Howdy, I just finished up the conversion of my 85 turbo to a manual transmission. It seems to drive good with no horrible vibrations however there is a problem with the clutch. It has a new clutch master cylinder and slave. The master cylinder came with 2 different push rods of different lengths.

I tried the shorter rod and could get the car into forward gears, but not into reverse and it required pushing the pedal all the way to the floor. It also made a weird noise like a chirping bearing, only when the clutch pedal was all the way out. I tried adjusting the eccentric bolt, no change. I then tried the longer push rod, this time I could get it into all gears and reverse. It still required pushing the pedal down to the floor to disengage. It also still made the chirping noise when the clutch pedal with all the way out.

I have a machine shop so I decided to make a third rod identical to the others, but a tad longer to see what would happen. I wanted the chirp to go away and the clutch to disengage at around the middle of the pedal travel. It worked. The chirping went away and I could adjust the eccentric to make the clutch disengage where I wanted. There is just one problem now. It leaks around the clutch master cylinder. The rubber boot fills up with fluid and starts to dribble when its driven. not a horrible amount, but I still don't want brake fluid all inside my car.

Any ideas what it could be? I thought maybe because I'm pushing the piston even farther in, maybe it starts leaking? or I broke an o-ring? Or maybe I just got a bad brand new master cylinder?

The car seems to drive perfect with that custom push rod, it just leaks. Am I gonna damage something?

I guess the next step is to just buy another master cylinder and install it. If that one leaks also then I know something is wrong with the setup, I just won't know how to correct it at that point. The only other thing I thought of was the throwout bearing. I know there are two sizes. The new one I put in was the same as the old one I took out though.

Let me know your thoughts. Thanks!

I'd say the mc is bad. I don't know if it will solve all the problems but leaking into the boot is a sure indication it is bad, IMHO.

__________________
[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

I don't think the brake master cylinder has anything to do with the clutch except sharing the same reservoir.

There are two different release bearings. One is "taller" than the other.



When I initially installed my clutch I had the opposite problem that you have. My clutch wouldn't fully disengage as I had installed the taller bearing when my clutch/trans required the "shorter" bearing.

__________________
--------------------------------------------
Old Blue - 83 240D 6 speed manual trans, OM648
Green Machine - 2001 Europa G500
87 300SDL Bought on Peachparts. Low-ish miles..?

Family Truckster - 2012 VW Touareg TDI

Patchouli Wagon - 2004 E500 - SOLD
333k mile 97 BMW 750il V12. - SOLD
The Californian - 85 300TD - SOLD
Daily Super Sedan - 03 Audi S8 -SOLD

Hmm, this was one of the things that I thought could have been a problem. Mine is the longer one too though, so that doesn't seem right. I just don't want to pull the trans again if that isn't the problem.

Any chance you had the part number for the thinner bearing?

Thanks!

You're right. I changed my previous post to reflect this correctitude.

__________________
[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

I've never been able to find the part number for the thinner bearing. The one I have installed in my car came with a clutch kit from SPEC. I have two of the thicker bearings new in the box if you end up needing one. I thought I'd measure one for reference. Wishing I'd done that to the shorter one when I had it on the bench.

__________________
--------------------------------------------
Old Blue - 83 240D 6 speed manual trans, OM648
Green Machine - 2001 Europa G500
87 300SDL Bought on Peachparts. Low-ish miles..?

Family Truckster - 2012 VW Touareg TDI

Patchouli Wagon - 2004 E500 - SOLD
333k mile 97 BMW 750il V12. - SOLD
The Californian - 85 300TD - SOLD
Daily Super Sedan - 03 Audi S8 -SOLD

Well after a while of searching, the only place I could find 2 different release bearings was on ebay. The pics look different and they have different part #s but still say they match a 240d. I am almost positive I have the long version installed on the car right now.

I guess I will order a short one and a new master cylinder and do more work. I can't imagine why I would need to make a custom part to make this work. It's a new sachs clutch with a new sachs pressure plate.

Long Bearing
Sachs Clutch Release Bearing fits 1966-1983 Mercedes-Benz 240D 220 220,220D | eBay

Short Bearing
Sachs Clutch Release Bearing fits 1977-1993 Mercedes-Benz 190E 240D 300E | eBay

I've heard of this issue before (long vs. short rods for the clutch MC). In the other case, the fellow had a long rod but need the short version, so he modified it in steps until it was short enough. Very frustrating for him.

You might try calling the MB Classic Center in CA and talk with their parts folks, maybe they can shed some light on the issue. If you have the VIN of the car that the transmission came from, maybe they call tell you what all the correct clutch parts are.

__________________
Respectfully,
/s/
M. Dillon
'87 124.193 (300TD) "White Whale", ~392k miles, 3.5l IP fitted
'95 124.131 (E300) "Sapphire", 380k miles
'73 Balboa 20 "Sanctification"
Charleston SC

The car came from canada, the trans and everything else came from a guy on craigslist so I don't think I can get the VIN from the trans car. It is an older iron box transmission from a w115 if that helps.