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New Owner: Pulley Mechanism Loose? Diagnostic Help?
Hello everyone,
I just became a proud new-owner of a 2005 E55 sedan. Car has about 50k miles, and the PPI done at the stealership stated no major issues other than some basics (worn brakes, tires, etc.). I drove it from Ohio to Florida with no issues and am in love with the car so far. My first AMG, (hopefully first of many).
Upon a closer inspection under the hood, I noticed a mechanism near the belts (I apologize I am not mechanically sound, and wouldn't perform any of my own maintenance) shaking/vibrating (See Video Attached). The video shows the "pulley" mechanism along with 2 other pulley's that seem to very slightly shake.
Can any of you veteran W211 E55 owner's diagnose what the issue I am having is and your thoughts?
Thank you very much in advance for your help in pointing me the right direction,
I just became a proud new-owner of a 2005 E55 sedan. Car has about 50k miles, and the PPI done at the stealership stated no major issues other than some basics (worn brakes, tires, etc.). I drove it from Ohio to Florida with no issues and am in love with the car so far. My first AMG, (hopefully first of many).
Upon a closer inspection under the hood, I noticed a mechanism near the belts (I apologize I am not mechanically sound, and wouldn't perform any of my own maintenance) shaking/vibrating (See Video Attached). The video shows the "pulley" mechanism along with 2 other pulley's that seem to very slightly shake.
Can any of you veteran W211 E55 owner's diagnose what the issue I am having is and your thoughts?
Thank you very much in advance for your help in pointing me the right direction,
Eric
Congrats on the car! I cannot believe you found one with such low mileage. By now, most are 150K, not 50k. I can only imagine what you must have paid for the car.
That is the Supercharger belt tensioner and pulley assembly. It could be that the bearing in the pulley is worn out. Unfortunately, you cannot easily change the bearing in that assembly. It is possible, but not for the average owner.
Normally, I wouldn't expect that assembly to wear out with such low mileage. It is possible to find an aftermarket pulley to replace just that if the tensioner is still good. If not, you need the entire assembly. The "double pulley" assembly can be rebuilt (the metal pulley) and the plastic pulley replaced. Purchasing the assembly from Mercedes is quite expensive. I am happy to help with part numbers and such if you are going to work on this yourself. If not, a good indy shop should be able to do the work.
Swap out the tensioner + pulley and the belt. If you can, source the Gates RPM or stick with OE AMG.
My advice would be to swap out all the pullies. The plastic ones are known to break (serpentine belt tensioner, top idler pulley, double idler pulley). The one one the left in the video is a known culprit, various companies offer a billet version (like VRP or Fabspeed etc) which solves that issue. Also the crank pulley/harmonic balancer will separate over time, as its held together with vulcanized rubber.
Company Trucktec has the serpentine belt tensioner with steel pulley:
For the supercharger tensioner, I bought a Febi Bilstein
Last edited by nd-photo.nl; Jul 31, 2023 at 09:17 AM.
Swap out the tensioner + pulley and the belt. If you can, source the Gates RPM or stick with OE AMG.
My advice would be to swap out all the pullies. The plastic ones are known to break (serpentine belt tensioner, top idler pulley, double idler pulley). The one one the left in the video is a known culprit, various companies offer a billet version (like VRP or Fabspeed etc) which solves that issue. Also the crank pulley/harmonic balancer will separate over time, as its held together with vulcanized rubber.
Company Trucktec has the serpentine belt tensioner with steel pulley:
For the supercharger tensioner, I bought a Febi Bilstein
As for the harmonic damper; his car is very low miles (yes, it is still 18 years old). I would not immediately jump to replacing it without a thorough inspection. It is quite expensive a part and the labor to install it is also expensive. When I first bought my car (130k miles) I had it at the dealership for a recall. They claimed I needed to replace mine. I ended up ordering the part and installing it myself. In the end, the one on the car was fine. It was an expensive lesson.
