Vintage Cars: Crankshaft pulley replacement, crankshaft pulley, slk 230

Question
Dear Mr. Ron, thank you for volunteering on this site!

I realize your expertise is mostly with cars built before '85, and my question is a bit outside of your category, but out of desperation and with some temerity, I'd like to ask you the following question:   

My daughter has a Mercedes 2002 SLK 230 with about 100K on it.     Recently she had some problem steering it and was told by a mechanic (not at the Mercedes dealer but these people work predominanatly on Mercedes)  the belt was broken…
After they replaced the belt on the console, they called her to tell her  they discovered the crankshaft pulley was also broken.    She was informed  it had to be replaced and that it would cost about $1,000.00 (part:$717 and labor $220).     Does that sound OK to you?!  

Thank you very much in advance!

Sincerely,  

Pablo Durissimo

Answer
Hello Pablo,
first make sure he is not talking about belt tensioners , they are 50$ and less and usually the cause of a belt issue
however I beleive the crankshaft pulley is one large piece on the front of this engine and if so the price on the parts for this job can run from 600 and on up.  the labor sounds reasonable .  If they are kind enough to give you the part number or more info post back
I would do one thing - get the VIN, call a mercedes dealer and make sure there are no recalls on the car for crankshat pulleys.  The 99 -2001 Eclass has a recall on the belt tensioner, ( not the same part or car) but it is always good to ask

good luck