Evening all.....just joined and wanted to say hi and thanks for a great site....i have been stopping by for a while but now i have a problem i thought i would join and see what help i can get...
its a long story so bear with me...
2 weelks ago my car began to smell burning rubber....checked and saw nothing and then one night after driving out in snow alternator light and power sterring lights came on and gave up. lifeted bonnett and the crankshaft pulley had disintegrated.....the outer band had come away as the rubber inner band burnt away.
i carefully drove home (less than mile) and parked up.
checked on here and found problems with them so called mercedes benz here in brighton in uk. they knew there was prob so said bring it in BUT could not guarantee due to age and mileage of car.
Anyway the breakdown service i use AA said they would be out to pick me up within 2 hours and guess what 9 days later they still have not come.
Adverse weather and all that.....bit of snow and country comes to standstill...
anyway took to my local garage today after recharging battery to give life to ecu and so on and guess what ...they cant get the bolt off.....
it is not a bolt but a hex allen key jobbie....17mm.....they tried the airgun but cant get it off.....they said they will have to take rad off and thats 5 hour job.....at £70 and hour we are talking £300 and thats not including the new part as i already bought that.
finally.....my question is.....now that i have got the car home can anyone advise wether the methods seen on youtube of using breaker bar wedged under suspension and cranking the engine to loosen the bolt will work....what damage can it do if any and if that does not work what else can i do......
i love my ml and wont be beaten by a bloody 17mm bolt....
any help really appreciated guys......cheers
gary
PS have to say that mercedes here in brighton were fantastic.....really helpful but due to mileage and age of car could not do as head office said it was natural wear and tear....that i can understand at 117,000 miles and nearly 11 years old.

 

Hi Gary,
I bought my '99ML320 about 2,5 years ago at 132,000 miles on it and after replacing broken transmission in it my first trip was to clossest Mercedes dealer to fix all recalls for this car which are free replacement of a power steering hose (not a clamp as the buletin says) and harmonic balancer. I'm a third owner and these repairs were not done till 2008, without any question plus I got free car wash.
Now, to your balancer leftover problem. You can buy new or used one and install it yourself. Buy a good quality 17mm allen impact socket and borrow or rent impact gun. I'm sure there are some remainings of the balancer on the shaft that you need to clamp down (large jawless wise grips with adjustible motorcycle style roller chain or long prybar). You may have to remove the radiator to get the impact gun there but I would try first 1/2" x 24" long braker bar, I'll bet it will move the screw and brake the thread lock compound on it. Watch not to do any damage to engine timing cover, if it is not already done. You could take small grinder and precut slot into balancer from top and bottom and split it off with light impact of a chissel. Then heat up a little just the end of crankshaft and unscrew the bolt.
I'm sure you can find the balancer removing procedure on aldata web site, here in US accessible in any public library.
Or try some other Mercedes dealer for recall repair on your truck.
Good luck,
Bernard