rudyalozano

Ok, so driving back from NC at 11pm my S600 threw her serpentine (her, simply because nothing could be this sexy and temperamental at the same time.) belt, the coolant seems to be low, and there is engine oil on the front of the engine. Car starts but the ABC has dropped and due to the belt she has been towed. Thoughts on causes? I haven't started working on it, and i simply wanted to get to the hotel and have a beverage after she broke down. Any thoughts are welcome.

None of the pulleys seem broken, I have not tried to spin any of them.

shardul

iTrader: (1)

Check all pulleys. Maybe a abc hose has ruptured

tusabes

Usually the belt tensioner fails

rudyalozano

tusabes: if it was simply the belt would that cause the ABC system to loose pressure and drop? i would assume it would be able to keep its current level.

rudyalozano

I'm, thinking this may be the case, I gentleman, claiming to be a Benz mechanic came over, despite the fact i was not in a very social mood I did talk with him and mentioned that the hose that is at the bottom of the engine had a wear mark that appeared to be rubbing the, I believe alternator (forgive me but I have not gotten it back to the shop, I am assuming the last pulley on the passenger side of the engine is the alternator) hose and i recall it being a ABC line, he believes it was a cooling line, again until its back in the shop and I can get it on the lift its all academic. I know that the oil level in the engine is within tolerance, there are signs of oil on the front of the engine and coolant. The serpentine belt is off the pulley. and the ABC droped to "low ride" mode. aside from that i don't have much detail

tusabes

No, but as you said , the belt could have rupture the abc hose when it snapped off

shardul

iTrader: (1)

Well if the belt is off the abc pump will not be running hence you will get a abc error message

Quadcammer

two possibles:

Belt snapped and severed an ABC hose.

Lack of belt means nothing driving the abc pump...but i would think the suspension wouldn't drop right away in this case.

Zachmac

The way my recent failure went was the lower ABC dampner hose (it is a loop below the front of the engine that dampens system pulsations) blew apart, spraying ABC fluid on the belt which caused it to fly off. This also of course dumps most of the ABC fluid on the ground, hence the low suspension, no ABC fluid left in system. Hope that isn't the case for you because if it is there is a very good chance the brief time running the ABC pump with low fluid (between the line rupture and the belt coming off) also wiped out your ABC pump. My total repair was a little over 6k (thank God for my warranty) and required the pump, filter, new belt and of course replacing the ABC line thta ruptured to start it all. Lots of posts here about the importance of regularly checking ABC hose condition and replacing them BEFORE they burst.