Just finished adjusting vacuum on my 82 240d this weekend. Consensus here is that they shouldn't have a bowden to the tranny.

Read the old vacuum thread about adjusting trannys because I will surely get the terms wrong. The biggest thing for me was replacing the orifce coming off the brake booster line. That changed me from shifting at the minimum shift point in all gears, with NO kickdown, and flaring all the time...to NO flaring, kickdown in all but 4th, and near redline shifts.

I need to fine tune still, but look for the switches on the valve cover, then probably adjust your vacuum bleed on the side of your injection pump (my next tuning probably)

Also I have the Butterfly on my intake...except the PO wired it open with baling wire. Not sure if the engine is original :-x, tranny appears to be a rebuild....

My '80 240D doesn't have a bowden cable. Everything is vacuum controlled.

Throttle position is communicated to the transmission with leaks introduced into the vacuum line to the tranny from the little rotary vacuum switch on top of the IP.

Brian, does this sound like Novice needs a modulator adjustment? That worked wonders for my 240D, night and day difference

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Excuuuuuse me.

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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

My 83 240D does not have the bowden cable. Adjusting the vacuum and replacing the shift levers cured our early shift problems.

John

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Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA)
2002 F250 powerstroke with Plantdrive WVO conversion
1983 300SD 190K miles ,sold
2006 E320 CDI

Hangit do you have something on the back of your accelarator pedal that contacs the the passing gear switch? And what does it look like? I feel I must get this part right before I mess with something else.

My pedal goes down far enough to contact the "passing switch", however it doesn't have an effect. I should search more before I say this, but I recall hearing here that it is "electronically actuated" which never made sense to me.

The only signal the tranny gets (best I can tell in the short time I've owned the car) is vacuum only. Perhaps the passing/kickdown switch is a holdover from the 300d's where this did something? Am I missing a function here? How does the kickdown work?

Not sure if there is an extension for contacting the kickdown switch. This afternoon I'll check my CD-ROM FSM for the proper functioning and report back.

John

__________________
Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA)
2002 F250 powerstroke with Plantdrive WVO conversion
1983 300SD 190K miles ,sold
2006 E320 CDI

Nothing in my FSM regarding tranny or kickdown switch. Haynes doesn't address them either.

John

__________________
Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA)
2002 F250 powerstroke with Plantdrive WVO conversion
1983 300SD 190K miles ,sold
2006 E320 CDI

Thanks everyone for checking, I will have to keep looking.

I have a 83 240D, When I adjusted the vacuum that went into the modulator (it sits on the side of the fuel injector pump) it made my shifting crisper, and made the shift from 1st to 2nd occur at a higher RPM, 2nd to 3rd was already good but the adjustment really helped the 3rd to 4th at a higher RPM. I can now get up to 50 mph while staying in 3rd. I just let off the pedal a tad and the car shifts into 4th. If I step back down, not all the way maybe half the way down, it kicks back down into 3rd. Is this what you are looking for. There is a cable that connects to the linkage on the 240D that can be adjusted. I assumed it was the Bowden cable, the only thing that goes to the trans is a vacuum line that runs off the main vaccuum line. I hope this helps..Sam Ross has all of this info on a thread contained right here on this website. I don"t know how to attach it sorry

I could answer more questions, I am very pleased with the adjustments and the performace of my 240 D...It is faster that I ever imagined...of course I changed both fuel filters and the air filter, made sure there was and is no alge/fungus in the tank and run diesel boost every tank. I get 28 mpg...

here is a great website...http://articles.mbz.org/transmission/adjust/

I read everything I could get my hands on...it takes time

this is the thread that will help you more than anything I have read. Read untill the end there is info just for the 240D....there is alot more on the 300D's...alot of that info is still applicable...let me know how it goes...

I just did an engine swap on an '83 240D auto. Neither car had a bowden cable for shift point adjustment. I wish they did because this car is shifting way too late. I'll take a look at the vacuum lines tomorrow and see if there is anything out of place or missing. I can switch out the entire assembly on top of the valve cover with donor parts easily enough. If nothing changes at least I know I can look elsewhere!