Clutch Life - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

Graminal95 · #1 08-06-2008, 10:31 AM

Please list how many miles you have on your clutch or how many you had before it needed to be replaced.

I have 135,000, its original and is going strong.

Scott98 · #2 08-06-2008, 11:12 AM

I bought my car with a broken odometer and about 260,000 miles showing. The clutch was slipping. I have no idea if it was original or even how many miles the car actually had on it.

I imagine these clutches last a long, long time. Our cars are so slow there is very little wear.

Scott

vstech · #3 08-06-2008, 11:58 AM

clutch wear is depending on several factors. but driver use (abuse) is the biggest.
the MB clutch surface to load ratio is quite large, that gives a very long time between failure. but a moron who revs before letting out on clutch is going to wear out even the best clutch.

CoyoteStarfish · #4 08-06-2008, 01:43 PM

Also depends on how you drive it.

Having driven many TDI Jettas and Cummins with sticks I've learned one thing:

When taking off from a stop, let the engines rotational speed at an idle do the work. This is one of the biggest differences I've noticed in in driving a diesel powered vehicle. On a gasser, you'll worry that you'll stall the engine if you let out the clutch without applying throttle.

Diesels, due to their high torque output at low RPMs, you can let the clutch out at an idle with no problems and in fact it is encouraged. That same torque just seems to shred clutches.

The TDIs and Cummins I worked with all had premature clutch replacements (under six months) SUPPOSEDLY due to applying throttle before letting the clutch out fully.

Let it out nice and firm, nice conservitive take-offs and your clutch will last a long time.

winmutt · #5 08-06-2008, 02:08 PM

When my old engine had very poor compression and numerous other issues I had to really rev it high to get the car up hills from a stand still. Clutch lasted a year before it started slipping bad. I've had the current one (used friction disk disclaimer) for a few months and so far so good. You should put your car in your sig or CP so we know that its a turbo om616.

Upgrade options so far are not much or very expensive. You can use the friction disk from the Sprinter, but that doesn't help you with applying pressure to the disk. There is a stage2 kit that is like $800.

spamman450 · #6 08-06-2008, 04:57 PM

Mine has lasted 5+ years. unknown miles, but i am guessing i have put around 70-100 thousand on it. I learned to drive stick with it, as did several other people. Funny thing is that last year it started to slip, and i planned on replacing it. after driving it for a week like this it magically fixed itself

. go figure.

yellowbenz · #7 08-06-2008, 06:14 PM

1979 240D with 271450 miles. Original clutch confirmed by records and previous original owner. However, it's days are numbered as my 15 year old will soon be "learning" to drive a stick on this car.

Cervan · #8 08-06-2008, 06:49 PM

I replaced my clutch in my 240d, with an excedy clutch disk alone (didnt get the flywheel turned, didnt get a new pressure plate) What happened was the flywheel was warped, so i got a "wheep" every time i let out on the clutch. exactly one year later, im starting to get chattering and crap from it. i should have done it right the first time.

vstech · #9 08-06-2008, 06:53 PM

I pulled the original clutch from a 93 tercel, it had almost 200K on it, and the disc was still full thickness... however the pressure plate forks had worn through in several places and the imput shaft was severly degraded... you'd think the PO would have noticed the noise from a frozen throwout bearing...

Graminal95 · #10 08-06-2008, 07:49 PM

I found a guy with a NOS disc, pressure plate and throw out bearing all for 150 bucks. I'm thinking it might be a good idea to grab and throw in, but then again I only have 135k on the car.

gtmotor · #11 08-14-2008, 12:47 PM

My new 240D has ~400,000 miles on it (odometer broke, previous owner estimates that). It has the original clutch and it grabs just fine. The transmission is actually smoother then a lot of sports cars I've driven.

pawoSD · #12 08-14-2008, 01:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CoyoteStarfish

Also depends on how you drive it.

Having driven many TDI Jettas and Cummins with sticks I've learned one thing:

When taking off from a stop, let the engines rotational speed at an idle do the work. This is one of the biggest differences I've noticed in in driving a diesel powered vehicle. On a gasser, you'll worry that you'll stall the engine if you let out the clutch without applying throttle.

Diesels, due to their high torque output at low RPMs, you can let the clutch out at an idle with no problems and in fact it is encouraged. That same torque just seems to shred clutches.

The TDIs and Cummins I worked with all had premature clutch replacements (under six months) SUPPOSEDLY due to applying throttle before letting the clutch out fully.

Let it out nice and firm, nice conservitive take-offs and your clutch will last a long time.

I noticed this when I was in Jamaica last week on my Honeymoon.

We rode in Manual Diesel Toyota buses (shuttles) every day to get around between resorts, and they always took off at idle by just letting off the clutch, no throttle at all till they had let off....it didn't even phase the engine, it just moved forward. I'm not sure on the spec's of those toyota diesels, but man did they have torque! Low rev too....probably similar to a semi-engine in design...direct injection etc.....it was fun! I also saw a 200cdi C-class....a couple E320cdi's.....and a couple MB busses and trucks. Overall maybe 25 MB's all week. The whole country drives toyota/nissan/Mitsubishi/Renault/Citroen/Opel....almost no American cars....just a pickup here and there and thats it.

#13 08-14-2008, 07:05 PM

Almost 3 years and 25k miles on my clutch with over 2.5x the torque of a 616 in front of it and no problems at all.

The old clutch had 196k miles on it and still looked great, I just wanted a new one in place while I had it out during the engine swap.

Stevo · #14 08-14-2008, 07:41 PM

Something like 45K on the clutch, PP, throw out bearing, and rebuilt engine.

Graminal95 · #15 08-14-2008, 08:42 PM

Well I picked up the new disc pressure plate and release bearing and installed them with a new pilot shaft bearing. The old disc had tons of meat left on it, in fact it was only 1.5mm skinnier then the new disc. I did notice that the wavy spring between the friction material was coming apart, so a good thing that I changed it.

The bad news is that the release bearing was the wrong one and will not allow full engagement of the clutch, so the tranny has to come out again.