Eight problems related to engine belts and pulleys have been reported for the 1999 Mercedes Benz E320. The most recently reported issues are listed below.
Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6) September 12, 1998 I purchased a 1999 E320w. ] I am the only owner of the car. The car is driven leisurely. To date, it only has 92,000 miles on it. I have been regularly obtaining the a & b maintenance services. The electrical system has been malfunctioning for months and mb allegedly can't diagnose it; and I have been using an excessive amount of oil. A second opinion mechanic said it is oil slugging which was recalled but mb won't honor. He also said my engine / motor now needs to be replaced. There is also an intermittent scraping on the passenger side. During all of the services to mb they never told me about the recall nor provided service to ensure that my car was not affected. They said it was not a total recall but a case-by-case situation and I am not eligible. I am very fearful when I am driving. Each time I go out I fear what might happen. I do not have the funds to pay for a engine. Please help me. I can provide a timeline of the history of my vehicle which with hindsight looks like I purchased a lemon. The second opinion mechanic informed me of the recall/class action but mb concealed the information. The locks were inoperable and the key would not come out of the ignition, the check engine light illuminated, the serpentine belt, ball joints, tie rod ends were all replaced. The fuel sensor level was replaced. There was a shimmy in the suspension. The dealer replaced the tires and left rim. The valve stem was leaking, the left rear window was inoperable. The crankshaft position sensor was replaced. All of the dashboard lights intermittently, but regularly turn into line bars. The tail light circuit board and the right rear tail lamp, right front head light and left front parking bulbs were had to be replaced updated ivoq 05/27/10.
As I was accelerating onto the freeway, I heard a loud noise from my engine. I started losing power steering and my battery charger light kept flashing indicating a problem with the crankshaft pulley. Luckily I was able to get home safely. After safely driving home, I looked under the hood and noticed huge chunks of rubber parts inside. I took the car to the mercedes dealership the next day and was told that the harmonic balancer had been damaged. When the harmonic balancer was damaged, it in turn ruined the oil pan cover and the timing chain cover resulting in a $2500 repair bill. The service manager stated he would write merceds to see if some of the costs can be defrayed and will be getting back to me. I highly doubt any substantial amount will be defrayed by the manufacturer. I am extremely disappointed in mercedes and the E320.
During normal operation I experienced total loss of steering assist and the engine quit running. I barely missed hitting several roadside obstacles and was nearly stranded in the middle of a high speed roadway. I am a woman of over 70 years of age and do not have the strength to wrestle a 3000 pound car around without power assist. I had great difficulty maintaining control and avoiding a collision. The car had to be towed nearly 20 miles to the dealership where it was out of service for approximately a month at a cost of $4500. 00. The dealership told me that the car had a failure of the harmonic balancer on the engine which destroyed a large number of surrounding parts. The damaged parts were replaced and the balancer was also replaced. The old part has been requested from the dealer.
Harmonic balancer (crankshaft pulley) is separating, creating noise and potentially lost of power assist for steering.
Crankshaft balancer failure- mercedes E320 1999 (from individual experiences of several mercedes customers with 320 v6 engine on w210 platform and others). Around 72000 miles, my vehicle crank shaft balancer pulley started sperating a thick black rubber ring, which is sandwiched between the cranksfat and the serpentine belt pulley on the outside, belt burning smell and clicking noise which quickly turned into a knocking noise recognized as I was driving at very low speed, luckily. I parked the vehicle and checkd the engine bay, to find a fallen off piece of crank shaft balancer pulley (it made a thud when it came off while dirving). It could have easilycaused flying object damage if I were driving at higher speed. I took it to the dealer and got it fixed, worth 421 dollars. I was told that the crank shaft pulley is a common failure for this model engine and I was lucky that it did not 'totally' gouce the timing chain cover and oil pan. I have heard first hand incidences of others with similar model vehicles in the range of 1997 through 2001 having timing chain cover gouged off completely and vehicle becoming inoperable within minutes and causing mechanical damage to the extent of 20 to 25 hours repair needed, and over 25000 dollars needed on average.
The rubber insert in the pulley crankshaft experienced a mechanical failure which resulted in no power steering or brakes.
The engine main drive pulley broke off rendering vehicle inoperable. The failure happened on open road at highway speeds.
1999 mercedes-benz E320t, 60k miles - crankshaft harmonic balancer (damper pulley) failed. Advised by mechanic to replace immediately, so as to avoid loss of multi ribbed-v-belt and concurrent loss of power steering, alternator and water pump function.