Hey guys, I noticed some build up from the belt on my tensioner pulley. Tensioner, idler, water pump, alternator, ac compressor and crank pulley all new with less than 3k miles. Belt is Mercedes. Did some research couldn't really find anything similar. All pulleys spin well no wobbles or noises, don't think the belt is slipping either. Any opinions or suggestions etc would be much appreciated. All parts from FCP Euro so I suppose they're "warrantied"

Also, I may have removed the tensioner pulley bolt and pulley and put it back, not sure if that makes a difference.

Sorry for the poor lightning but here's what it looks like



heres the belt



And here's a pic of my engine bay


thanks!!

I suppose it may be a bit snug, but nothing crazy... was hoping Gator would chime in. Searched for it happening on any type of car but no success.

Other than that if you have ticking in your engine bay that sounds like your power steering pump, it's actually your purge valve. Also I screwed with my window adjustment on my driver window and used spray on lithium grease which was not a good idea.

And doesn't make sense to start a new thread but after buying the car in winter, when it first started warming up on a rainy misty day (after I told a girl who had a e63 amg with tons of issues that I couldn't believe mine didn't) I got hit with the hvac stays on and aux fans will run non stop until battery dies or you pull fuse 25 I think? Which control have gauge cluster etc. the only real plight of my w208 for the last year and a half. Now no one likes it and everyone's been yelling at me to fix it but I obviously haven't been able to.

Ive been keeping a mental spreadsheet and it seems to happen more often if ac is on. When AC was not working, if you drove the car hvac on or off if you shut the vehicle off and started it again this would most likely happen. The most you were able to shut down and turn on was 5 starts. Once I cleaned the duo valve miraculously my AC started working again and you could get 5 starts usually without it happening. I just recently was able to go 560 miles without it happening! Until today. Drove 30 miles and shut the car down for about a hour, drove another 30 miles but on the highway and it happened. So tends to happen when it's hot, AC is on or when it is humid/rainy. And then if the car runs for a while is left for a short while and then restarted. Because of this I don't think it could be a jump.

Any thoughts? My only conclusion is that the duo valve could be getting stuck leaving coolant somewhere telling a sensor that the coolant needs to be cooled down for the cooling system therefore kicking the fans in?

Ive worked as a mechanic with other mechanics of 20+ years, as a service advisor st a foreign car place specializing in Mercedes and am now a "mechanic" again and no one or myself has been able to help.

Hope i explained it well.

Thanks!

Crank pulley was replaced, appears to spin true. Any other suggestions?

Which upper hose clamp are you referring to? There does seem to be a bit of a wobble to the pulley, very minor, but I will be replacing the idler, tensioner and belt through FCP Euro so we'll see what happens. Thanks for the info Gator!