cheaper to lease them no longer than the new car warranty period and replace them with a new vehicle Mercedes after that.

In the Mercedes parts catalog, there is about 9 revisions. The latest goes from an 09 00 to an 08 00.

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

BenzMac

So you are telling me that an 13-00 part does not exist? What does this say about the Mercedes dealerships that put this part number on their repair invoices? Sounds to me like they are becoming more crooked than Enron!!!! Like I said before, some new car company's will not exist in their present form within the next 10 years. I wonder who this may be.

I'll tell you. We see a lot of these. a LOT. I have put so many of these things on that I can do them in 5 minutes on most cars and it pays an hour. Have them checked. If you see them seperating from the rubber have it changed.