Tranny time.
 

Yup, you read it. It's time I give into my 1980 240D's auto tranny, she's begging for some help under there.. :rolleyes:



Lately things are getting a little more annoying, slippy, and well.. slow. Here's whats going on...

Shifts a LOT better cold. The shifts are not hard, and does not flare. Shift points are WAY better, it will actually use the gears before jumping to the next one. Once warm, forget it.

So when it's warm, shifts become a lot looser. 1st jumps into second around.. mmm 2 mph.. and from 2nd to 3rd and 3rd to 4th it lets go of the engine, shifts, then grabs. not really a flare, just a very lazy shift.

Kickdown will only drop 4th to 3rd, and only does that under some serious uphill dogging. Taking off in kickdown mode shows no changes.

Downshifts from 4th to 3rd are rare, she will downshift properly, provided I am going 15 mph before I touch the pedal.

I can't find the "bowden" cable.. anywhere. Did this year just not have one.. the only lines going to the tranny are the vacuum line, the kickdown solenoid wires, and the speedo cable.. that's it. Anyone have a picture of where I might just not be looking?

The vacuum valve on the valve cover is "rigged" with a wire tie where the origional "arm" was, it still works but probably not how it is supposed to. the vacuum controller on the IP makes a buzz in mid-throttle, opens at WOT, and shuts up with no throttle. I checked over my WHOLE vacuum system im pretty confident those would be the two culprits if it comes down to a vacuum problem.

So what do you think? Im pretty new to trannys, I don't mind working on it, I have good knowledge of whats going on in there. Tips, tricks, all that good stuff is welcomed too. Thanks in advance guys.

-Nick

Yes mine has the modulator vavle, i'll try that when I get home I was close to messing with the modulator anyways. Im beginning to think the valve on the IP isn't working properly, and my whole throttle linkage has been messed with by the PO because almost all the linkages and connectors look chewed up from some vise grips.. Im thinking about readjusting the linkages so that the travel on the IP and the valve on the IP lines up WOT and closed. Right now the IP valve isn't going to full closed with no throttle.

I've checked the kickdown solenoid, it reads about 20 ohms and the line gets battery voltage when the solenoid switch is pressed. Im sure that the solenoid works fine, just the tranny won't react to it like it is "stuck" in too low a gear.

Update
 

Messed around with the modulator last night and found that 1 whole turn in was too much and made shifting too hard and points far apart. Turned it back out a half turn and it feels like a whole different machine! This car actually has some a$$ off the line now! I was very impressed.

So after reading a lot of posts on here, I now feel bad for you guys that have a modulator AND a bowden cable to mess with.. but at the same time reading posts about the combo threw me off enough to not mess with my tranny, so you guys did get me back :cool:.