Engine Belts And Pulleys Problems of Mercedes Benz ML430

Crankshaft harmonic balancer failure! (1999 Mercedes Benz Ml430). . . Mileage: 82000 ref: NHTSA action # 03058. . He pulley failure just occurred while driving down i85 in atl. Upon hearing a knocking noise and smelling what seemed like rubber burning, I immediately stopped the engine. It took no time to find the source of the smell, it was the v-belt (no longer centered on all pulleys) rubbing against the engine. Being reasonably mechanic savvy, I knew this was a little more serious than just a water pump outage and proceeded called a tow truck. The vehicle was towed to my local mb dealership (mb of s. Atl) at a cost of $52. 00& aprox drop time: 8:00 pm. The following morning I contacted the service department to further explain my situation and was advised that this is a known and very common issue with the v6 and v8 engines of which mine is the latter (113942). Having no knowledge of the multitude of customer complaints and law suites, I was floored when the quote of approximately $3500. 00 was dropped in my lap. The dealer has agreed to comp the parts. . Aprox cost: $1300. . The labor (14. 85 hrs totaled $1510. 00) I get to eat! law suite to follow in an attempt to recover my out of pocket cost! why is this not a recall item!!!!!.

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I'm an owner of a 1999 Mercedes Benz Ml430 which in my belief has a defective part named a harmonic balancer or a crank shaft pulley. The reason im filing my complaint is because I was told by a Mercedes Benz service rep(chris) of tri-star Mercedes Benz in the st louis mo,area that he had no knowledge of a malfunction or a defective part called the harmonic balancer the inquiry was made as I brought my vehicle to the said establishment after having a problem with a loud noise like grinding in the engine department the battery light came on the engine started to die out the power steering began to fail just think if my wife had been driving the car she could have caused serious damage to others and herself but god. . . . On Wednesday Aug 1,04 I had the car towed to tri-star Mercedes Benz on the following day I received a call from service rep chris and I told him what happened, he said he would have his tech's look at it he called back on the same day and stated what the problem was I asked him does this happen often to the ml he stated no. I was then quoted a price of 1700 dollars to fix the problem if the oil pans were damaged and 1450 if it was not. After receiving my car back I am having problems of shaking in my steering wheel like there's something wrong with my tires but there is not. I believe its got something to do with the costly repairs of the harmonic balancer. A couple of web sites were found were I discovered according to other mb owners were having the same problem I think that mb is trying to cover up that there is a potential life threatening situation on there hands and which have cost millions of dollars to the consumer such as myself. Those that have no problems with there mb should be warned of the potential danger and mb should own up to there responsibility and recall there cars and SUV and refund money to those who have had costly repairs done because of this said costly defect. Who knows how many accidents have happened causing lives to perish.

Harmonic balancer/vibration dampner on Ml430 mercedes-benz defective.

Harmonic balancer had deteriorated and was replaced in order to prevent suden failure and/or major damage to the engine; problem seems to be increasingly 'common' among ml owners!.

The harmonic balancer on the crankshaft of my mercedes Ml430 VIN# 4jgab72e7xa09375 failed w/o warning causing the fan belt to fail and the balancer started cutting a hole in the oil pan. This failure just by "luck" did not cause a moving accident due to loss of electrical and power steering, or an under the hood fire. This cost me $500 to get fixed when a $70 part could have been replaced if I had only been notified of this frequent failure on mercedes models like mine. The dealer was little help in solving this problem.

The harmonic balancer on all Mercedes Benz v6 and v8 engines between 1995 and 1999 is defective. Mb knows about this problem and refuses to acknowledge the problem. When the $100 defective part fails around 50k miles it causes $2k-3k in damage. Please see the site mercedesshop. Com to view the number of complaints. I have spoken to mbusa customer service, the m-b area manager, ron st. Pierre, and dreher-holloway service manager, mike bellaigeron. All refuse to replace these defective items. M-b re-designed the part in 2001 and issued a technical bulletin in Dec 2001 directing service techcnicans to replace the part with a new stock number. They know the problem exists but wait for the fauilures becuse they get more revenue from repairing the damage caused by the failure.

Mercedes benz 1999 ml 430. Harmonic balancer failed. Driving 65+ on the mass. Pike, the power steering failed, and then the engine begin to overheat. The vehicle had to be wrestled from the left lane, across 3 very busy lanes of traffic to the side of the highway. The state police were called and the vehicle was towed. I later learned that the crank shaft pulley had broken apart and caused a chain reaction of failures ultimately leading to the above. * cb.

I was driving my Ml430 on the highway when all of a sudden my power steering gave out and my car started to overheat. I managed to "strong arm" the car, (hopped a curb mid-turn) and pull over into a local grocery store. What my dealer had diagnosed was that the harmonic balancer was disconnected and the crankshaft pulley assembly came apart. I'm afraid that if my wife had been driving the car at the time the circumstances may have been more severe. Since the pulley came apart at such force it also managed to rip a hole into my oil pan. All in all I'm looking at a $3000 repair to a potentially deadly problem. When I contacted the dealership they told me that this was a common problem and offered to present the issue to mb and request help for the repair. "common problem!" . . I thought to myself. Mb came back with no assistance since the car was out of warranty. I don't understand the lack of responsibility and ownership mb is taking on their brand. The whole reason I purchased the car was for quality. I'm saddened to wonder how many lives are potentially in danger due to this common problem and what it would take for mb to become proactive and take responsibility.

Harmonic balancer failure; early detection prevented serpentine belt failure and loss of power steering assist and power brakes assist.

The harmonic balancer failed to stay on the crankshaft and hit other engine componets and consequently cut the fan belt, caused the engine to over heat, and put a hole in the oil pan.

While driving 45mph lost control of steering and noticed main pulley loosened.