I am just about stumped on this one. The clutch on my 1979 617 turbo Benz is slipping. It has a brand new clutch, pressure plate, throw out bearing, and a flywheel that has been turned and balanced neutrally. Everything is fine until i am in 3rd or 4th and am going up a hill. If i gas it to climb the hill, i can feel it slipping and occasionally it jerks a bit.
Thinking the problem was in the slave or clutch master cylinders, i disconnected the slave from the bell housing, and bump started it in third. I then went up a hill and gassed it. It still slipped. The problem is in the bell housing somewhere. I am wondering if i have the wrong throwout bearing installed. If it is incorrect, it could be pressing against the pressure plate thus causing the clutch to slip right? I am just about out of ideas, and would love to hear some input from you guys.

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1979 240D with a 617 turbo diesel.

Your right about the throwout bearing, there are two different ones. The early (iron case tranny) and later (Al case tranny). I think the early style is shorter, and you need that one.


Later Style


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Early style

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1998 Mercedes E300TD

1983 Mercedes 240D Turbo, 131bar injectors, Cosworth intercooler and 63' Ford Falcon radiator, Ardic Parking heater, Headlight wipers, Best 38.6mpg.

1973 Saab 96 Rally Car, 1.8l V4 with all the race bits

Early style is the thicker one.

Is there any free play in the clutch? Free is needed. No free play may be an indication that the wrong TOB is installed.

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1982 300SD " Wotan" ..On the road as of Jan 8, 2007 with Historic Tags

The clutch has very little free play in it. I also pulled the slave cylinder off the bell housing and poked the fork with a screwdriver to see if there was any play between the fork, the throwout bearing, and the pressure plate. It definitely feels engaged, as it does not budge. This does not seem right to me. I am starting to think i bought the older bearing, as i recall it looks like that picture. Anybody know what year the transmissions changed?

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1979 240D with a 617 turbo diesel.

I made the mistake of ordering an Late style clutch kit when I installed my manual swap. My trans was the iron case, and I ordered one for a car with an aluminum case. Had alot of release issues, until I took it all apart and realized what I had done wrong. The later style has a slightly different pressure plate, and Plastic throwout bearing. The Early model has a Metal throwout bearing.

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1982 300DT *4-speed*// proper 617 donor for conversion // W126 big brakes // front wagon swaybar // european lights & bumpers // rear headrests // lumbar support // warning triangle // overdrive water pump pulley & 9 blade fan // Too many more to list Dark blue/ Palomino.

1983 300D euro no longer a 4 speed. . swap/parts carr

shame it all has to back out fork to pressure plate distance is not enough

Sounds like I'm not the only one to use the wrong throw out bearing. That was a few years ago, I pulled the tranny a couple times before I figured it out

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1985 Euro 240D 5 spd 140K
1979 240D 5 spd, 40K on engine rebuild
1994 Dodge/Cummins, 5 spd, 121K
1964 Allice Chalmers D15 tractor
2014 Kubota L3800 tractor
1964 VW bug

"Lifes too short to drive a boring car"

haha yeah, forth time is gonna be the charm! I can get the darn thing out now in about forty minutes. Maybe i will do it with my eyes closed this time

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1979 240D with a 617 turbo diesel.

LOL, ya, I got pretty good at bleeding the hydraulics too, then I figured out that I could just unbolt the slave and wire it up outa the way, doh

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1985 Euro 240D 5 spd 140K
1979 240D 5 spd, 40K on engine rebuild
1994 Dodge/Cummins, 5 spd, 121K
1964 Allice Chalmers D15 tractor
2014 Kubota L3800 tractor
1964 VW bug

"Lifes too short to drive a boring car"

yeah . . . . i got my trans out on the floor in less than an hour last time I pulled it. To put it in, I chained the tow hook on my car, to my fathers backhoe in my driveway lifted it up, slid in the trans now everything is A-OK.

I have it down to a science

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1982 300DT *4-speed*// proper 617 donor for conversion // W126 big brakes // front wagon swaybar // european lights & bumpers // rear headrests // lumbar support // warning triangle // overdrive water pump pulley & 9 blade fan // Too many more to list Dark blue/ Palomino.

1983 300D euro no longer a 4 speed. . swap/parts carr

Update


I have the transmission out of the car now. The throw out bearing is indeed the correct one. I have the old style transmission and the bearing is the thicker one. I see no obvious problems, and am completely stumped. If anyone has any theories or guesses, i woulds love to hear them.

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1979 240D with a 617 turbo diesel.

How long was the car running OK before the slipping started?

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1985 Euro 240D 5 spd 140K
1979 240D 5 spd, 40K on engine rebuild
1994 Dodge/Cummins, 5 spd, 121K
1964 Allice Chalmers D15 tractor
2014 Kubota L3800 tractor
1964 VW bug

"Lifes too short to drive a boring car"

How's the step depth? Is it within specs? If they ground the face and not the step, then it'll slip.

I am assuming the step is where the pressure plate bolts on to the flywheel right? If so, they did indeed machine it. Where can i get specs to check it? How does the step work in the big picture?

The car has slipped since i put the 617 in. prior to that , i drove it with the 616 engine attached with no slippage problems.

Thanks for the input so far everyone, i really appreciate it.

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1979 240D with a 617 turbo diesel.