1984 300SD, With low oil level, it was smooth in all gears!
 

Hi,
I have a slow leak in the rubber radiator to trans. hose, I believe it was from pushing snow in Eastern Oregon a couple of weeks ago.

Anyway, my trans. was not shifting well when it was cold this a.m.( It was surging from the lack of oil ) but when it hit 60 Celsius it was smooth as silk, but now that I added 2 quarts of synthetic ATF, the shifting became harsh again!

*************** sells a kit with gauges and a booklet that gives me the ability to trouble shoot and tune my trans.

I find it funny that I add oil and the shifting gets worse!!!

I think I will buy the kit, the harsh shifts are driving me crazy!

Roy at the BUY PARTS link has everything you need to update the transmission, and no huge markups for xerox instructions from the FSM CD...


inspect your fluid. the open line could have ingested water, and contaminated the fluid. also, low fluid gets hot quicker, and increases the damage to your transmission. lower pressures from low fluid level reduces clutch pressures, and will rapidly wear the steels and frictions in a transmission.
I would go ahead and drain the fluid from the TC, the pan, and blow out the cooler, and change the filter and gasket, and fill with fresh fluid. if you get a good clean space to work in, and a good clean drain container, draining it again for the shift kit will not waste the fluid you put in now.

Thank You for your reply,
The fluid looks and smells fine ( I didn't taste it though:D ) as soon as I get a new set of hoses I will change oil and filter and look into your recommendations on tuning up this trans.

Looks like I am going to have to fire up the 350SDL for awhile!!!

Thanks,
Jim

How does one drain fluid from cooler and cooler lines?

do you mean how do you empty the fluid out of the cooler and lines, or how do you use the cooler lines to empty the fluid from the transmission?
to clear out the fluid from the cooler and lines, I'd push some low pressure air through one of them with the other line sitting in a bucket.
some say you can disconnect the pressure line from the cooler, and put it in a bucket and idle the transmission until fluid is out... I'd not want to run the transmission this low myself though...
best is the MB method of removing the drain plugs in the TC and the pan, and doing it right.