My 83 240D clutch "grinds" at idle, sound goes away when I keep foot on clutch pedal.
Previous experience tells me if I do not adjust this soon, I will have a prematurely worn clutch. The vaunted CD which I finally bought doesnt tell me how to adjust! I know there is linkage at the pedal, but which way do I go? No time for trial and error because I am leaving for long trip in 2 days.

I don't understand your symptoms "grinds at idle" except with foot on clutch..... If you don't have your foot on the clutch then you have to have the trans in neutral. IS it grinding in neutral???? This wouldn't be a clutch problem.

The clutch is hydraulic and has no adjustment. Thats the reason for no procedure. The manuals were intended for technicians. They may not have the answer for general automotive theory questions.

If the trans is grinding because of a lack of depression the problem will be solved by proper bleeding, with attention being made to establishing the longest fluid column.

Steve, I know the clutch is self adjusting. Whta puzzles me is that I think the grinding noise is the clutch disk making slight slight contact with the flywheel in neutral, enough for friction abrasion to cause clutch disk wear. The reason I believe it is the past two cars this happened in, the clutch disk wore out very very prematurely. Anyway, I'm heading right outside to make the adjustment, to see if I can allow my pedal to release upwards as much as possible, thereby separating the flywheel and clutch

Could you have a noisy throw out bearing or a loose throw out bearing lever?
If the sound is more of a rattle this might be the trouble.
Harvey

I'm embarrassed. Previous cars were not self adjusting. I heard the noise again. Its just a different harmonic resonance/ noise spectrum from the manual transmission case when the clutch pedal is pressed down. THOROUGHLY EMBARRASSED. I'm sorry.