pumpedTSI

Another fun day with the torque monster.......I treat my car REALLY well with proactive maint to the max however I do feel the need to jump on her sometimes...well just because. Anyways, coming home this afternoon on the highway I jumped on her pretty hard....massive acceleration and then bang.....all sorts of dash disco lights. Pulled over and the bottom tensioner pulley just smoked itself and took out all the belts......accessory belt is shredded and the SC belt has a chunk out of it. The tensioner pulley was a plastic one (only one on the car) and just melted/twisted the center bearing completely. The pulley just looks like a plastic donut with a big melted hole in the middle. Luckily no hoses or any other items were damaged so new belts and two (Im changing the upper one again) new metal tensioner pulleys are on the way. Funny thing is I changed ALL belts and pulleys about a year ago when I got the car so kinda soon for a failure but the metal pulleys "should" be an upgrade of sorts and not fail so catastrophically. Ironically shortly after I got the car I jumped on it and the crank pulley separated without damaging anything so this time its all good = not crank pulley and no damage.
So....not such a good day but overall a good day.....glass half full...

E42AMG???

Sometimes things fail catastrophically without notice. Now you have an excuse to buy upgraded parts.

maw1124

Damn! Any mods on this car or stock? How long have you owned? I'm curious because these cars are known not to break -- like, that's their industry reputation. The 65s are the direct opposite.

maw

pumpedTSI

The car is bone stock. I've had it over a year and went thru EVERYTHING on the car including belts/pulleys/SC bearing/Sc oil/ABC/coils/plugs/sensors/hoses/conductor plate/etc. The car has 137k now.....around 130k when I bought it. Love the car but its a pain sometimes and hard to trust for long trips. Took me almost 4 months to track down an issue with the recirculating TB on the bottom of the SC even with Star....

maw1124

Now I remember your car. Sorry to hear that. These are new OEM pulleys that failed, or same manufacturer non-OEM? There's a HUGE difference that's not visible anywhere but the failure rate (as I learned on my 500E).

Some 20+ year old pulley failed, and the question was whether to replace with OEM, which cost 2x what a non-OEM pulley from the same manufacturer (Lemforder, IIRC) would cost. My guys had been seeing failures in the Lemforder pulleys in other MB cars, but didn't know if the same would occur in the 500E -- it being such a rare, overbuilt and overspec model and what not. We tried the Lemforder and it failed within 30 days. We put in the OEM pulley (I paid only the part differential), and it's been fine ever since (over 4 years).

That taught me to ALWAYS use OEM parts in these cars. If you replaced everything with OEM, this would be a real head scratcher. If non-OEM, well it still sucks but at least you can point to a reason. Hopefully no real engine damage was done.

I know some 40+ year MB tech geniuses who will replace German rubber with Japanese when they can, because Germans reportedly don't do rubber or plastic very well. But that's over my pay grade. I stick with OEM, even if I have an Indy shop do the labor.

maw

pumpedTSI

I gotta be honest and say they're "probably" OEM replacement BUT respected maker such as lemforder or meyle...no uro or any other crap.....plastic pulleys for the bigger HP motors probably not a good idea.....went to all metal on my TT E31 (625HP) with zero issues so far....same on my E38 750...all metal....

maw1124

I've been playing with this same idea in my head. When I was going to boost mine, I was going with www.oetuning.com. They would package their tune with ASP pulleys (American made, muscle car build quality, etc.). But MB is legendary for quality and reliability, muscle car Hp builds are not -- at least that's how I came down on it. I don't know if I want a Fix or a Repair Daily, track day car experience with this car, where I'm constantly tinkering, fixing, twiddling, etc. with it, as opposed to driving it and enjoying it the way MB AMG intended it. That's sort of what the E46 M3 is for, to play around with.

