Hey,

I bought a 95' 300D today for 1300 bucks. The car has 290K on it and the engine seems to be strong. The one thing that worries me a bit is the transmission. It shifts rough from 1st to 2nd. I will be picking the car up tomorrow and plan on flushing the trans fluid to see if that will help. It only happens when you are accelerating very slow.

Do you have any suggestions on flushing the trans? Where is the filter located for the trans and where can I buy one? Also what trans fluid should I buy?

Other than that the car is ok. It has some rust on the front fender and around the sunroof, but I will get that fixed over the weekend.

You got one of the best Mercedes diesels ever made, IMO. (well I'm biased, I own one too. ) I found my transmission modulator was bad, I was getting either some slipping in first gear or very rough shifts, nothing in between. I too went ahead and did the fluid and filter, didn't help, so next step was a new modulator which did the trick. I'm not sure if any of the B2 piston/K1 bands and various bits in the transmission cause these symptoms, but I'm sure someone more familiar with those parts will chime in. It's best to start with the little things as you're doing, nothing bad will come from new fluid and filter, just be sure to do the torque converter drain too.

Just drain the pan, then once the fluid stops pull the bolts off (be careful not to over-tighten them reintalling the pan, I can't remember the exact toqrue numbers, but they're out there on the web), drain the torque converter through that little window you'll notice when under the car--it's a hex bolt, then replace the filter that is located inside the pan. You can get the filters here via the webstore, or even the dealer if you're in a hurry. As far as fluid goes, Dex/Merc III does the job, I use the Chevron dino MD-3 myself, been running it in all my Mercedes for years with no problems.

I'd check the vacuum system for the engine as well as the HVAC system .... hard shifts in W124s many times are caused by vacuum leaks. I had hard shifts in my 300,000 mile '87 300D and found two leaking rubber hoses in the engine and two leaking vacuum pods in the HVAC system ... fixed all four and the transmission shifts super smooth now. Good Luck.

Hard shifts are often attributable to vacuum leaks, as other say. Another symptom of a tired tranny is flaring between shifts. Mine is flaring from 2-3, and a new B2 piston increased the firmness of the shift, but actually did nothing for the flare. Now I just baby the trans by backing off the throttle just prior to shifting. It's living on borrowed time anyway.

Chris W.
'95 E300D, 366K, original trans

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Objects in closer are mirror than they appear.

When I drain the torque converter, do I have to fill it again, or will it fill when I fill it with the new fluid?

I will be picking the car up tonight and will check the vacuum hoses and see what the fluid change will do.

I will give it a good cleaning and do the body work and hopefully get a lot of life out of the car.

I was just wondering if anyone has rebuilt the injectors on this type of motors. I have done it couple of times on the 617 motor, but I could not find any nozzles for these types of injectors. I am not sure if anyone has had any experience with these injectors.

When I did the full fluid change, including the converter, on my 95 I just added about 5qts to the pan and switched it through the gears in the driveway and let it take up the fluid, at that point it was about 1.5qts low so I just added a little at a time until it was to the cold mark on the dipstick (50c maybe, I can't remember), then took it for a drive and added a little more when it was up to temp to arrive at the full hot mark.

I'm not sure about the injectors, I know Monarks are the ones to get on 617's, but this 606 is still fairly new to me as well so I'm curious too.

... I'll give you 1500 for her...
I'd love to find a nice 606 124 for sale sub 3K...
but I'm partial to the wagons at the moment, and I have a few...

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John HAUL AWAY, OR CRUSHED CARS!!! HELP ME keep the cars out of the crusher! A/C Thread
"as I ride with my a/c on... I have fond memories of sweaty oily saturdays and spewing R12 into the air. THANKS for all you do!

My drivers:
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5-5SPEED!!!

1987 300TD
1987 300TD
1994GMC 2500 6.5Turbo truck... I had to put the ladder somewhere!

A 606-powered wagon is my dream machine, even better if it had a good working 4matic! The more I drive my 606 the more I like it, smooth, quiet, decently powerful, and very fuel efficient. I do miss some of the 617 simplicity and bullet-proofness, but it's a fair trade and I feel my car could stretch out from its current 160k to over 400k if I care for it well. If you look, you can find them at that price, I paid just over 3k for mine with 144k miles in tip-top shape, zero rust as I live out of the rust belt, and all service history. It took years for me to find one like that, but they do pop up on occasion.

pics!

I just drove her back to my house. It shifted well tonight, when I test drove her she shifted hard at slow accelerations.

It is dark out now. I will take some tomorrow and post.

So I could not wait until tomorrow to get started on a few things so I started removing the intake manifold to clean them and to check things out a bit. Found a couple things. See photos.