I would add I recommend replacing the accessory belt tensioner assembly or at least the pulley. I had the bearing seize up in mine and melt the plastic pulley. It left me stranded on the side of the road.
True that, I paid about 750 euros for the part & labor to get it replaced. In the end mine was also fine, but I didnt trust mine
@MJBelcher500 the Trucktec part is the serpentine belt tensioner. For the supercharger belt tensioner, I also used Febi Bilstein. Ah I didnt know Trucktec wasnt readily available in the US, thx!
Normally, I wouldn't expect that assembly to wear out with such low mileage...
My current 06 with 52K miles had them replaced around 49K. Going out around this mileage seems normal, I had to do the same on my previous 06 around 57K miles.
My current 06 with 52K miles had them replaced around 49K. Going out around this mileage seems normal, I had to do the same on my previous 06 around 57K miles.
My car at 150K+ still has the original tensioner on the supercharger. I just recently replaced the pulley. The accessory tensioner pulley failed as well, but I replaced the assembly as it was not that expensive.
My car at 150K+ still has the original tensioner on the supercharger. I just recently replaced the pulley. The accessory tensioner pulley failed as well, but I replaced the assembly as it was not that expensive.
For this car, I went with the UDP 5-piece pulley kit and replaced everything in there. Best thing I've done in my opinion to freshen everything up.
Thank you all very much for the advice. Just to be clear, the metal mechanism highlighted in blue below that was vibrating heavily in the video is supposed to have no movement, correct? The pulleys highlghted in orange below seem to be the other culprits and look slightly loose almost (particularly in the video).
I have had great customer service and a trustworthy advisor at Mercedes-Benz Coral Gables in the past, would the dealership using oem parts to replace/repair whatever is wrong be safe going forward? I doubt they would install aftermarket parts, but I would hate to have some catastrophic failure a year down the road.
What exactly is the name of the metal piece circled in blue below, and the orange pulleys? I would like to inform my service advisor using the correct terms just to be clear about what I'm talking about.
I'm excited to be part of a group which seems quite a bit more mature than past BMW and Audi Forums I have been on. The E55 family seems to be a great group of people and I'm grateful to get to be a part of it with this amazing car. I searched for about three months until finding one with under 60k miles in stock condition and good shape. The prior owner kept her as a garage queen, however, I believe he probably beat on her when he did drive the car. (He is selling to get a trackhawk, and drove quite aggresively while showing me the vehicle). Regardless, with the clean PPI and overall condition, I felt comfortable pulling the trigger. Are there any other preventative maintenance you all recommend I have get done?
Thank you MJBelcher500. I love the metallic grey color of your E55, fits the car perfectly. It took a few months of waiting to find one, but I think I got a decent deal from the prior owner. My previous Audi RS4 (which this has replaced) was requiring thousands of dollars every few months just to keep her runnning smoothly. I have read the M113k engines are bulletproof, so hopefully maintenance won't be nearly as bad.
I will likely have my local MB dealership do the work as I've had a good relationship with them in the past. Do you think the specific part numbers would still be helpful to provide my service advisor?
Thank you MJBelcher500. I love the metallic grey color of your E55, fits the car perfectly. It took a few months of waiting to find one, but I think I got a decent deal from the prior owner. My previous Audi RS4 (which this has replaced) was requiring thousands of dollars every few months just to keep her runnning smoothly. I have read the M113k engines are bulletproof, so hopefully maintenance won't be nearly as bad.
I will likely have my local MB dealership do the work as I've had a good relationship with them in the past. Do you think the specific part numbers would still be helpful to provide my service advisor?
Thank you
Thank you. My car is Flint Grey. I didn't love it at first, but I can't imagine not having it now.
If you have the work done by a dealer it is going to be very expensive. My dealer quoted me almost $1,300 (parts and labor) to replace the harmonic balancer 113-030-01-03 (large lower pulley). MSRP is $675. The other assembly is the supercharger belt tensioner 1132000170 (MSRP is $500). My guess is the dealer would charge you $650-$750 parts and labor. There are "aftermarket" parts that are the same as the OEM, just with the MB star removed. Not all aftermarket parts are bad.
