My wifes '83 240D clutch won't release. I replaced the master and slave cylinders, bled them with a pressure bleeder, and feel that the clutch is depressing the way it previously has. Before this happened the clutch would have to be depressed all the way to the floor in order to shift the transmission.
My wife had cancer and recently died. The last time she drove it, it would not go into 3rd or 4th gear so she drove home in 2nd. The car sat for about a year after that.
When I recently tried to move it from the garage to the shop, the clutch would not release. Thinking the disc might be stuck, I tried jerking the car with the starter without success.
I haven't been able to find anything about clutches other than maintainence and inspection on the MB CD.

I've owned and worked on Mercedes for 30 years and can usually figure out what's wrong, but this one has me stumped. All help will be sincerely appreciated.
Gerry Archer
'83 240D & 300D

i am very sorry for your loss.

usually on a clutch if the problem is wear, the clutch will have no free play at the top of its travel. this situation, is, i think, symptomatic of a hydraulic problem. a bubble in the clutch hydraulic would cause this, i think.

another possibility is a pressure plate failure. if the pressure plate had a finger break off it (which they will eventually do from wear) would drag the disc and engagement would be a problem but you would get probably some clutch action. it is possible that you have multiple fingers broken on the pressure plate but it seems a little unlikely. do you know how many miles the clutch has on it? and are the miles mostly urban?

the 240s clutches are very long lived if not slipped. i have had several with 250k on them that still worked fine.

the clutch hydraulics are extremely difficult to bleed, so i would tend to suspect that first.

good luck.

tom w

__________________
[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.

Hi Tom,
Thanks for your reply. I tried the simplest solutions first and was quite lucky. I pushed the car out of the garage, let it idle for 30 minutes and then jerked the car with the starter in first gear a number of times. There was a loud crack and the clutch has worked great since then. The pressure plate was stuck to the disc tighter than I've ever seen one stuck in 60 years of working on cars.
Sincerely,
Gerry Archer
'83 240D & 300D

sticks the clutch at least once a year. it sits most of the time and is used for pushing snow only.

i have never had a benz stick one before.

great that it fixed it for you. now you can drive that great old benz in honor of your wife,

tom w

__________________
[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.