It's official. Harmonic Balancer Service Campaign released 4/5/05
#5
Originally Posted by ///AMG55
Thats great but I still have no idea what the hell that things purpose is! please fill me in. ![thumbs](https://mbworld.org/forums/images/smilies/thumbsup.gif)
![thumbs](https://mbworld.org/forums/images/smilies/thumbsup.gif)
Guess what they did? The invented the harmonic balancer. It's made up of three pieces - a steel inner part, which bolts to the crankshaft, a rubber sleeve around that which dampens crankshaft vibrations and the outer steel part, which has grooves for the belt.
The rubber middle piece is the workhorse which is wrinkled back and forth to match the oscillatory demands of the c'shaft and the drive pulleys - that's where the harmonic thing comes from. Now, in a highly demanding (and hot) engine like the ML's V6, what happens is that the rubber sleeve is extremely tasked (due to poor cheap design), wears out and pushes the outer part of the pulley away from the engine. Problem is that as soon as this starts to happen, though there's still the vertical pull force of the belts (a bit reduced though), an additional horizontal force has been added because of the extension of the rubber sleeve towards the front of the engine. That force gets larger and larger as the rubber sleeve extends further and further. It pulls the belt off of the other accessories, including the water pump, and in most cases, this is what ultimately shreds it. In general, to inspect for this, take a peek at your pulleys (engine OFF please!!!!!!!) and check to see how the pulleys are aligned. is there one that looks way off???
A bit long but you asked for it and I thought it'd be nice to detail it as much as I know about it. Auto engineers, chime in.
Last edited by Darkmann; 04-07-2005 at 09:03 PM.
#7
MBWorld Fanatic!
I just called my local dealer to see if the harmonic balancer recall campaign applies to my vehicle ('98 ML320); after giving my VIN, they said YES. I just made an appointment for next week.
THANK YOU guys for the info.
THANK YOU guys for the info.
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#10
For some reason, after the harmonic balancer change that I had recently changed, the Car seems to rev higher than usual. Like the position where I accellerate on the gas petal now is reving higher and the whole car seems to be just a tad bit higher torque, or soemthing of that sort. Is that normal, have you guys experienced any of these things?
#11
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C63 / ////AMG
Just had the harmonic balancer changed today. I notice no difference whatsoever.
We also had the power steering hose replaced for the 3rd time.
I can't believe this continues to be a problem. This time it dumped most of the PS fluid all over the garage and driveway. We couldn't drive it, so I had it towed. You should have seen all the fluid it dumped on the service driveway. It was so bad, they decided to move it out of site from the rest of the customers
We also had the power steering hose replaced for the 3rd time.
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#12
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2020 GLE 450; 2023 BMW M2 Coupe
Reimbrusement
Originally Posted by ML320CHROME20s
Mines failed on me back in Nov. 03. Think i can get a reimbursment for this? The parts , labor , and towing all cost me $700.