Owning an old AMG car can quickly rack up repair costs exceeding the value of the car if you are not careful. I do all my own work and have still managed to spend almost the price of the car on parts and upgrades.
Last edited by MJBelcher500; Aug 2, 2023 at 05:09 PM.
Thank you MJBelcher500. I love the metallic grey color of your E55, fits the car perfectly. It took a few months of waiting to find one, but I think I got a decent deal from the prior owner. My previous Audi RS4 (which this has replaced) was requiring thousands of dollars every few months just to keep her runnning smoothly. I have read the M113k engines are bulletproof, so hopefully maintenance won't be nearly as bad.
I will likely have my local MB dealership do the work as I've had a good relationship with them in the past. Do you think the specific part numbers would still be helpful to provide my service advisor?
Thank you
To update @MJBelcher500 cost estimate, the actual current MB retail cost of the pulleys is $1,590.50 plus an additional $92 for the two belts. Labor cost will be on top of that which wouldn't surprise me the job will be booked up to two of hours - so maybe an additional labor cost of $300-400 for a total of about $2,100. As a perspective, a couple of years ago when I bought my car i updated the pulley's and belts myself with MB OEM parts bought aftermarket and did the entire job for about $100.
To update @MJBelcher500 cost estimate, the actual current MB retail cost of the pulleys is $1,590.50 plus an additional $92 for the two belts. Labor cost will be on top of that which wouldn't surprise me the job will be booked up to two of hours - so maybe an additional labor cost of $300-400 for a total of about $2,100. As a perspective, a couple of years ago when I bought my car i updated the pulley's and belts myself with MB OEM parts bought aftermarket and did the entire job for about $100.
@nd-photo.nl is correct. The retail cost I quoted is for the pulleys but not the damper. I don't consider the damper as a maintenance item like the pulleys.
The bottom orange one is called the vibration damper / harmonic balancer / crank pulley. Please note that at idle/low rpm it has some wobble. I replaced mine because I thought it was abnormal, but the brand new one showed the same wobble after replacement
The bottom orange one is called the vibration damper / harmonic balancer / crank pulley. Please note that at idle/low rpm it has some wobble. I replaced mine because I thought it was abnormal, but the brand new one showed the same wobble after replacement
Thank you!! So I will mention the "Serpentine Tensioner" specifically that needs replacement. Again, not being mechanically inclined, i'd assume they would also want to swap out the serpentine belt and possibly another pulley/pulleys depending upon the condiiton?
Thank you. My car is Flint Grey. I didn't love it at first, but I can't imagine not having it now.
If you have the work done by a dealer it is going to be very expensive. My dealer quoted me almost $1,300 (parts and labor) to replace the harmonic balancer 113-030-01-03 (large lower pulley). MSRP is $675. The other assembly is the supercharger belt tensioner 1132000170 (MSRP is $500). My guess is the dealer would charge you $650-$750 parts and labor. There are "aftermarket" parts that are the same as the OEM, just with the MB star removed. Not all aftermarket parts are bad.
Owning an old AMG car can quickly rack up repair costs exceeding the value of the car if you are not careful. I do all my own work and have still managed to spend almost the price of the car on parts and upgrades.
It seems all of ther newer AMG's, including any other german muscle sedans made after the w211 E55 all do not compare to the level of comfort, relatively reliable engine, and understated good looks in my opinion. I don't mind paying for the upkeep as I don't like the looks and undoubtebly harsher ride of any of the newer E-AMG's after the W211 E55. My RS4 cost over $20k in two years for maintenance, I doubt the E55 will be that crazy (I hope!!).
South Florida is unfortunate in the car industry is flooded with bad-actors and even findign an indy shop i'd be comfortable with is difficult. I will schedule a dealership service and let you all know what they suggest.
Thanks again for the help and now I know what a supercharger belt tensioner and harmonic balancer actually are. 😂
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