Cheap Mercedes-Benz SL Clutch Master Cylinder

No — every Mercedes-Benz SL sold in the UK across all generations (R107, R129, R230, R231) has been fitted exclusively with an automatic gearbox, so there is no clutch and therefore no clutch master cylinder on any SL variant. If you are seeing a hydraulic cylinder near the bulkhead, it is almost certainly the brake master cylinder, which is a completely different component. Double-check your vehicle's registration and model — it is possible the part you need belongs to a different Mercedes-Benz model such as the SLK, C-Class, or E-Class, which were offered with manual gearboxes in certain variants.

A factory-spec Mercedes-Benz SL has never been offered with a manual gearbox in any UK-market generation, so no clutch master cylinder was ever produced or catalogued for this model by Mercedes-Benz. If your SL has been privately converted to a manual, any clutch master cylinder fitted would be a non-standard part sourced from a donor vehicle, and you would need to identify exactly which donor vehicle it came from to find a matching replacement. A breaker is unlikely to be able to help you source this through normal SL parts listings — you would need to trace the conversion parts independently.

They are completely different parts: a clutch master cylinder operates the clutch pedal hydraulics and does not exist on the SL, while the brake master cylinder operates the braking system and is fitted to every SL. For the brake master cylinder, fitment does depend on generation and engine code, so if you need one for an R230 (2001–2011) or R231 (2012–2020) for example, give the breaker your exact registration and engine code from the V5 for the best match. Do not assume brake master cylinders cross freely between generations even if they look similar.

Neither the SL350 nor the SL500 has ever been fitted with a manual gearbox or a clutch master cylinder in standard UK specification, so there are no clutch parts to compare between these variants. If you have arrived at this search because a parts website listed a clutch master cylinder against your SL registration, that is likely a cataloguing error on the retailer's side. The part you need is almost certainly something else — check with a Mercedes-Benz specialist or breaker using your full VIN to identify the correct component.

The R230 SL ran from 2001 to 2011 with a facelift in 2006, but this question does not apply in practice because no R230 SL was ever built with a manual gearbox, meaning no clutch master cylinder exists for any year of this generation. If you are trying to source a brake master cylinder for an R230, that is a valid search and the pre-facelift versus post-facelift boundary is relevant — consult a breaker with your engine code and registration to confirm compatibility across that 2006 boundary. For clutch parts specifically, the SL is simply the wrong model to be searching under.