clutch won't disengage

[jlivingston]

Folks,

My 68 W113's clutch won't disengage. It has new (about a year or so ago) clutch master and slave cylinders and (I'm pretty sure) a new hose connecting the two. The clutch pedal feel is very positive and smooth, not at all sticky as it was before the replacements. However, I can't get the clutch to release. I got under the car and watched the slave's rod move as intended as my daughter worked the clutch. The clutch is probably original (with about 63K miles). The whole car got swamped in a deluge not long before this started being a problem. I was driving it in a sudden downpour and the streets flooded so badly the car actually started to float briefly, so certainly water could've gotten where it shouldn't. Can the clutch components themselves fuse together in a way that would make it impossible to disengage them?

Hmm. I may have just answered my own question. I checked the service manual and on page 27-7/1 it says to "push against end throwout fork...if the fork end can be removed in the direction of the slave cylinder only slightly or not at all, the driven plate must be replaced." I can't really get the thing to budge by hand, although as I said, it seems to move fine with the clutch pedal. If folks feel I need a new clutch, any preferences for a source? I've been getting most of my parts from Miller's.

thanks.

John

Manual 280SL #142
white - owned since 1981

[jlivingston]

More on this problem: I went out just now to try pushing the car into the garage to prepare for the clutch replacement. It seemed to go into gear easily, so I cranked and and sure enough, the clutch worked fine. (I thought that perhaps my putting it in 3rd yesterday and hitting the starter briefly had broken something loose). I drove it around the block, but when I went to put it back in first to pull it into the drive, the clutch had stopped working again (would not disengage when you depress the pedal - the pedal still feels normal). I tried it several more times and got it to work. any thoughts on which part of the clutch mechanism is only working intermittently? It shifted fine in all four gears during the brief trip.

Manual 280SL #142
white - owned since 1981

[BHap]

sometimes it is difficult to get all of the air out of the line after you install a new clutch master / slave...  before i pulled anything apart i would try bleeding the clutch slave cylinder again - if you remove it from the clutch housing and "pump" it by hand you may get the last little bit of air out....

Bob Happe
Pittsburgh, Pa
1970 280SL, white/black 4 speed

[230slhouston]

Although you have a new clutch master/slave cylinder installed seems like you have air in the system. Pump the clutch a couple of times and see if it engages/disengages first gear. I had the problem once (a diffent model Benz).

MBP