C300Sport

I continue with my love/hate relationship with the C's manual transmission. It has always shifted a bit clunky but now the clutch is starting to feel a little sloppy. I have notice lately if I am easing down the driveway in first and depress the clutch, there is a bit of slapping/rattling around in the trans. I don't know a lot about transmissions, but it sounds similar to cars I have know to have bad throwout bearings. Anyhow, the whole thing just seems to be "losening" up...and not in a good way. I am going to try to take it in next week to have this and a few other things looked at.
Any ideas what is going on?

gc30

Hey when you say "loosening up" do you mean like a clutch shudder?? like the car vibrates a bit?? cause I've noticed that on my C when the engine hasn't warmed up. I had a Subaru before and this was because of a manufacturer problem so I had to replace the whole clutch assembly. I'm still trying to see how bad it gets (only 3600km on my car)

C300Sport

The clutch take up point seems to have moved up a bit in the clutch travel and the takeup doesn't seem quite as smooth. Just to throw it out there, I am not one to ride the clutch, hold it on a hill for any length of time or slip the clutch much and I try to keep everything smooth. Like gc30 says, it is a sort of "shuddering" feeling. This seems to be completely different that the extra clunkiness associated with cold startups.
The slapping around/rattle sound is pretty new and lets me know something is going on.

kaku

i get the erratic shuddering feeling on first gear as well. it's as if the clutch isn't balanced - even though in my case, the clutch has been completely disengaged.

i remember reading awhile back that it might have something to do with the ESP. though, i haven't experimented with that yet (i keep forgetting).

gc30

ESP?? hhmmm.. well for me this happens more when i let go of my clutch faster (not dumping it) but if I let it go ever so slowly it eliminates this issue UNTIL the car warms up, then it will be fine ....

Glyn M Ruck

C300 - Does the transmission rattle more when hot than cold? (fully warmed up) - and in neutral - does it rattle more clutch out rather than clutch in?

If the above is what you experience then it is standard layshaft rattle - nothing to worry about & normal - and can be improved by increasing idle speed slightly. It can also be improved by driving in a manner that does not cause a drop in RPM below idle speed at takeoff - ie almost stall speed.

If not it could be thrust bearing related. The clutch is supposed to be self adjusting.

While Benz manual transmissions have been vastly improved over their earlier efforts they are still a little agricultural compared with some other brands.

C300S 6MT

C300 - if u don't mind me asking, how many miles do u have on yur car? I also have a C300 Sport 6M/T with 7500 miles. Not showing any probs yet...