leonelalbarran

I just recently had my thermostat replaced at my local dealership and the very next day in the AM I turned my c230 sport on and it made a chirp noise. I let it warm up and it went away. I returned home and then drove it again about an hour later and it made the same noise and went away as soon as I put the car in D and a few miles down the road the ALTERNATOR VISIT WORKSHOP notice came on and the power steering went out and the car began to heat up REALLY fast.
I pulled over immediately and had it towed home. I looked and my serpentine belt was completely shredded. I was wondering if maybe the MB tech spilt coolant on the belts causing them to chirp and shred?? What does everyone on here think?

I am going to replace the serpentine belt tomorrow morning but can't figure if that's the only thing wrong with it. Is there anything I need to look for to assure myself there isn't any other sort of extensive damage? Also, I need some help replacing the belt. I have done several other vehicles and this one looks simple since it is one single belt and it is all right there. Can anyone tell me which pulley is the "adjustor" pulley with the spring in it? ANY help will be greatly appreciated. I am trying to save as much money in this whole ordeal and not go back to the dealership. $700 to replace a thermostat is a bit through the roof. I don't even want to know what it would cost to diagnose, service/repair a problem like this there. Probably $2k! LOL

Carsy

Leon,

I would want a face to face explanation from the service manager as to why the serpentine belt failed a day after your visit & ask him to replace it at no cost.

I hope that you have not overheated & damaged your engine.

If you have to replace the belt yourself make sure all the rollers & auxilliaries are rotating freely, truly & without any worn bearing noise. After replacement run the engine with the bonnet up & air con. on to check the belt is running without any problems.

Take a look at the Wiki link at the top of the page to find the method of fitting a new belt. Here is on example but it may not be your engine.

https://mbworld.org/wiki/images/0/09...ement_M271.pdf

Good luck & let us know how you go.

You do not state where you are from.

SickSpeedMonte

They may have taken the belt off to get to the 'stat housing. Maybe when they put it back on, they didn't get it aligned properly on one of the pulleys.

Replacing the belt is very easy. The bigger problem I see here is they charged you $700 to do a $105 job. I had mine replaced under warranty and that's what it cost. It is so easy to replace the thermostat, its disgusting that they charged you that much. If their tech can't do that in 1 hour, they need to get a new tech. Did they give you an itemized invoice??

Carsy

What were the symptoms that made it necessary to change the thermostat ?

Normally they fail open causing the engine to warm up slowly & run cooler than normal.

Moviela

It is fairly easy to change the belt. If it has failed due to old age you will do well by yourself to replace the tensioner and the idler pulley at the same time. Pelican has the OE parts and some tutorials to guide you. Some cars have a one way bearing in the alternator pulley. You can't go wrong changing that either if you are in the neighborhood of 100K miles.

samaritrey

^ +1

M3RC3D3SE55AMG

I just had my belt literally "come off". It hasn't snapped, and after inspected it, I can't even see any damage to it either? The car was serviced not long ago, and I think they changed the belt during that, I'll double check the service job sheet to confirm. Anyway, my question is can I just fit the belt back on if it is in good order? Also, why would the belt have just "come off"? Incorrect tension amount I suppose?