So, I was driving down the road a few days ago, when the steering got stiff and the generator/battery light came on. I thought it was that the belt had failed, as it did about 6 years ago. Turned the heater on high and limped the car the last mile to the house. Temps stayed very near the normal range, so I don't think there is any heat damage. But, when I opened the hood, I found more than a few pieces of the vibration damper scattered about. Seems it had separated from pulley body, which is still in place, and looks so nice an shiny. So, I ordered a new pulley from Needswings (just love that site) along with the tool they sell for keeping the pulley from turning while trying to remove the bolt (what a monster that is. Heavier as the new pulley). I placed the tool and put my socket on the crankshaft pulley bolt, and pulled as hard as I could. Thing would not budge. Just wondering if anyone has any tricks for removing that, learned while swapping out or repairing the crankshaft pulley. Wondering if my impact wrench might do a better job, but it is only rated at 90 foot pounds, and that bolt is supposed to be tightened to 148 foot lbs, and then turned another 90 degrees.

Also picked up a new Relay Control Module from Needswings and have already installed that. I was experiencing some strange issues that seemed to be tied to that, and I'd been hearing some "clicking" coming from the behind the dash on the passenger side. Knowing these units have had problems in the past, figured I'd give that a go, and it was not overly expensive. And, I installed a new intercooler pump which also came from Needswings. Again, hoping to resolve an issue that pop'd up recently. I try to do my own work, but somethings are beyond me. This kind of stuff, though, I should be able to do.

It seems as this car grows older (14 years since I bought it this October) it is showing a bit of wear and tear, but I'm OK with that. I'll keep fixing it so long as parts are available. This car still has me wrapped around it's pinky, and I don't think I'll consider selling it. A couple of years ago, on a wet interstate, while transitioning from I-75 to I-85 while on the way to work, I stepped on the gas a little too hard coming out of that curve (25mph curve), got into a spin (which I recovered from) and found myself heading sideways towards a concrete barrier. Smacked the right rear quarter panel and had to have some body work done. Replaced the entire quarter panel, so there is no bondo on this car. But, as a result, I guess the body shop didn't do the repair quite right, I had some water leakage I didn't know about. This car is not usually in the rain, so it took about a year and half before the locking system air pump failed. That was a lot of fun to fix, but it is fixed. Maybe, one of these days, I'll take it to those boys who where were dropping the 55AMG engines in to replace the 32AMG engine. I feel my car is pretty beastly already, but would really love to feel the power of that V8.

Crankshaft pulley minus vibration dampener and belt flange.