Logan_Volcan

Long story short:

• my belt tore last night
• it has 100k miles on it
• took me monthS to get the car running with the ESL being down & now this (SIGH*)
• Dealership says $270 for just the belt and the pulley (this is me purchasing the parts, not them doing it)

Questions:

• What is everything you all think I should replace? The belt, tension holder, and the pulleys?
• Do you think these parts would work? https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/mer...BoCMDcQAvD_BwE
• prices vary a lot online so idk what to think. I'm teaching myself how to do all these by research, sorry if questions sound stupid.

Car info:

• 2010 C300 (i believe sport)
• 100k (maybe 110k) miles on it
• idk what engine type it is. As in 272 or 273...idk any of
• typed my VIN online and I got this: V6 GASOLINE ENGINE M272 E30 GA - Automatic

gamma300C

https://www.pelicanparts.com/techart...eplacement.htm

One of the easier DIY's/ FCPEuro is a good source for parts also. They have a DIY link in addition to the above for changing the serpentine belt. The various pulleys, belt tensioner may or may mot be failing. A frozen pulley could have caused the belt failure. Easy enough to change them out if you have the torx sockets needed for removal/installation. With the belt off, they should spin freely without a rough, grinding noise or "feel". I'd change them out with the kit to be on the safe side..not terribly expensive and you can get a some experience auto wrenching on your W204.

Xzero

https://mbworld.org/forums/c-class-w...ce-thread.html

Check out the MISC section, it will tell you everything you need to know about replacing your tensioner/pulleys/belt, with all the part numbers you need.

Logan_Volcan

Oh thank you guys, you have no idea how much this means to me. Do you believe I should also change the pulleys, tensioner, and/or the belt tensioner damper? I've seen them on most kits online so idk if I should do them or not.

Xzero

You can try to test your pulleys/bearings and tensioner, it would give you some good experience with checking these things and it could make a problem reveal itself (seized pulley/etc.)

After that, with a 100k mileage, a broken belt and if I don’t know the last time they were replaced (if ever), I would buy a kit and replace everything.

Logan_Volcan

I don't believe they have ever been changed. This is a first time I've had a car go over 100k. I've been googling it and I don't understand this part (picture below) at all because I don't see it in any tutorials or even videos on youtube. I know that I'm ignorant and missing something lol. Where does this go?

gamma300C

This is on certain tensioners...if you don't see it on your car, you don't have it obviously.

Logan_Volcan

That makes so much more sense. Thank you Gamma, you all have been a great deal of help! I ordered all of the parts and they should be here by monday hopefully. Let's see if I can install everything and get the car running again by monday (fingers crossed)

Logan_Volcan

Update:

FCP/euro were freaking incredible and very helpful. Parts are so far working perfectly and their price are jaw dropping.

Installing everything was super easy (way easier than a locked ESL that's for sure lol). Thank you everyone for being so helpful! I'm so happy everything is fixed now

Logan_Volcan

I should of just responded to this one instead of making a new thread but when I accelerate the belt now makes noise and it seems like it is being rubbed against something and slowly degrading one side of it but idk what is causing it. I checked everything and I installed the belt exactly like the examples online had it. On idle it doesn't make any noise only when accelerating.

gamma300C

Are you sure you put the pulleys on in the right direction..sometimes easy to reverse install and the offset will be slightly off rubbing one edge of the belt and squealing.. Take off the belt and see if all the pulleys freely spin if you are sure the pulleys are 'in line".

Logan_Volcan

So the pulleys should freely spin by themselves without having a belt attached to them?

gamma300C

Yes, the idler pulleys should spin pretty darn freely. When I have reverse mounted pulleys on other cars, they have binded. A correctly mounted pulley that doesn't spin freely obviously has a shot bearing.

Logan_Volcan

Okay that's good to know. I'm going to take off the belt and see if they spin on themselves now. Will update on the progress. Thank you for the help

gamma300C

When ypu say "one side of the belt" chaffing, you are referring to the lateral, thin edge, or the wider smooth/ribbed side?

Logan_Volcan

Here you can see something is rubbing against these

Logan_Volcan

I pulled it off yesterday and one of the pullies the smooth side wasn't the one that was toward the car and after googling and youtubing it I found out that the smooth side is one that needs to be towards the engine so I reversed it but now it squeaks even more.

I recorded a video of it so put idk if it would help. All the pullies spin easy when you spin them with your finger and they don't make any noise.

gamma300C

So you are pretty sure ALL the pulleys are on right now ? Is it possible the alternator or PS brackets are a bit loose so their pulleys are off kilter ? Give them a good grab and see if they move/wobble even a touch. How much deflection does the belt have to finger pressure at midpoint at its longest free length..should be 1/4" ideally, less than 1/2". Can you located the squeaking to a more localized area using a cardboard tube as a stethoscope ? With the belt running, spray some water with a spray bottle on each pulley area individually to see if you can reduce/make the squeak stop. Try not to soak the belt too much so it is running wet over all the pulleys. The anterior edge of the belt is the only rubbed area ,right? Forward facing edge of all ribbed pulleys have no rough areas, burrs ? If all else fails, an old trick was, with belt running, was to use a wooden slat like a ruler with a slot the width a bit bigger than the belt edge on one end and push the belt towards the rear at each pulley (lt/rt of the pulley) to see if the squeak changed. I presume the squeak is pretty continuous on acceleration, still quiet at idle? You'll need to have a helper for these tests.

Logan_Volcan

After I changed it now it squeaks on idle and it gets louder on acceleration.

I'm going to see if I can re-read these and test things out and make a video of what is happening and post it. Not gonna lie, I'm shocked that I was even able to change my ESL and get that fixed and even change the belt. I think since one thing after another has been happening to this car my mind is f&*cked on it but I have to fix it myself since it cost way less.

gamma300C

You are to be lauded for having done the ESL by yourself, no small feat at all. You'll find the squeal....

Logan_Volcan

lol thanks bud. I had to take the entire steering wheel and all out and put it back together 3x.

gamma300C

Sounds like you undid the lower splined part of the steering column...did you have to send the whole assembly in since the ESL was locked ? If unlocked you could have just dropped down the steering column from the upper side, right?

Logan_Volcan

The whole thing was locked and had to take it out and then drill a whole into the ESL to turn it into unlock position but I couldn't get the ESL itself to open sine the screws were a bit threaded so I got fake one and took it to someone to program it and then put the whole thing back together. I couldn't wiggle the steering column to come out so I had to take the gas pedal off as well but thankfully those are super easy to put back.

My aux cable has also gone out so once I have some money saved it up I'm going to install an android auto that I found from alibaba/aliexpress in it. My car had that little ipod connection and navigation system that are all connected to a box in the glove compartment and apparently mercedes (based on what's been posted) charges $1500 to fix those. The day my ESL went out my battery had also gone out in a parking garage and after I fixed the ESL 3 weeks later my belt tore while I was driving lol.

gamma300C

Yikes !! Was your belt so old that it shredded or is there something going on to cause to break...something that still persists ?

Logan_Volcan

Yea when I use to take it in nobody said anything about it and I would say my belt is making noises but they didn't mention if it was bad. One of the pullies was broken when I went to fix it and the belt was shredded. What throws me off is that the belt made zero noise after I changed it for a week or so and then it started out of nowhere and now that I changed the direction on one of the pullies is making more noise but the smooth side of the pully is the part that is suppose to be connected to car and the side with indentions is suppose to toward the out where the bolt goes in.

During these time my service A came up as well and I couldn't believe how easy it was to do it and that I use to pay so much for someone else to do it.