Please report back with what you decide here.

maw

Off Topic: Where did you find room for twin turbos in the E31, and what software are you running? Has that been a never ending science project (of the kind I'm avoiding with this car) or do you get an OEM experience with more power? I see -- Dinan. A buddy used to have one of those Dinan 7's, but I can't remember if it was an E32 or E38. It preceded my BMW experience. I will say, from owning BMW and MB performance cars, that what works with BMW doesn't seem to work here. I think the MB OEM stuff is so much more robust from the factory, that only MB parts hold up. That seems not true to the same extent with BMW. I think you can get away with more non-OEM bolt ons with them.

pumpedTSI

Maw,
​​​​​​​I don't want to modify it but I DO want to be able to drive 2000 miles at any given time.....I hate all the nitpicking **** especially since I've gone thru everything.....reliable daily is what I want....but no more plastic pulleys, OEM or otherwise....

maw1124

All good. One of the reasons my guys keep me in OEM stuff is exactly because I insist on driving the car all around the country with my family in it. It's not a daily, but I don't hesitate to jump on the road for 18 hours in it, and I expect it to be fine. That said, if you find better pulleys, please let us know. I'm also interested in what other people think, which is the point of this board.

Cheers,

maw

E42AMG???

http://ultimatepd.com/mercedes-m113-...idler-set.html

ive had these bookmarked I think there is a set for every pulley except the abc pump.

cmpcpro

I've heard bad things about aftermarket pulleys too.. are these better than stock.. really? The thought of them grenadeing is worry some.

pumpedTSI

Annnnddd shes back.........all together with metal pulleys and new belts. Fluids checked and all associated fault codes cleared with DAS. There is STILL one small idler pulley at the top that I didnt see and its plastic.....I did change it last year but Ill order another and do it again.....cant seem to find it in metal form.....yet. All in all it took me less than an hour, blue loctite on the pulley center bolts, new belts and everythings good. I think Ill go easy on the boost though until I get that small plastic pulley changed again....

sakodik

My supercharger coupling failed within 4k miles, 6 months. Too much torque or bad part? I am not stock.

Glad to hear you changed to metal pulleys. UPD has a lot of metal replacement parts over the factory stuff. Good peace of mind. Pick up a belt wrap pulley too!

auburn2

The crank pulley failure was probably caused by the earlier idler failure.

pumpedTSI

Idler failure had no relationship to crank pulley....with the cars getting up in age its a more common occurrence....usually due to heat cycles/age/etc and the twisting torque when the supercharger grabs.....the rubber damper portion just seperates and the pulley becomes 2 pieces instead of one.....above 100k I would consider it a must do maintenance item...

cmpcpro

Do you have a brand new crank pulley on your 55? Is it OEM? My car is at the dealer getting a new one on and today it was done but it wobbled so they ordered another brand new pulley/bolt and now a new key for the keyway.. I'm just curious if yours wobbles at all or if it's straight as an arrow..

pumpedTSI

Yes,
mine is oem ($500) and I installed a new front crank seal and key. Not a difficult install and yes it does track pretty true with no wobble...I wouldnt call it true as an arrow but there is no wobble. Hopefully the crank nose isnt damaged or the keyway damaged.....this may allow the pulley to move ever so slightly hence the "wobble" you see.....just my 02.

cmpcpro

Thanks for the info! Well the dealer did the install and now is redoing it with another new pulley so if they damaged the crank they have to fix it.. I heard replacing the key is hell, requiring the timing cover, chain, oil pump chain etc to be removed. How would the crank get damaged? Wouldn't that only happen if the pulley let loose and spun on it? Thanks

pumpedTSI

Correct.....the pulley coming apart originally would not damage the crank nose......incorrect install of the new pulley with a loose/damaged key would allow pulley to move and jack up the crank nose...

pumpedTSI

Also.....key replacement is no big deal....usually the old key stays in place and you reinstall the pulley....no timing covers or any crazy parts removal is necessary.....removal and install of a new key is no big deal...

cmpcpro

Thanks for the info! I wonder why the guy on the E55 board said the whole front of the motor had to come apart to swap the key...

cmpcpro

Luckily I spotted it before taking the car so it's only idled and moved around the facility a bit.. plus it's not a huge wobble so I think it should hopefully be okay until it's redone tomorrow.

cmpcpro

Hey pumped.. the second pulley/bolt is on and it still wobbles if we do replace the key how were you able to do it without ripping the whole front of the motor off? Thanks!

pumpedTSI

Bro, with the rad fans removed and all belts pulleys removed and front main seal out I could reach my key in the keyway...now mine wasn't damaged so I dressed it with a file and reinstalled it....carefully. As I also said there is a very slight movement (wouldn't call it a wobble) with belts on and running but its negligible but not 100% running true as an arrow.....this may be because of the rubber dampener effect since the pulley is really 2 pieces not one....with keyway and new bolt torqued properly with loctite you should be fine....you may be over thinking it....