Found a great looking 300CD, one problem.
 

The transmission will not go into gear..

I just got back from the guys house after many unsuccessful starting attempts, locating all the cancer and all the other small problems it has. The battery was toast so I won't have another chance to try starting it until Saturday.

What kind of "small" problems would there be for the transmission to not engage. The seller says it just does not engage, any gear, any RPM. The linkage was loose as could be but still had an audible click into the gears. By the way it's an automatic (sorry im mildly exited).

When I go to see the baby blue beauty on Saturday I'll bring you guys some pictures, in exchange for help ;) By the way, this is a 1983 300CD, 190,000 miles, bundt cake wheels, oil covered valve cover, beautiful compared to my 240D.

Thanks in advance guys!

-Nick

I'm assuming you checked the fluid level?

Linkage under the shifter knob itself is a good place to start looking.

Is it currently behaving as if in park or neutral?

First thing low fluid in trans. Uses DEXTRON like any GM car. 2nd thing the shift linkage under the car has missing bushings. 3rd thing completely blocked trans filter. 4th thing internally failed transmission

No action in any gear probably means very low on fluid or no internal hydralic pressure. Make sure the driveshaft is not turning in gear though with a failed rear axel or rear end.

It has happened before when the owner thought the transmission was out. You should almost count on having to change the transmission out if there is enough fluid in there to be safe in the deal. It should lower the price of the coupe enough to easily compensate for it if you change it out yourself.

If this is not a negotiating tool I would not know what one was. He obviously does not want to deal with the issue. Best of luck...

I don't know yet, I didn't want to check the fluid level because it was raining and I couldn't start the engine to check it the right way. We tried rolling it and the park pawl never caught, we rolled it like 3 feet which is plenty for my 240D to grab. Finders crossed for a linkage problem, but at the same time the linkage is so loose I don't know if it is going all the way into park.

Thanks Barry, he is actually asking a really low price for it. Hopefully all is well and the thing is just desperate for fluid. He told my dad, who just told me, that the sellers stepson was driving it at the time. He went to the post office, shut the car off, came back out and nothing worked.

I did find an empty can of trans-x stop leak in the trunk...


I'll check to see if the driveshaft is moving, replacing an axle sounds a lot more appealing to me. I just need to get the poor old girl to start.

I'm going to get on the fence here, and say this has been a problem for a while. Perhaps it's been leaking for a while, and now is either low on fluid, or it has been getting lower and lower, and now the clutches are toast. Good luck getting it started. ;)

Thanks man! Turns out today was a really good day for me, somehow I have luck for once..

We got her cranking after swapping Betsy's battery in, and then realized it's going to need a good fuel sender cleaning because it was flat out of fuel.. we're going to go back with a jerry-can sometime this week and get it to actually start.

UPDATE:

Me and my dad went out to look over the rest of the 300CD and try to get it started, we're night owl's so we only had about 3 hours of daylight between tonight and Thursday night.


The bad:
I noticed the air cleaner was loose thursday night. Didn't think too much of it. Went to pull the air filter and have a look and the whole entire air cleaner was loose, it wasn't even sealed to the turbo compressor :eek: Took the air cleaner assembly off and found that the rubber standoffs were all broken or melted from oil seepange. The air cleaner had chaffed a mark into the top of the intake manifold which tells me that this has been like this for a while. Im really concerned that the engine has been breathing dirty air for however long it was, so im prepared to do a top end rebuild when the day comes if I buy it. Can't wait to get it started to see how it runs, I really don't like that air cleaner being like that at all. Another thing was the oil return line (I think that's what it is) that goes from the oil separator in the air cleaner to wherever it goes was completely loose, what does it do, where does it go? :confused:


On the plus side, amiss the mud and completely saturated crap we were working in, I dove under the car to check out the transmission. Nothing concerning, no drippyness or signs of major leaks. COVERED in motor oil. I checked the driveshaft for play, nothing. Checked both flex disks and they looked pretty good, just filthy. Transmission cooler lines looked good, seals were good on the radiator and transmission (two places with no motor oil covering them oddly enough). OK so im thinking internal transmission failure is probably what happened :mad: Read on.


Oh and it's got a straight pipe where the front muffler was :cool: Pretty cool that I won't have to do that down the road.


Moved along back where there was about an inch of standing water on the ground.. it was worth the swim. I checked out both axels and gave them a good jiggle at the flexx boots, no play to be concerned about. I gave the drivers side axel a good yank outboard, and it came out about 2 inches :eek: Moved to the passenger side, again pulled out from differential.

Would this tell me that the differential has failed in the worst sort of way? My dad seemed to think so, but I want to hear from you guys.

This brings a bunch of questions. What would cause the differential to die so suddenly? The seller says his stepson went to the post office, shut it off, came back out and presto - no movement. Does that sort of failure indicate that the driveline and ultimately, the transmission, were abused (neutral dropping, burnouts)? And the big-ticket-selling-point question: Would my 240D rear end bolt up and work in the 300CD? (1980 240D [automatic], 1983 300CD [automatic]) I know that the ratios have to be different, im not worried about that because I'll find the right one and install it in the future.


What do you guys think?

If both axles are pulling out of the diff I'd say you probably found the real problem. If you were the stepson and were doing neutral drop burnouts in Dad's Mercedes and blew up the rear end, what would your story be?

"Gee, I dunno, Dad, I just got in and started 'er up and she it wouldn't move?!?"

I think if the price is as good as you say I'd jump on that deal. Tow it home, make a trip to the boneyard and get the right diff and put the right one time the first time and be done with it.

Pass on it.

That's what I was going to do, but it's a beautiful coupe. I was hoping it was something simple and Im thinking it is because the rear end feels about shot.

Exactly my thoughts man, you hit it on the head. Problem is im short on money being 18 years old and all that fun stuff, I saved up 1,500 for a turbodiesel Mercedes to commute to college in. (The 240D absolutely hates it being that it's all hills) I love the body style and the fact that the AC works. The interior is very nice with some charactor here and there, everything electrical works. The guy wants $900 for it, and I need to set aside $300 for the rest of my summer course. My computer shop makes OK money, hopefully parting out Betsy will help out financially. Im too tired to keep ranting :D

I was hoping the 240D's rear would bolt up and work for a couple weeks until I have some time on the weekends to go hunt down one with the right ratio. Wouldn't the 240D's have a ratio better for acceleration and not top-end? I don't need to be going fast I just need to climb 45 miles of hills twice a day :)

You really don't want to have to pull the 240 rear, install it, remove it, install it back in the 240, install another rear...etc You should be able to find a good diff for less than $50, I even got one for free once.

Bargain as though it needs a transmission...offer $300 or so. No way a non-running, driving car should be $900...

I think he's going by the condition other than the engine/transmission. I got smart about it and didn't say anything about how sloppy the rear was. Im going to play it out like the transmission is toast and offer him like $400. I can also use the fact that the engine was compromised with the air cleaner basically bypassed for god knows how long. How much is a top end rebuild and a good used transmission? Worst case scenario that's what it will need.

Im going to just part the 240D out, the rust is unbelievable. I can't take it out in the rain without getting wet feet :o.

For the life of me I can't find the diff ratios for the 300CD and the 240D to compare. I thought I saw them on here once.. :confused: