I suspect that what I have is a auto trans failure and I'm looking for wisdom from this collective group of guru's. The car is an 83 240D. So here is the story.
About 4 months ago this trans problem first appeared. I went to the store, put the car in park and left the engine running. After returning I put the shifter into drive and the car would not move at all. I cycled through the all gears which didn't produce any movement in the car. I turned the engine off and let the car sit for about 5 minutes. Once I re-started the engine, I was able to drive home without a problem. Checking out the VCV it was discovered to be bad, so I replaced it. I installed both a vacuum and pressure gauge to assist in both knowlege of what the trans was doing but also hopefully if this problem re-occured I could trap something. This was back in september of 2013.
Fast forward to 1/18/2014. I was headed home and sitting at a stoplight. When the light turned green, I pressed the GO pedal and as the rpm's increased, the car stay motionless. Looking over at the pressure gauge, the reading was 0. It should normally be around 20 psi at idle. I tried the same trick which had worked 4 months ago and turned the engine off and let it sit for about 2 minutes this time. After re-starting the car, I got pressure and quickly tried get the car moving. It did move but soon started slipping with a fluctuating needle on the pressure gauge and then went to 0. Stepping on the pedal resulted in just the engines rpm's going up. This happened a few other times going home which was about 1/4 mile away, but I got home.
Once in the driveway, the pressure again went to 0. I was hopping that the fluid levels where low, but the opposite occured. The fluid was about 1 to 2 inches higher on the stick than it should have been. The fluid looked pink and didn't smell. I didn't give the fluid level another thought until today. More about that in a little bit.
Today upon starting the car, the pressure went up to 20 psi and was steady as it has been since installing the guages a few months ago. I was able to shift through all gears and moved the car forward and backward in the driveway. All of a sudden the pressure dropped to 0 resulting in no power to the rear wheel. Before the pressure dropped to 0 and was holding steady at 20 psi I checked the fluid level at idle and in drive. It was right on the mark between full and add.
I have my suspicions and I have one more pressure check to do and that is the working pressure. I'll get a connector and a gauge to do this today, but as I've mentioned I'm looking for the collective wisdom of the forum.
Here are pic's of what I've found so far:
Pic3G1 shows vacuum to the VCV and pressure at idle
Pic5G2 shows vacuum going down and pressure starting to rise as rpm's are increased to around 1k.
Pic6G3 shows vacuum on acceleration but pressure needle started fluctuating and dropping towards 0. After the pic was taken the needle moved back to 20 psi.

Thanks you in advance

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