87 300sdl hardshift in 2nd or 3rd gear?
 

The car runs and shifts normally in all other gears except 2nd or 3rd? Sometimes when shifting to 2nd/3rd from first shift, it goes "clunk!" pretty hard. Sometimes not too hard. I don't notice anything when it's downshifting.

I'm certain it's the 2nd or 3rd gear as I can feel a slight shift when the car gets moving. I'm assuming this is the 1st gear? What could be causing this? I have always had it with this problem.

Do you own a Mityvac?

Do you have two vacuum lines coming out of the five way connector above the vacuum pump that head over to the right side of the vehicle? If you do............disconnect these two lines from the five way and plug the two open ports in the five way.

old mb's shift hard.

Not good ones. If maintained properly, they shift smooth as silk at light throttle, and firmly at heavy throttle.

You need to drive a nice one.

He's just baiting you Jeff.

He's got quite a few nice one's...........he put a 617 in a long 116 body.;)

Ah, so "welcome to the middle of the movie"?

Got it.

Hey Brian,

Yes, I have a Mityvac. I have used it to troubleshoot the engine no shutdown issues before. So after I plug those two ports, I test drive and see if it shifts normally? The problem has not bothered me enough to the point that I must have it fixed.

I have been driving the 740IL as I'm currently having some battery issues with the SDL. Hey I am averaging around 23 mpg on the 740. I can even get up to 28 mpg according to the trip computer. If driven hard/normally, the car gets about 18 mpg. I see that you have the same model 740 too.

-allan

See if that resolves it. If not, then the Mityvac must be put to use with further testing.