I failed to mention in my last post that based solely on what the expert mechanics at Chrysler and MB told me,I actually replaced the SC on my car with one I got off eBay for $1000. To my shock and horror, when I started the car, the noise was still there. At first, I was also convinced the noise was coing from the SC and not the pulley. WRONG. As a quick and simple test, (WARNING: This is NOT recommended because of safety reasons), a friend of mine held the back side of the SC clutch, engine off, which stops the SC from turning. You then start the car (idle only) and pop on the AC... the noise happens. If noise is there with the SC not spinning at all, this test can isolate and prove the problem is the pulley. This came after spending $1200 to that point chasing the problem. Beats the $6ooo the dealer wanted.
The pulley has three metal straps that act as springs to pull back the clutch face plate when the clutch is not engaged. Over time, the rivet holes elongate enough to create a bit of sloop in the pulley. See my video that compares a GOOD pulley with a BAD pulley (again, both pulleys in the video are standard pulleys, and not CODE-3).
Hope this helps anyone who may be faced with ugly SC/pulley noise and experts wanting you to spend BIG BUCKS to fix the problem.
Karl
