CalebL

I was driving back from the coast yesterday on the freeway around 6pm and hit some major traffic due to construction. Once things cleared up I tried to get up to speed but noticed the car was lagging horrendously. After about 5 seconds of progressively giving it more throttle there was a quick clunk noise and my dash started to go nuts giving off a battery failure message. I had no idea what was going on, then my A/C went out and I noticed my power steering was no longer functioning.

Due to the traffic congestion it took me about 5 minutes to get off to an exit lane and off the freeway. By the time I pulled into the closest gas station (I'd say about 7-8 minutes after the incident) my dash was indicating my coolant temp was well past the 210 C temp and was instructing me to shut the engine off...Which I did. I popped the hood, coolant was bubbling out of the reservoir, and I noticed the belt drive was completely mangled. After more inspecting I found the culprit resting on top of the only part of the belt still intact, the supercharger pulley. Has this ever been reported as happening before?

I'm praying to God my aftermarket warranty covers this (which it seems it will according to the ppwk), but I can't believe this just randomly happened out of nowhere.

Koru_Kinshi

Wait..the pulley BROKE???

Gramma_Benz

Sounds like your S/C pulley seized and made it fall apart like that. It's fairly common for that bearing as well as the idler pulley bearing to fail. When getting it fixed, have them replace the idler bearing at the same time.

If your S/C pulley is no longer useable, consider maybe upgrading to a Code3 pulley as you will get a performance increase with no other modifications needed. Just make sure they have them in stock prior to ordering or you may be waiting a long time.

Good luck!

http://shop.code3performance.com/product.sc?categoryId=3&productId=4

OR BETTER YET, one of our forum veterans has one for sale at a great price:

https://mbworld.org/forums/c32-amg-c55-amg-w203/295875-fs-code3-supercharger-pulley.html#post3503028

NitrogenBalance

Let's hope you didn't cook the motor. When the coolant bubbles over its usually not a good thing. I wish you the best of luck, I just installed a new idler pulley and I now have the same fear.

JG26_Irish

Wow, that is bad. Running the car that long without the waterpump functioning cannot be good. Why did you not pull over immediately? Hopefully the engine is not fried.

Did the pulley give any?? audible warnings? Last year I was in for a service A and my AMG tech reported to me that my SC bearing was starting to make some noise. I head heard it but had not recognised the problem. I bought a C3P pulley with a new bearing for an iproved fix. Also replaced the idler pulley. They normally start to make noises before they fail.

Irish

CalebL

Thanks for the info/help (and the links Gramma). I didn't hear any signs prior to the incident that gave evidence to it giving out, it's really strange. Unfortunately the portion of the freeway I was on did not have a shoulder lane to pull over onto, so I had to make my way to an exit off the freeway.

Koru- Yes, the pulley literally severed itself from the supercharger. It fell onto a portion of the belt drive...Thankfully it didn't fall off and onto the freeway.

Gramma_Benz

Yeah, once I had my idler pulley seize on me and it didn't make any noise either. It seized and sheared off the mount on the water pump(so that had to be replaced too) and I had all the same things you had when the belt threw.

saer1one

man that sucks, hopefully nothing bad happened to the motor.. put the new pulley on and get it running

Gramma_Benz

Be careful if you do order from Code3 though, I just saw this latest post:

https://mbworld.org/forums/3503735-post839.html

funny enough, you may be better off getting a used one.

Koru_Kinshi

So much for the 3rd gen pulley and the belt wrap kit. :/ It was sounding interesting, too.

CalebL

Does anyone have a diagram of where the Idler Pulley is located?

Gramma_Benz

Like this? I believe its #6 you're looking for. PLease correct me if I'm wrong.

ScottW911

The #4 pulley has been a problem child for many. I just swapped mine out. It took about 10 minutes.

c32AMG-DTM

+1, especially the smaller-size #4's in some aftermarket crank pulley kits. Don't recall nearly as many stock #4 pulley failures, but as ScottW911 points out it is a quick, easy, and relatively inexpensive part to replace - as needed. boohooramblers did an excellent DIY write up here:

https://mbworld.org/forums/c32-amg-c...er-pulley.html