I tried the trans-X deal.....didn't work yet.... This is what I did.

Warmed up the car and drove it around the block a few times. Jacked the car up and put it on jack stands. Drained the pan by removing the plug on the lower right side of the pan. Dropped the car back down. Backed outside and slowly added half a quart of trans-X, then a half a quart of fluid, put car threw the gears, and repeated til about full. Then took the car for a drive again, and still, not shift into 3rd.

I kinda figured this wouldn't work, atleast not right away. Should I still try to drive the car aorund the block to see if it clears up??? I had a plan B maybe......I have that wagon with the blown motor, instead of trading trannies, about take the valve body out????? Would this work???? I am pretty sure this is what is wrong with mine, I think it has dirt, or something pluging it up. I am a poor college student and would like to tap my resources first w/o spening a lot of money. I was thinking about trying to get the tranny flushed somewhere, but I that might be a lost cause. Like I said before, that stick shift is looking better everyday. I hate to lose such a nice car too, some of you guys saw it for yourself. Thank you much for your helpful input so far!

__________________
-Randy Wakefield

1969 220D 4 speed (parts car)
1976 280C
1976 280S
1981 240D 4 speed (parts car)
1982 300D
1983 300TD (Ivory)
1983 300TD (gold)
1985 300TD (gray)
1987 190D 2.5
1970 280SEL (sold)
1977 240D 4 speed (sold)
1974 280 (rusted to death)
---
1927 Chevy 4 door sedan
1938 Chevy 2 door sedan
1950 Willys Jeepster
1955 Studebaker President 4 door
1977 Ford F250
1979 Glastron 17'
1948 John Deere A
1960 John Deere 2010
1979 Satoh S650G
--
2000 Bichon (Doby)

Personaly at this point if the car is in good shape and worth it I would install a rebuilt trans or have the currant one rebuilt. Then forget about it for the next 200k+ miles.

If the car is a beater or not worth a $1,500 trans then I would go the used route.

Edit: just read your post pick up a used trans for a couple of hundred bucks. Throw in a new trans mount $30, and about half a day to do the swap.

__________________
1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

sounds to me like the governor valve might be sticking. This gives the road speed input to the valve body for up shifts. I have never taken one out on a MB trans but plenty in GM's and Audi. If you can find it and clean with brake clean you might solve your problem for no money. Also there is know harm in driving that car the additive needs time to disolve any varnish that could be hanging up valves in the tranny. Good Luck!

THE wagon is now up in the air, supported by jack stands. I have taken off the trans pan, and noticed how clean the fluid and filter was (before too). There is little if any dirt in the drained fluid, which is a great sign.

After talking to a friend I see at work sometimes, I asked him about my problem (ASE master mechanic) with the benz. He mentioned things like I thought of, like kickdown, bowden cable and so on. BUT, he brought up the fact that the vacuum modulator (sp?) could have failed, and said something like this happen to his old caddy, with the same type of modulator. Now this makes sense to me, and the chances of the valve body of failing seem slim. (he also said that taking that off wasn't too hard either)

Right now I have a greenish looking vac mod on my car, and I can't tell if it has a black cap on it or not. I am aware that there is an updated vac mod and I would like to replace mine if it proves to be bad. I'm gonna take it off and take a look at it. How can I tell if its bad? Doesn't hold vacuum or what???

It seems like I am getting closer to having this car working again. I really hate to replace the tranny because it shifted so well before, not showing signs of being worn out at all. However a stick shift would still be nice!

By the way, I have a good SD (i think) auto tranny my dad bought for another 300D we have, but realized the speedo cable won't work with that tranny, I have no idea if you can swap out tail shafts and rear housings to make it work with a cable.

thanks for the input!


ps, I noticed on the TC that the drain plug is very close to the bottom, should I turn the engine over just enought to line the plug up and drain it??? or leave it alone for another day???? THANKS!

__________________
-Randy Wakefield

1969 220D 4 speed (parts car)
1976 280C
1976 280S
1981 240D 4 speed (parts car)
1982 300D
1983 300TD (Ivory)
1983 300TD (gold)
1985 300TD (gray)
1987 190D 2.5
1970 280SEL (sold)
1977 240D 4 speed (sold)
1974 280 (rusted to death)
---
1927 Chevy 4 door sedan
1938 Chevy 2 door sedan
1950 Willys Jeepster
1955 Studebaker President 4 door
1977 Ford F250
1979 Glastron 17'
1948 John Deere A
1960 John Deere 2010
1979 Satoh S650G
--
2000 Bichon (Doby)

1. change fluid first the filter has a very tiny out let and fluid is a starting place.

