My 1985 300TD wagon, besides normal sluggishness, almost refuses to downshift on it's own. It seems that sometimes, even from a stop, it never goes down to 1st gear. I can shift it manually, and get it where it needs to go, but even pressing the pedal to the floor seldom will get it to downshift. 308K on the odometer, and it runs great except for this issue. Any thoughts?

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"If we can't have fun while we're here, we might as well go to the house".

1978 300CD
1985 300TD
1999 Land Rover Discovery II
rover1@sbcglobal.net

Have you changed tranny fluid and filter? Adjusted linkage? Vacuum modulator checked? Sluggish problem, have you adjusted valves? checked timing? adla checked? Hope this helps.

could be a problem with the kickdown switch or soleniod or the bowden cable

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'85 300D Cal 280,000 miles
'14 GLK 350 60000 miles

I had the EXACT same problem w/ my '82 TD...My money is on the kickdown switch under the pedal pad..The bowden cable tends to affect HOW the gears shift (i.e., hard or soft) in my experience. Took me a year to get the shifting soft w/ trial and error. The new kickdown switch would not engage due to the pad position. Check that first and r/r.
Lemme know?

The bowden cable changes the RPM at which the trans will shift. Which indirectly changes whether it shifts smoothly or hard.

Try unplugging the kick down switch under the go pedal and see if anything changes.

I would alsio make sure you have the proper amount of fluid in the transmission. Low fluid can cause may issues, but typically it's soft shifting problems. Also when is the last time the fluid and trans filter were changed? You might think about that as well.

Sluggishness can be caused by several things. If the bowden cable is adjusted so that the transmission shifts to soon it will cause the car to be sluggish. Clogged fuel filters will cause sluggishness. Also dirty banjo bolts on the exhaust manifold will cause sluggishness. Vacuum issues will not cause sluggishness or failure to down shift. The vac system controls how hard or how soft the transmission will shift.

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