Crank pulley assembly

[996jimbo]

Can someone give me some info please?

I've had a noisy - something - at the front of the engine on some cold mornings, sort of throbbing light screach. Goes away quickly and therefore qualifies to be ignored. Yesterday I noticed a slightly more serious noise, more of a grinding and not healthy sounding.

I took the car to the garage this morning and they said probably bearing failure on one of the pulleys running off the fan belt. Sounded about right to me and I booked the car in for next Tuesday (earliest they can see it).

Just having a poke around now it appears that the belt is not running squarely on the idle pulley (not sitting quite on the shiny bearing surface). With some difficulty I looked closer and it appears that the crank pulley is deflecting the belt inwards by about 1cm and in turn causing it to rub a bit against some engine casing. It appears that there is a flanged sleeve on the end of the crank - does that sound right? I've found a couple of bits of broken rubber and am wondering if the rubber is bushing for the crank pulley guide/sleeve.

Does anyone knkow what I'm talking about and of so if there any sense in it? Does anyone have access to a parts diagram that shows the arrangement of the pulleys at the front and specifically what is on the end of the crank?

The car is a w202 C43 and any enlightenment will be greatly appreciated.

I may try and take a picture but I don't think it will show anything useful.

Cheers,
Jim

EDIT can't get any good photo's, here's the best one showing the deflection:

 

[42847]

noisy front end c2oo

my 2000 w regd c200 had similar noise at 71000 miles and 142000 miles it was a tensioner and shock absorber part nos 13 3200 02 and 13 4000 02 car sounded like a diesel when warm maybe it is same problem angela

 

[996jimbo]

my 2000 w regd c200 had similar noise at 71000 miles and 142000 miles it was a tensioner and shock absorber part nos 13 3200 02 and 13 4000 02 car sounded like a diesel when warm maybe it is same problem angela

Thanks for that. I was thinking along those lines originally but it appears that the crank pulley is pulling the belt out of line, therefore the crank pulley is out of line. Not sure how it could be so?

 

[C220GJS]

Jimbo, What is on the front of your crankshaft is a vibration damper also known as a harmonic balancer ,see here ;http://www.detali.ru/cat/oem_mb2.as...GA=722.631&CT=M&cat=07N&SID=03&SGR=015&SGN=01 , it's no.23 in this diagram and is a part which is known to fail in that the rubber bonding the two parts of the pulley together perishes and the resulting movement of the pulley can cause serious damage to the sump and crankcase.
You should have this part replaced as soon as possible and it would be unwise to run the engine in this state as it could fail at any time .
I don't know the situation in the UK but this problem has been subject to a recall in the USA where the work was done at Mercedes expense.
Geo.

 

[Stevie A]

I had to replace a harmonic balancer recently. It is a big disc behind the crank pulley made of a sandwich of metal - rubber - metal. Maybe it is breaking up and has caused the crank pulley to distort. Although, I find it hard to image how the crank pulley could be bent. If it is the harmonic balancer then look for one from a scrappy as it is £200 new.

 

[42847]

w202 crank pulley noise

my two pieces were £40 and £35 plus 3hrs labour

 

[996jimbo]

Great - thanks all. That explains the big pumps of rubber. It's not that the crank has distorted but that something (break up of this harmonic balancer) has caused or allowed the pulley to move backwards slightly on the crank.

 

[television]

Do take the advice from C220CJS and don't run the car until fixed.

Malcolm

 

[996jimbo]

Do take the advice from C220CJS and don't run the car until fixed.

Malcolm

Now I know what it is I won't be. I'll get it relayed to the garage tomorrow.

 

[Stevie A]

I wrote what I wrote before reading what George said and we were thinking along the same lines. This is a straight forward job to fix if you know what you are doing but as I said the part is about £200. I hope it hasn't damaged anything else. I had terrible trouble getting one part of the harmonic balancer off and had to lever it off turning the engine a quarter turn on the crank nut at a time.

 

[996jimbo]

I wrote what I wrote before reading what George said and we were thinking along the same lines. This is a straight forward job to fix if you know what you are doing but as I said the part is about £200. I hope it hasn't damaged anything else. I had terrible trouble getting one part of the harmonic balancer off and had to lever it off turning the engine a quarter turn on the crank nut at a time.

Mines gone to the garage!

There's no room to work on it so the radiator will have to come off (I presume) and I don't have a couple of days spare to try and do it.

 

[996jimbo]

Update:

Car in the garage for a day and work completed with crank pulley replaced - total cost £195.

Cheers all for the advice and info.

 

[grahamWhibley]

Crankshart Pulley

Just had similar problem on CLK320 at 80,000 miles. Outer part of pulley became slightly detached and moved towards engine. Result was horrible grinding noise as pulley tried to get inside engine. Polyvee belt also forced against tensioner casting. Losts of aluminium debris below crank pulley and polyvee belt rubbing the tensioner are clear signs. Fixed quickly by local deally at about £290. I dread to think what cost would be if timing case and sump were damged

 

[television]

Just had similar problem on CLK320 at 80,000 miles. Outer part of pulley became slightly detached and moved towards engine. Result was horrible grinding noise as pulley tried to get inside engine. Polyvee belt also forced against tensioner casting. Losts of aluminium debris below crank pulley and polyvee belt rubbing the tensioner are clear signs. Fixed quickly by local deally at about £290. I dread to think what cost would be if timing case and sump were damged

Welcome to the forum Graham and posting this useful info with your first post.
I hope that you will post again

 

[Nick Buckley]

W210 E320 Harmonic Balancer

While out & about today my car suddenly started making a horrible noise. The rubber inside the Harmonic Balancer (crank pulley) was coming out & hitting the fan. Got home, 3 miles later and the rubber was out. Can't see any damage although the outer section of the pulley has moved in a bit. Hopefully there is no damage to the timing cover or sump.

I have ordered a new HB and belt but would like tips on removing the fan, operating the tensioner & removing/replacing the HM.

EG. ere the threads on all components conventional (ie. no reverse threads)?
Do I have to lock things up while undoing things and how?

I have searched this site and seen a few references to the problem but no instructions on how to do the job.

Hopefully, somebody will be able to help.

Thank you, Nick

 

[star]

All threads are normal, but the crankshaft pulley bolt is VERY tight. We use a special tool to lock engine.

 

[spudboy74]

Hi
Changed mine a couple of months ago,can give you a quick run through...take off the fan cowling and undo the three bolts holding on the fan,lock the engine either with the special tool(I made my own) or use one of the other locking methods,you will really need a 3/4 inch socket to undo the bolt as it is tight,once the bolt is undo its very easy to change the pulley and then tighten the bolt back up to the right torque setting,on my E320 I set it at 350 ft/in

 

[Nick Buckley]

Thanks SpudBoy,
I bought the best quality 1/2inch 17mm allen socket available. I hope it works having read your recommendation to use a 3/4".
I won't find out until I have worked out a way to lock the engine.
I started trying to make up a rig to secure the pulley but have my doubts about the design.

 

[spudboy74]

I have got some pictures of the tools I made if it's any help,did try and upload them but it is being a pig if you give me a email address can send them to you.

 

[Nick Buckley]

ref pics of the tool

Hi SpudBoy

could you send them to nickjbuckley@btinternet.com

very grateful, thank you