romansroad

Short version....I'm trying to trade back the 06 secondary to the sprocket specter and the 7 speed tranny issue. Looking at and 08, and noticed it ate the unibelt at some point. The front of all the pulley faces, the alternator and various other spots are fouled with chewed up belt. The tensioner looks relatively new, and the newish belt is okay, with a slight slight wear/fray at the outer edge. The non-MB dealer/carfax show the car was to be a CPO at local MB dealer, but, for some reason, was sold to the nonMB high volume dealer. NO service records o/t the nonMB dealer declaring the car was to be a CPO, then they bought it. Spoke with MBUSA and no issues with the VIN on the 08.

So......

I know the tensioner/idler are issues on MB, as this happened waaaay back to my first E class in 93. How likely is it that the prior owner drove it long enough with the belt gone that I'll end up with an unknown warped head from overheating? Does the 272 engine control somehow crowbar itself and kill the engine before this could even happen?

Thanks so much in advance, so I don't loose more $$ on the swap. Ugh.

Rudeney

It takes about 5 seconds of a frozen tensioner or idler pulley to deposit half of the belt onto the other pulleys. It happened on the kid's C240. It took me a bottle of acetone and two hours to clean the mess, but only 10 minutes to change the pulley and belt. I think if any damage was done to the heads, you'd know it. I don't believe there is any sort of auto-shutdown due to overheating, but I can tell you that without a power steering pump, you aren't going very far.

Mka77

With the run of bad luck you've had, I'd walk away.

romansroad

I've not run the OBDII on this one....is/are there specific codes I should look for?

Other than the obvious oil in coolant/ coolant in oil and external oil leaks, should I look for anything else?

Mka77

Is the CEL on? What makes you think there are more codes lurking?

romansroad

No CEL light, just getting a bit gun shy on these! The car o/w looks/drives fine.

romansroad

I so appreciate everyone's advice on my suboptimal experience with the CLK 350's. I decided to cut my losses and move to the E350, and found a 2010 with 13K miles. My daughter loves it, and hopefully my only worry will be where to place the Garmin!

Will continue to learn from the group here, and thanks again.

Glyn M Ruck

Nice car and out of engine & tranny trouble years like mine. Enjoy!