2. get vaccum gauge and 3 or 4 foot of hose and a t fitting...

3. get the mighty vac from www.harborfreight.com 19 bucks..

4. put vacum on the hose going to the trans.. (should hold 5 minutes)


5. hook vacuum gauge with hose between the modulator and trans..
take a drive.... as the gears shift the vacum should decreas to zero by
4 th gear...


6. If this is not happening then replace modulator...

7. check kick down cable on top of valve cover... if to tight will cause problems...

8. linkage could need adjusting...

9 fluid to radiator can also cause this... and a hot engine can cook the modulator and cause problems... (heat can be an issue..)

10 replace k1 spring inside trans (most like your problem..)

my trans won't even shift out of 2nd, thats the problem, K1 spring isn't needed.

__________________
-Randy Wakefield

1969 220D 4 speed (parts car)
1976 280C
1976 280S
1981 240D 4 speed (parts car)
1982 300D
1983 300TD (Ivory)
1983 300TD (gold)
1985 300TD (gray)
1987 190D 2.5
1970 280SEL (sold)
1977 240D 4 speed (sold)
1974 280 (rusted to death)
---
1927 Chevy 4 door sedan
1938 Chevy 2 door sedan
1950 Willys Jeepster
1955 Studebaker President 4 door
1977 Ford F250
1979 Glastron 17'
1948 John Deere A
1960 John Deere 2010
1979 Satoh S650G
--
2000 Bichon (Doby)

no answers found yet....... and....what does an updated modulor look like????

__________________
-Randy Wakefield

1969 220D 4 speed (parts car)
1976 280C
1976 280S
1981 240D 4 speed (parts car)
1982 300D
1983 300TD (Ivory)
1983 300TD (gold)
1985 300TD (gray)
1987 190D 2.5
1970 280SEL (sold)
1977 240D 4 speed (sold)
1974 280 (rusted to death)
---
1927 Chevy 4 door sedan
1938 Chevy 2 door sedan
1950 Willys Jeepster
1955 Studebaker President 4 door
1977 Ford F250
1979 Glastron 17'
1948 John Deere A
1960 John Deere 2010
1979 Satoh S650G
--
2000 Bichon (Doby)

You can rent a mity-vac from autozone for free to check the modulator.

Danny

__________________
1984 300SD Turbo Diesel 150,000 miles

OBK member #23

(\__/)
(='.'=) This is Bunny. Copy and paste bunny into your
(")_(") signature to help him gain world domination

As I remember going into 3rd it's trying to apply a clutch pack. You may want to see if you have enough line pressure. As I remember Reverse uses the most pressure so if that works, it's not the pump.



I'm not familiar with "TransX" but if it's like LubeGuard products it should work well. They have some you put in and get the crap out of the internals that could potentially be caked up, like a pour in flush. I use LG products when I build valve bodies and whatnot, I trust their products.

__________________
I'm not a doctor, but I'll have a look.

'85 300SD 245k
'87 300SDL 251k
'90 300SEL 326k

Six others from BMW, GM, and Ford.

Liberty will not descend to a people; a people must raise themselves to liberty.[/IMG]

Thanks, thats what i wanted to know! keep them coming!

__________________
-Randy Wakefield

1969 220D 4 speed (parts car)
1976 280C
1976 280S
1981 240D 4 speed (parts car)
1982 300D
1983 300TD (Ivory)
1983 300TD (gold)
1985 300TD (gray)
1987 190D 2.5
1970 280SEL (sold)
1977 240D 4 speed (sold)
1974 280 (rusted to death)
---
1927 Chevy 4 door sedan
1938 Chevy 2 door sedan
1950 Willys Jeepster
1955 Studebaker President 4 door
1977 Ford F250
1979 Glastron 17'
1948 John Deere A
1960 John Deere 2010
1979 Satoh S650G
--
2000 Bichon (Doby)

my car goes into reverse kinda of slowly, could this show signs of a weak pump?

