85 300D wont shift out of 1st. I doubt lending the car to my son had anything to do with it. Car ran well with a bang shift until warmed up prior to this week. I'm gonna start checking the usual trouble areas that I gleened from the diy links, but thought I'd post this now. Any help will save me time dicking around with it of course. Thanks.

The problem is probably the governor in the transmission. It can be removed with out trans removal. Do a search on "transmission governor" and you will find the information you need. I had this problem with my 91 300D and repaired it at the grand total of about $2.00 and change if you don't count the service I did at the same time. In my case, the plastic governor drive gear was broken. It's not a hard thing to do, but does take a little time.
Paul

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84 500 SEL (307,xxx miles)

whshiew! there sure are a lot of posts about governor's in MB trannies... unfortunately, I could find none that relate to the 85 and older MB's ... can a friendly tech point us in the right direction? I have 3 cars with this malady... thanks!

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John HAUL AWAY, OR CRUSHED CARS!!! HELP ME keep the cars out of the crusher! A/C Thread
"as I ride with my a/c on... I have fond memories of sweaty oily saturdays and spewing R12 into the air. THANKS for all you do!

My drivers:
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5-5SPEED!!!

1987 300TD
1987 300TD
1994GMC 2500 6.5Turbo truck... I had to put the ladder somewhere!

The usual trouble area is the kickdown switch under the accelerator pedal. It's a bad environment and the switch can stick closed due to accumulated dirt in this location.

When the switch is closed, the shifts are severely delayed..........you might get it to shift out of first above 4000 rpm..........if you went that high.

Or a stuck bowden cable.

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

i have the same problem with the 85 i got

if i took it to 4500 it would shift but i wont drive it again like that

i looked at the switch on the floor and its not there, ill look harder


havent really checked anything else yet, working on my other 1 first

tho, the seller told me he took it for a drive before we picked it up so who knows, we paid $500 for it and over half the parts are new, i wonder why it was so cheap

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1985 300D - 599,xxxk - blue interior #265 Monark Nozzle, AL129X, 15" Ronals, Gen II Big Brakes hunting
1985 300D - 491,xxxk - in prog-{A-A IC, 3" exhaust, psi\pyro, 28*BTDC, Hella Euros, IP Limiter removal
1985 300TD - 783,xxxk - parts car,used new engine with ALDA cap inplace
1987 Kenworth T-600 8LL 425 CAT Mech. - 6,000,000+k - DEI exhaust wrap, punched through resonators, 1 recent rebuild,

Brian,
It was the switch. Stuck in the closed position. Down. How do I remove it? Can I open the switch up and clean out the dirt and lube the insides?
Mike

It's happened to me as well. Get a can of aerosol lubricant with a long narrow nozzle. Stick the nozzle into the switch and pump it up and down continuously while giving it a few blasts. That should do the trick.

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DJ


84 300D Turbodiesel 190K with 4 speed manual sold in 03/2012

OK,
I got the switch out, by pressing the two "ears" that lock it into the metal collar on the floor. I'm gonna try to drill a small hole in it, flood it with oil and then tomorrow wash it out with brake clean. I know it's only a $15 part, but I like to fix stuff if I don't have to toss it. (later) I'm back. I took the solonoid apart with great difficulty. The two pieces sleeve into one another and there was just too much friction and not enough spring pressure to pop the switch to the open position. No dirt inside, but rather tight tolerances between the two parts. I wonder if these plastic parts might swell as they age making the part stick. I'd recommend that anyone with this similar problem just bit the bullet and pay the $15 bucks for a new switch. (think of how much fun passing will be with that new switch?)