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while driving today all of a sudden my power steering was gone... first time i felt how heavy this car was... luckily i was coming up to a gas station and pulled in... my dash showed a red battery symbol which i've seen before but that was due to a bad battery which i replaced... after some google research, it seemed like the belt... and sure enough, i opened up the hood and the belt was broken... so i'm wondering, do i need to get my car towed in order to have this replaced? or can i safely drive my car a certain distance another day and get this belt replaced? i went ahead and drove the less than a mile i needed to get my car home... also, while this is being replaced, is there anything else that should be inspected or replaced? i'm at about 96k miles...
i've got a battery tender at home so i can keep the battery fully charged before driving to a shop...
Belt runs the water pump so no don't drive it and risk overheating. Usually it's a pulley that failed and causes the belt to come off, so the shop doing the repairs will have to inspect everything and see what the actual source of failure was. It's possible you had something like an a/c compressor seize and snap the belt, a good inspection will tell you what you need.
Belt runs the water pump so no don't drive it and risk overheating. Usually it's a pulley that failed and causes the belt to come off, so the shop doing the repairs will have to inspect everything and see what the actual source of failure was. It's possible you had something like an a/c compressor seize and snap the belt, a good inspection will tell you what you need.
Thanks ... I'll have it towed once I figure out what I need to do
Originally Posted by chrisridebike8
There is a serpentine belt service kit. It replaces the tensioner and the idler pulleys. I elected to swap to Weistec pulleys at the same time.
Is the kit like this
https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/mercedes-drive-belt-kit-m156-genuine-mercedes-m156beltkit
If I just wanted to fix my issue with OEM parts, does the kit pretty much cover it all? Or am I getting too many extra parts that may still be working just fine.
I guess I need a diagnosis to check the current pulleys and other belts and see if I should replace some other parts anyway or just the serpentine belt.
Mine snapped while driving on the highway... Talk about sketchy. Luckily I felt the steering get hard pretty quickly and smelled burning rubber and was able to pull off the road. Pulley seized and sheered off.
Just had to towed to my house and replaced the pulley. Voila -- was back in action.
If I just wanted to fix my issue with OEM parts, does the kit pretty much cover it all? Or am I getting too many extra parts that may still be working just fine.
I guess I need a diagnosis to check the current pulleys and other belts and see if I should replace some other parts anyway or just the serpentine belt.
That one has everything you would need. To get a rough idea of what is required you can take a look at this post I put together last year.
My car is currently at the dealer because my belt is getting there. The car started making a squealing noise at idle that goes up with higher rpm but covered by the exhaust sound. I popped he hood and looked, the belt started to get shattered. The adviser said it's a possibility the tensioner pulley went off. But they'll check and let me know. Is it worth it replacing the idler pulleys with Weistec at this point?
Do idler pulley normally fail in our car? Anyone noticed the diff when installing the Weistec pulleys and if they're quieter at idle?
Maybe I should change mine. I'm up over 120k km now
Man, if it is the original run do not walk and change it. As to the pulleys when I change mine which I will likely do next year based on age vs distance I will get rid of any idler running in a plastic bearing and replace it with one with a real bearing. My thought is I will hear a mechanical bearing failing before it fails whereas a plastic one will dump the pulley and the belt as first warning.
I see no benefit to changing a pully on a pump, compressor, crank or alternator if there are no signs of wear.
Man, if it is the original run do not walk and change it. As to the pulleys when I change mine which I will likely do next year based on age vs distance I will get rid of any idler running in a plastic bearing and replace it with one with a real bearing. My thought is I will hear a mechanical bearing failing before it fails whereas a plastic one will dump the pulley and the belt as first warning.
I see no benefit to changing a pully on a pump, compressor, crank or alternator if there are no signs of wear.
It passes visual inspection though. That's why I haven't bothered yet. I should pull it off and inspect the pulley bearings anyway. Might as well replace it as preventative maintenance.
It passes visual inspection though. That's why I haven't bothered yet. I should pull it off and inspect the pulley bearings anyway. Might as well replace it as preventative maintenance.
D
I get that but I am sure you have seen as I have good looking belts breaking when least expected.
They stretch and rubber oxidizes and weaken over time. I have seen the stretch eat up all the capacity of the tensioner to keep the belt tight on my old W124 DOHC I6 and then it will pop off at the most inopportune time.
As you saw it's just good PM in an an older car in my view.
how many miles for you guys who've had pulley issues? i'm at 117k and replacing them for safe measure.
Playing with fire good sir. I've seen belts snap as early as 65k. Ironically I bought a belt and pulleys for my car today and like yours (I assume), all sounds and seems well.
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