There is rust under the air filter housing. I removed the filter housing and will have to do some welding tomorrow.

The left side motor mount seems to have a loose bolt. It is also skewed. I tried to put a wrench on it and a socket but had no space. I wonder if I should try to lift the motor a bit from underneath and see what happens. I am not sure why the bolt is sitting this way. The motor mounts appear to be fairly new.

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VsTech, I am in love with this car right now. Could not sell it. It does need some love. It is not in the best condition, you will see tomorrow.

The motor mount problem could be due to a bad installation. Which bolt (top or bottom) is the problem?

Hope the rust doesn't turn out to be challenging. At least you can weld. While you're looking for rust, pull the battery and the battery pan and check underneath. I was lucky and neither of my 606-engined cars have any rust.

With proper care, a 606 engine will last pretty much "forever." Clean oil, although not as exciting as other forms of car expense, is the single best thing you can do to help the engine stay healthy. A good dino oil is fine or you can switch to synthetic. See this thread for pictures of what your engine should look like inside.

At 290,000 miles the transmission may be nearing the end of its life, depending on how carefully all of the POs drove the car. Hopefully you won't have an early problem ($$$). The hard 1-2 shifts may very well be a vacuum system problem. You can put a vacuum gauge on the line to the transmission; I don't recall the proper vacuum level but it should be posted here somewhere.

One way to determine how much wear is on the clutch packs and other "wear parts" in the transmission is to drive the car so that everything is at normal operating temperature. Then stop the car, leaving the transmission in Drive, and shift into Reverse. Pay attention to how long it takes for Reverse to engage. A new transmission will make that shift in a second or two at most; a longer delay may mean worn parts inside. There may be other reasons for a slow shift from Drive to Reverse and others can make suggestions -- I'm not an expert.

Yes, the torque converter will be filled with fluid from the pan after you change fluid and filter -- and pan gasket too, please. Add about 4 quarts of fresh fluid, then idle the engine and shift the transmission through all of the gears and back to Park. Then shut off the engine and add 1-2 more quarts. Now idle the engine and check the dipstick. Add a pint or so at a time until you get the fluid up to the minimum mark, then go for a drive and warm up the fluid. Check it warm and top off as necessary. Don't overfill and siphon out the excess if you do!

My '96 had a very small front pump seal leak when I got the car at 248,000 miles; service records indicated this leak had been seen as early as 100,000 miles. When I switched to synthetic transmission fluid, the leak got much worse and I ended up having the transmission rebuilt, just to get that seal replaced, an expensive lesson. The rebuilder reported that the "hard parts" in the transmission were in perfect condition and the "wear parts" had another 50,000 miles of life in them. The POs had all kept the fluid and filter changed per Mercedes spec so that will give you one data point as to how long a 722.4 transmission should last. Obviously, others will report other numbers.

While you have the intake manifold off be sure to block the EGR valve. The easiest way is to remove the metal gasket between the EGR valve and the air tube. Copy the gasket in light sheet metal but don't cut out the center hole. Install the new gasket and the EGR valve will no longer dump soot into your intake manifold. Leave the EGR valve and all associated parts in place. I found that the IM of my '96 was terribly clogged with a mixture of soot and oil. See this thread for pictures of a dirty intake manifold.

Enjoy your new ride.

Jeremy

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"Buster" in the '95

Our all-Diesel family
1996 E300D (W210) . .338,000 miles Wife's car
2005 E320 CDI . . 113,000 miles My car
Santa Rosa population 176,762 (2022)
Total. . . . . . . . . . . . 627,762
"Oh lord won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz."
-- Janis Joplin, October 1, 1970

So i finished welding the big rust spot under the air cleaner box today and I also took the intake manifolds apart to clean them.

I also changed the motor oil. I ordered a gasket seal for the transmission so I will change the transmission fluid next weekend.

A couple of things came up after I went to take the car for a drive after.

1. The tach stopped working today. Not sure where to start looking. I tried looking for the OVP relay but I am not sure where it is.

2. I checked the transmission again and it shifts very quickly between D and R, but it jerks the car when you change gears. it also makes a thump sound when you put it in drive. It did shift gears ok again. The question I have is where is the modulator located?


3. A couple of times when I stopped at a light the engine started idling rough almost stalling. I am not sure why. when I would rev the engine the rough idle would go away. Then when I would drive to the next light it would idle ok.

4. The oil gauge and the temp gauge are a bit jumpy and I am not sure if I can trust them. What are your experiences with these gauges. I am more worries about temp, because it will fluctuate between 95 and 85 C.
I noticed that the 2 fans in front of the car do no come on. I am not sure if this is the problem, or if there is something else.

here is a photo

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