I've Never Had a Car Break Down This Fast

I bought my 190E Friday afternoon and the clutch pedal broke Sunday afternoon just as I was getting off the freeway. I was downshifting from 4th to 3rd and the clutch pedal went down to the floor board and wouldn't come back up.

I got it towed to the mechanic but he won't actually look at it until today.

Has anyone else had a problem with the clutch pedal too?

If this is a sign of things to come, then I'm gonna need to invest in AAA and get to know my local towing company really good. lol.

[ymsin]

Its always a good idea to invest in AAA.

After doing a search I found quite a bit of info about this clutch problem- master & slave cylinders going bad. I'll deffinitely have my mechanic check the 2 cylinders and make sure he bleeds the system to get all the air out. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it's not that bad......

I wish I knew how to work on cars!

[ymsin]

This will be a start of a wonderful relationship with your Benz.

In all of our MBs, we seem to have this ability and knack to know when something is going to malfunction as that particular problem would not be consistant with our usual daily usage. Perhaps the clutch was already giving problems, and maybe you were not sensitive enough to detect that little bit of irregularity.

Never mind. Once that part is changed, you can more or less forget about it for a long long time.

Meanwhile, enjoy your cruise and hope all is well.

I noticed that when I was doing approx. 60 in 4th- on my way up to 5th, I could hear a whining sound, but being who I am, I ignored it.

[ymsin]

you know the nagging in the feet and if you ignore it, the pain comes on the next morning.

The more you drive this German marque, the more you'd understand its nature and characteristics. Overall, keep it well maintained and it drives like new - even if its 5 years from now. That is one classic engineering feat you can't defeat.

[vrsmith]

I likely felt like you did; my new car needed work right away. Actually, both of my Mercedes did. The difference was that I knew a great deal about the 2nd one and nothing about the first. Since owning both, I have realized what ymsin said, you replace a part and forget it. Also, these cars were extremely expensive when new, well beyond my means, and yet, with some work I can have the same quality ride on my budget. This is currently truer with my 300E as it now feels like a new car. My 560SEL still has a steering problem to work out.
Good luck, welcome to the club. Mercedesshop that is. Here you will learn all you need about your car.

The clip that holds the clutch pedal together(?) came off and it *should* be fixed by the end of the day.

[vrsmith]

Lucky you. Looks like you may have a good mechanic; he didn't sting you when you were vulnerable. Is he an independant?
We had a similar piece of good luck. My son's suspected transmission failure is actually a broken shifter cable. I replaced the cable myself some time ago so it may be my fault.

[P.E.Haiges]

Why would you have a car towed just because the clutch release didn't work? You just start it in gear and shift without using the clutch. Its not that difficult, I've done it many times. ~~PEH~~

The car was in nuetral when the clutch stuck, I wasn't able to get it into gear & I was on a busy off ramp with my 2 little kids in the car. I didn't want to risk anything, such as reving the engine up and trying to get it into gear. If I had gotten going, what would I have done at stop lights if I couldn't get out of gear into nuetral to stop, let the engine stall? I'm not as confident with cars as I am with computers and I'm more afraid of hurting my car than anything else.

I got my car back last night & it works great. The repair bill & towing were $100, far less than what I was expecting. I can say that I lucked out.

[ymsin]

"I got my car back last night & it works great. The repair bill & towing were $100, far less than what I was expecting. I can say that I lucked out."

Thats really great value!

Happy motoring.

[P.E.Haiges]

Liz: You have to shift into nuetral before you stop. Then you have to start the engine with car in low gear. Of courde you can't back up easily or parallel park the car but you can keep it rolling on the road to the garage with out the expense of a tow.
Try shifting without using the clutch. You just have to regulate the speed of the engine so the gears match. Practice for next time. ~~~~~~PEH~~~~~~~

[vrsmith]

Of course, driving without a clutch is quite difficult. PEH is right, that practice is necessary, but there is risk involved. Done incorrectly, your synchromesh gears can be ruined or worse, your main gears. It may be best if someone good at the technique can instruct. Without such a person available, it's best to let AAA pick up the car.

[Jim Anderson]

I had the clutch petal break on an old VW bug during the winter. When I stopped the front wheels would hold the car without taking it out of gear. I would just sit there with the back wheels spinning on the ice