Car is sick.

[Steve_Perry]

I travelled to London on Friday to visit my parents for the weekend, and Father's day on Sunday too.

On the return journey yesterday, the bolt holding the top pulley of the fanbelt system sheared, which in turn shredded the fanbelt. Left London at 3pm, got transported to my desintation (approx 200miles) by the AA by midnight. Waiting for another lift to take the car in for repairs. The garage is going to have to extract the rest of the bolt left inside the block, refit a new pulley and fanbelt.

Still, it could have been worse... at least the harmonic balancer didn't fail, which was my first thought when I pulled over to the hard shoulder.

S.

 

[GrahamC230K]

Hope it's not too costly. Your mileage?

 

[Brian WH]

Unusual failure, I would be interested to know why it sheared. Has it been removed lately??

 

[Steve_Perry]

I hope it's not too costly either. The pulley bolts into the water pump at the front of the engine block apparently. The mechanic said they would try to save the water pump when extracting the remaining section of bolt. If they need to replace the water pump then that's another £120. The car has done approx 88,900 miles.

Brian, the MB mechanic, George Fraser (who I spoke to on the phone) and the AA patrol man all commented that it was a very unusual failure. The patrol man thought that the bearing for the pulley sounded rough which would have caused some vibration during running, after a period of extreme shaking the bolt would have then sheared. I'll see if MB can find any other causes during the repair. I've also asked them to check the harmonic balancer since it's all in the same area.

AFAIK, the fan belt and pulley haven't been touched in ages, if at all. Strange.

S.

P.S. Don't ever try to drive a modern merc without power steering You need the arms of a gorilla.

 

[pammy]

aaaw - poor you Steve - hope you get it sorted quickly and with as little financial impact as possible. Be interesting to see if they can find any reason why this happened.

 

[Steve_Perry]

Thanks Pammy

I dunno, it seems like the gremlins are out in force on this forum recently. I've just been reading about Maff's alternator failure.

S.

 

[Flyer]

I dunno, it seems like the gremlins are out in force on this forum recently. I've just been reading about Maff's alternator failure.

Lock up the gremlins!

Hope you get it sorted, at reasonable cost, Steve

 

[Steve_Perry]

Thanks Andy,

I will keep peeps posted as to how badly my wallet is dented.

S.

 

[sportyreptile]

A very odd one that. Hope you don't get too much of a hammering.

You having it done at a Dealers or Independant?

 

[Steve_Perry]

Thanks Sporty, I hope is a cheap fix too.

I plumped for the dealers in the end as I wanted them to thoroughly check to make sure no other damage was done as a result of the belt failing and also inspect the harmonic balancer for any signs of deterioration.

If I had been travelling to London instead of away from then I would have taken the car to George Fraser's for repairs.

S.

 

[sym]

Sorry to hear ..... sounds painful !

Don't send me any gremlins please !

Hope its sorted soon m8.

S.

 

[se97mlm]

Quite often, the idler pulley fails, which is what makes the rattly noise at idle. Mine went at about 87000 miles. I guess if this had gone a few weeks previously Steve, it could be the cause of the bolt shearing from all the vibration. Also get the main crankshaft pulley checked, they have a rubber vibration damper that goes when the idler goes. The belt can then be forced backwards onto the camchain cover. If that wears through it could be costly!

 

[Steve_Perry]

Sym, heh thanks mate, I'll try to keep them gremlins away from your shiny BM, maybe I won't try too hard

SE, thanks for the advice mate, I'll be sure to quiz the mechanics on the points that you have mentioned. Ta!

S.

 

[C43AMG]

Steve,

Have been away, very sorry to hear of your trouble and as everyone has said i hope the cost is not to painfull. May i ask what is the harmonic balancer?. Good luck.

Peter.

 

[Steve_Perry]

Steve,

Have been away, very sorry to hear of your trouble and as everyone has said i hope the cost is not to painfull. May i ask what is the harmonic balancer?. Good luck.

Peter.

Thanks Peter,

In layman's terms, the harmonic balancer is a part that rotates with the engine to smooth out vibrations. From my understanding two wheels are locked together by a rubber ring, if this item fails then the resulting repair bill tends to be on the large side.

Have a read
http://mbclub.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=14748&highlight=harmonic
http://mbclub.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=14798&highlight=harmonic

S.

 

[peterchurch]

Sorry to see your cars in the wars Hope it gets fixed soon

 

[Steve_Perry]

It's back!!

Got my car back from the dealer a couple hours ago! All is fixed and the job wasn't as bad as they were (maybe that should be "I was") anticipating.

They removed the part of the bolt left in the water pump without fuss, then replaced the idler pully, torx bolt & poly vee belt. Total bill for parts and labour was a few pence short of £250. Better than I was expecting.

Thanks to everybody for the kind words.

S.

 

[pammy]

result fab news - now you can go and enjoy again

 

[Steve_Perry]

result fab news - now you can go and enjoy again

I know!! I've been driving round in a Turbo Diesel Land Rover Defender for the last couple of days It's a bit agricultural compared to my baby. A/C in the Lannie translates to opening up the flaps under the front window.

Still... All worked out in the end!

A happy bunny again.

S.

 

[Brian WH]

Got my car back from the dealer a couple hours ago! All is fixed and the job wasn't as bad as they were (maybe that should be "I was") anticipating.

They removed the part of the bolt left in the water pump without fuss, then replaced the idler pully, torx bolt & poly vee belt. Total bill for parts and labour was a few pence short of £250. Better than I was expecting.

Thanks to everybody for the kind words.

S.

Good news mate.

But is it now any faster??