Changed Serpentine belt and idler pulleys = PITA
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2015 C400 4MATIC Palladium Silver Metallic
Changed Serpentine belt and idler pulleys = PITA
I changed my serpentine belt, tensioner, and idler pulleys today.
What a goat rope.
I had initially attempted to do this a couple of weekends ago but gave up because I couldn't get access to the pulley behind the intercooler fluid reservoir.
Let me tell you even knowing what I know now, I would take a couple of deep breaths (and shots of Bourbon )before attempting this job again. Which is funny, because I WILL be doing this again on my wife's car.
One thing to note, the Febi-Bilstein idler pulley uses a T-10 torx head bolt and not the Mercedes spec E-12 Etorx bolt.
I could find NO way to get a T-10 bit behind the intercooler reservoir, so MB spec part, or the Gates replacement part are (in my book) required for that pulley.
I put the Febi pulley on the driver's side mount without issue.
What a goat rope.
I had initially attempted to do this a couple of weekends ago but gave up because I couldn't get access to the pulley behind the intercooler fluid reservoir.
Let me tell you even knowing what I know now, I would take a couple of deep breaths (and shots of Bourbon )before attempting this job again. Which is funny, because I WILL be doing this again on my wife's car.
One thing to note, the Febi-Bilstein idler pulley uses a T-10 torx head bolt and not the Mercedes spec E-12 Etorx bolt.
I could find NO way to get a T-10 bit behind the intercooler reservoir, so MB spec part, or the Gates replacement part are (in my book) required for that pulley.
I put the Febi pulley on the driver's side mount without issue.
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2015 C400 4MATIC Palladium Silver Metallic
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I changed my serpentine belt, tensioner, and idler pulleys today.
What a goat rope.
I had initially attempted to do this a couple of weekends ago but gave up because I couldn't get access to the pulley behind the intercooler fluid reservoir.
Let me tell you even knowing what I know now, I would take a couple of deep breaths (and shots of Bourbon )before attempting this job again. Which is funny, because I WILL be doing this again on my wife's car.
One thing to note, the Febi-Bilstein idler pulley uses a T-10 torx head bolt and not the Mercedes spec E-12 Etorx bolt.
I could find NO way to get a T-10 bit behind the intercooler reservoir, so MB spec part, or the Gates replacement part are (in my book) required for that pulley.
I put the Febi pulley on the driver's side mount without issue.
What a goat rope.
I had initially attempted to do this a couple of weekends ago but gave up because I couldn't get access to the pulley behind the intercooler fluid reservoir.
Let me tell you even knowing what I know now, I would take a couple of deep breaths (and shots of Bourbon )before attempting this job again. Which is funny, because I WILL be doing this again on my wife's car.
One thing to note, the Febi-Bilstein idler pulley uses a T-10 torx head bolt and not the Mercedes spec E-12 Etorx bolt.
I could find NO way to get a T-10 bit behind the intercooler reservoir, so MB spec part, or the Gates replacement part are (in my book) required for that pulley.
I put the Febi pulley on the driver's side mount without issue.
Thread Starter
Senior Member
Joined: Mar 2022
Posts: 342
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2015 C400 4MATIC Palladium Silver Metallic
MBWorld God!
Joined: Dec 2019
Posts: 32,499
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2015 C400
Cool, thanks for the advice. In terms of ordering parts, is it just the 3 parts, or other components / consumables? I’m sure there’s a YouTube video on it somewhere too!
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2015 C400 4MATIC Palladium Silver Metallic
You can use the Febi/Bilstein brand idler pulley on the driver's side, but I couldn't get a normal Torx bit back to where the mount is for the passenger side. The Gates idler uses a factory style e-torx head bolt, and I used the pass through socket and ratcheting wrench on that one.
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Awesome, thanks for the info.
The belt, tensioner and TWO idler pulleys. The MB parts are kinda obscenely priced, so I went with Gates idlers, INA tensioner, and Continental belt.
You can use the Febi/Bilstein brand idler pulley on the driver's side, but I couldn't get a normal Torx bit back to where the mount is for the passenger side. The Gates idler uses a factory style e-torx head bolt, and I used the pass through socket and ratcheting wrench on that one.
You can use the Febi/Bilstein brand idler pulley on the driver's side, but I couldn't get a normal Torx bit back to where the mount is for the passenger side. The Gates idler uses a factory style e-torx head bolt, and I used the pass through socket and ratcheting wrench on that one.
Thread Starter
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Joined: Mar 2022
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2015 C400 4MATIC Palladium Silver Metallic
I don't know how many hours this job books for, but the thought of a tech racing to beat book time with all of these hoses and connectors was enough to make me do it myself.
