1981 240D four speed, like title says it has a shudder when you take off in 1st gear. The car has had this since we purchased it 25,000 miles or over 3 years ago. The prior owner died, all I have is a work order that states it was due for a clutch 25,000 miles ago and it was clutch chatter. A reasonable claim, but here we are having taught two teenagers how to drive stick and the clutch still works with no slip, just the chatter.

The chatter has developed into more of a shudder. Now you can feel it when you start, back up and shift from 1st to 2nd. It’s time to have this repaired, I just don’t believe it’s the clutch at this point. It feels like axle tramp (like doing a burn out with IRS and lots of power), but this car doesn’t have enough power to suffer from that.

This car is just too nice to put up with it driving like this and it’s getting bad. I didn’t want fix the chatter at first since it seemed like a clutch and I had two girls to teach how to drive stick. Well, now it’s time.

I’m thinking i will take the car to Mercedes by Maurice in Costa Mesa, Ca in a couple of weeks since that is our local W123 guru, I just hate going to a new mechanic blind. They have a good reputation, but some education would be appreciated.

Any thoughts or experience with this?

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1981 240D Four on the floor, Orient Red over Parchment, bought with 154,000 but it's a daily driver and up to 180,000 miles, mostly original paint and all original interior.