Mercedes V6 Balance Shaft Repair

I am going to branch out on this blog to include things I encounter running the service desk. Hopefully you will find the information interesting.

From 2005 up through around 2007 all the Mercedes V6 engines could be effected by the teeth on the balance shaft wearing out. Symptoms can be as mild as a check engine light or as severe as the one here that is very very lucky it did not need an engine.

Here is a video of the car running when it came in.
So, first you evacuate the a/c and remove the engine and transmission.

Once removed, dismount the transmission, strip accessories, and remove the timing cover.

Here is a video I took of another MB balance shaft to demonstrate the failure (I forgot to take a video of this one while we had it apart).

Once that’s done, you put it all back together, and run through two oil changes, and in theory that’s the end of it.

Here is a video of the car running once the repair was done 

Some will cry foul for Mercedes, and maybe that’s warranted, but this is just another example of long term faults showing up as a vehicle ages. Mercedes did originally have a fairly generous extended warranty on this, but at this point probably all effected are outside of warranty. It’s a big job that takes close to 30 hours to perform, but Prolix Auto, aka L&B Auto, has done this repair many times, bring the car to me and my highly skilled staff can save you over 50% over dealer prices!