Kickdown Linkage on '84 300D Turbo
 

In my ongoing evaluation process with the recently acquired eBay special I spent part of yesterday checking the transmission functions (vacuum & linkage). Beyond a couple of vacuum leaks and incorrect connections, I found that the pivoting plate that the kickdown cable attaches to was on the wrong side of the fixed stop bar. That is, when you operate the throttle by hand nothing was available to pull the cable . . . I moved it to the other side of the bar, adjusted the threaded length of the cable to a neutral position, took it out for a drive . . . passing gear certainly works not. :D

On the 617, the kickdown cable should be just all the way into the housing under very light tension with the "throttle" closed. It should then pull all the way out without pulling the spring much at full "throttle".

"passing gear" (that is full throttle kickdown) is provided by an electrical switch under the pedal inside the car. IF this is not working, you won't get full throttle downshift, period. It won't upshift short of redline if it's stuck, either.

Peter

Thanks Peter.
In this case, the cable tension was out of adjustment because the pivot plate it connects to (for movement with the throttle) was on the wrong side of the bent tab that acts as a stop. I could manually move the throttle through the range and the cable had no way to move. By re-attaching it to the correct side of the stop tab it works properly, i.e. extends as the throttle is moved toward wide open and closes back as you allow the throttle to close.

Not knowing if someone would ever run into this same situation, I decided it might be helpful to post it. As I stated, I am still chasing some other gremlins on this one . . .

Thanks again.