SO I got home and the Engine was making a crazy ratteling sound. I popped the cover off to see the ball bearings all mashed up on the pulley bearing. It looks pretty ugly, I have warranty. Benz is 5 miles away, better to have it towed, does the warranty cover tow too?
Anyone else have any probs, seems it's about to seize the blower and that would be a major fix I bet? Any advice? 2004 E55 80K miles ..have StarMark Warranty to 2011 r 100K miles.

warranty replaced mine at 95k...it looked exactly like that.

Oh wow, I cant drive this thing right..lol I know that is a stupid question but would it just start to spin freely and the blower would power off, better to tow of course.

just remove the S/C belt.

I am at a friends house, how do I do that, She has no tools? Can a benz tech help do it?

Tug on the belt by the area around the tensioner pulley and she should pop right off. Thats the pulley immmediately to the left of the S/C snout. Carefull as the tensioner pulley is well under tension so will snap back to static position.

Ideally you should relieve the tension on the pulley on the integrated nut with a 17mm wrench / socket, but you could get the belt off without doing this - just be carefull of your fingers!

Thanx mate, that will get me to the dealer hopefully

Dealer will put on a new clutch assembly which will have the bearing already installed. I replaced just my bearing as the clutch itself was fine and it works flawless. Inside the bearing on both sides, under the seals, are plastic like bearing holders that keep the bearings spaced equally. If I recall correctly there are 11 bearings on each side. Once that gives the bearing goes in no time. I drove a substantial amount of time with no supercharger belt, just cannot go over 2k rpm is all. Car will not allow you to do it but you can easily drive it to the dealer.

Dealer will replace the s/c clutch assembly. If you are out of warranty it should cost you are 1400 to fix. This is a common problem, not to worry you s/c is fine only the clutch is messed up.

They replaced my SC Clutch assembly and replaced the flange. It was $2200 in parts and another $600 in labor. Under warranty. According to my dealer there were new parts Merc. was using for this repair. It eliminated the SC Chirp. Also, they replaced the tensioner another $500 the combo took away significant belt slippage. My butt dyno could feel the difference immediately.

is the supercharger chirp a sign? mine has been chirping for 20k miles now!

Not sure if it is a sign of complete failure. My dealer said the new part was re-engineered to eliminate the chirp per the bulletin... Whatever changed it eliminated the chirp at acceleration.

thanks ...

damn good thing you guys are still under warranty!!

The chirp noise is generated from the belt slipping, which is caused because the s/c clutch engages right away. The newer design clutch engages gradually which doesnot cause the belt to slip.
So if the car makes a chirping sound, it doesnot mean the clutch is bad, it is because the clutch engages harshly. Same principle as a when you put a racing clutch in a MT car the engagement is rough and right away.

gonna try to pull off the belts now..ill report back

I believe it is fairly common for 55k motors to change the clutch assembly at some point between 80k and 90k miles. By the way, the original warranty does cover towing, but not sure about the Starmark extension.

Good luck and be careful....

It happened to me too, I have find the bearing on ebay and just replaced it. The clutch just work fine now, no more chirp.

Well I pulled all the plastic bits out of the bearing and limped 5 miles to the dealer. It made it fine, I am pimping a Crysler300 now..

Any symptoms before bearings gave out?

It will sound like marbles up front

Well yeah, but for 5 minutes or 2000 miles?

Be more specific, if your asking how long it will last that way, no telling.

If you really want to check it, remove the belt and spin it, move it around with your hand. You will know if it is about to go out. Mine lasted over 5k miles until I could locate replacement bearings, but that does not mean they will all last that long.

Thats really good to hear

Please could you post a link and shed some light/infomation regarding where on ebay the NACHI bearing can be purchased.

I know the part no is 45BG07S5G-2DL and I have spoken to a couple of NACHI distributors, but for some reason they have not returned my numerous calls I have made regarding availibilty/purchasing.

many thanks

It is a very difficult bearing to locate, there is also another brand that works just as well which is what I have on my car , but again, neither is easy to locate and I never saw one on Ebay, someone must have had a spare. I'm holding onto my spares.