__________________
-Randy Wakefield

1969 220D 4 speed (parts car)
1976 280C
1976 280S
1981 240D 4 speed (parts car)
1982 300D
1983 300TD (Ivory)
1983 300TD (gold)
1985 300TD (gray)
1987 190D 2.5
1970 280SEL (sold)
1977 240D 4 speed (sold)
1974 280 (rusted to death)
---
1927 Chevy 4 door sedan
1938 Chevy 2 door sedan
1950 Willys Jeepster
1955 Studebaker President 4 door
1977 Ford F250
1979 Glastron 17'
1948 John Deere A
1960 John Deere 2010
1979 Satoh S650G
--
2000 Bichon (Doby)

Not really, mine has a delay... I blame that on the vac controlled shifts. Now if it slips in Rev then I'd blame the pump.

As others have said, 300000 (three hundred thousand! ) miles is a long ways for any trans to last.

Were there any signs up to this point that it was going south? Slipping, neutraling out in gear, etc?

__________________
I'm not a doctor, but I'll have a look.

'85 300SD 245k
'87 300SDL 251k
'90 300SEL 326k

Six others from BMW, GM, and Ford.

Liberty will not descend to a people; a people must raise themselves to liberty.[/IMG]

"slowly added half a quart of trans-X, then a half a quart of fluid, "

Varnish is not all that easy to dissolve out of little holes... particularly if they hole is completely stopped up....if any fluid can go through the hole it really helps the speed of dissolving the varnish...
You have to keep in mind the ' prime mover' when considering symptoms in an auto transmission... if most things are working ok then your pump is probably ok... but for everything to work the passages for the trans fluid must be open to everything...
Auto trans symptoms of most of the mechanical movements in the trans will be the same whether it is that mechanical part or the valve body hole which supplies the fluid power for it to work....
That is why on our typically neglected maintenance ( who does complete fluid and filter changes at 30,000 ro 50,000 all the life of their car ? ) it is important to get the initial strength of the Trans-X up to the recommended rate.... which is twice the rate of the ' stay in there' maintenance amount.
My 81 wagon required two of the quart looking size cans to get to that rate...I suggest you make sure you get to that rate... AND manually run your trans through the gears for an hour at least. Wait in each gear until it feels it shifted and then give it a minute at that position.
This stuff is not a miracle cure... it is just varnish dissolver which has the potential to look like a miracle cure. But you have to think about the problem which it is capable of curing... cleaning out varnish in the valve body holes which control most of the functions in your transmission. Don't be tight on the amount when it has the possibility of saving you huge amounts of money by avoiding future mechanical replacement.
At this point I suggest you DROP the pan and change the filter... see it may tell you plenty... then put two quart looking containers of Trans-X and new fluid in and start the procedure all over... do it in the daytime in a parking lot ... so you can read ... I know this is a boring procedure.... but it has cured a lot of cars that I know of. Be sure you are not over or under filled as that by itself introduces other symptoms...and can froth your fluid...
Getting the level exactly right when warm is a matter of checking and adding small amounts... after the level hits the dip stick very small amounts added move the level a LOT.... easy to get overfilled... if you do then pull that out...

no, it didn't give any signs before it stoped shifting. leather, I'll try that stuff again, but again, it won't shift out of 2nd gear NO MATTER WHAT. So I'm gonna run some tests today and see what happens. More updates on the way.

__________________
-Randy Wakefield

1969 220D 4 speed (parts car)
1976 280C
1976 280S
1981 240D 4 speed (parts car)
1982 300D
1983 300TD (Ivory)
1983 300TD (gold)
1985 300TD (gray)
1987 190D 2.5
1970 280SEL (sold)
1977 240D 4 speed (sold)
1974 280 (rusted to death)
---
1927 Chevy 4 door sedan
1938 Chevy 2 door sedan
1950 Willys Jeepster
1955 Studebaker President 4 door
1977 Ford F250
1979 Glastron 17'
1948 John Deere A
1960 John Deere 2010
1979 Satoh S650G
--
2000 Bichon (Doby)

If the hole in the valve body which sends the fluid to the actuator on the clutch for second gear is plugged.... then it is not going to go into 2 nd gear... until that obstruction is removed. Considering how relatively cheap this attempt is.... it is worth making sure it is not varnish causing your problem... manually changing the gear shift lever is important...