Hi all,
I have a 91 300D 2.5 Turbo with 73000km on it. I just acquired the car a few months back at 65000km. I am fairly sure the tranny fluid has never been changed and will be changing it soon (along with the filter). I would like to put synthetic in the transmission like I have just done now for the engine. Last night, I put Mobil 1 15W50 in the engine based on what I've read in this great forum, and I am pretty sure I already notice a difference (after driving about 150km) in the idle clatter sound. It seems to be a bit quieter at idle than before (it had Quakerstate 15W40 from the dealer of the PO in it). So, good news with the engine oil.
I've got a couple questions though:
1) The transmission is very happy to upshift and go into as high a gear as it can, and won't downshift until I give a lot of pedal travel. It works fine, and shifts well, but basically I am wondering if I can adjust the shift point slightly so that it upshifts a little bit later. I do notice there is a cable just above the valve cover that curves around and goes to the tranny (and it is adjustable). Will this cable to what I want, or is it even possible to adjust the shift points a bit? Also if this is adjustable, would it change the upper shift point (when flooring the pedal), because I don't want that RPM to go any higher.
Let me rephrase that a bit.. very simply, what I want is for the transmission to downshift without having to push the pedal down so far. If I am going about 80km/h I have to kickdown to make it go into third, and I think that's a bit excessive because the engine is only running at about 2000rpm then, and when I do kick it down it takes off nicely.. is it possible to adjust what I want here?
2) When accelerating fairly lightly (so it will shift from 2 to 3 at about 2300 rpm), it sometimes flares a little bit.. maybe 200 rpm. I always notice when it happens. It does not happen if I am giving less throttle or if I give more throttle, and seems to only happen around one throttle position (and then it doesn't always happen either). Is this anything to worry about right now or should I just leave it for now?
3) Upon changing the oil, it appears that both the front and read main bearing seals leak slightly. For 12000km of driving I had to add approximately 1.5 L of oil. Is this common on this car? I know the rear seal would be a bear to change, so I'm hoping it doesn't get any worse with the Mobil 1 15W50 synthetic oil.
4) What transmission fluid should I use? If I go with synthetic, is the Mobil 1 a good choice again? I've read in here a lot of people using that in their transmissions.
5) The PO always took the car to the MB dealer, but I'm not sure if the 48000km service was ever done (which in the book includes the ATF change, timing chain check, etc...) ... Any other specific recommendations I should check at this point in the car's life?
Thx for your help!