W124 intermittent power steering

amt29

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Dec 28, 2008
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Bristol, UK
Your Mercedes
2003 W211 E320 Estate
My 1996 E300 D developed a fault last night. All of the dash
board indication lights lit up (kind of half illuminated) and the
power steering stopped working. There is also a loud squeeling noise
coming from the engine. I wonder if there is a belt that drives
something to do with the power steering? When driving it the I
noticed the fault was intermittent - the warning lamps go out briefly and the
steering improves, then they come on and the steering goes v heavy
again. The squeeling noise is always there.
Any thoughts? There has been a lot of rain in the last few days, perhaps it has got into the electrics....
 

wireman

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lancashire
Your Mercedes
nice 201 2.5D 1993 & very nice 129 SL500 1994
Probably drive belt or belt tensioner.

The tensioner arm is mounted on a bearing which gets very tatty after some years, it also has a hydraulic damper attached to it which can cause this sort of problem to be intermittent.

Look down at the belt from above the engine and check the tensioner pulley is in line with the other pulleys, a worn tensioner arm tends to slant out of place and will squeak all the time.

There are 4 parts which may be required, a belt £10-15, tensioner arm £60ish, guide pulley £40ish and damper £25ish. There are two plastic covers on the hubs of the arm and pulley take care to remove them intact, or see MB for two new ones.

Depending on year you need either a 12mm or 17mm allen key socket to remove the tensioner arm's centre bolt.

Takes about 1 hour on a 250D, but there is a little more access on the shorter five pot unit.
 
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amt29

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2003 W211 E320 Estate
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Thanks wireman.
Its the crankshaft pulley thats at fault, the key has sheared. £312 + VAT from Merc (has to be sent from Germany), so am trying to source from a breaker.
 

superaquarama

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Now that's one I wouldn't have thought of !! Hope you can source a pulley, are you sure you don't just need a new Woodruff key ?
 

wireman

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nice 201 2.5D 1993 & very nice 129 SL500 1994
I wouldn't have thought of that either, most unusual.
The pulley is (I believe the 6 is the same as the 5 pot) mounted on a hub by 4 bolts and the hub has the usual single bolt and keyway arrangement, have you taken it to bits yet? is it the hub or the pulley that's failed?
A puller is normaly required to get the hub off. Mind that you don't use the timing cover to lever against since its made out of sH1t die cast alloy and will break.

It leaves me wondering what has caused the damage to occur? are all the other parts of the auxilliary drive free to rotate?
 

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