Hi,

I'm on a road trip and I noticed something funny in my SD. I climbed over the Grapevine in southern California and all was good. No overheating and good performance in 90F weather.

I hit downtown LA and got into awful, just awful stop and go traffic for an hour around Hollywood. The car never overheated. I just ran my AC and the water temp stayed at 80. All was good till I exited and started driving surface roads. The tranny whined in high gear. It would still shift but the shifts were really soft and early. Not a terrible amount of slipping but it was sluggish when I pushed the accelerator.

I decided I would stop and let it cool down after the stop and go. I parked it, checked the fluid. one inch high on the dipstick. No foam. No burning and light pink. I'm using Mobil one synthetic ATF. After letting it cool one hour everything returned to normal. The car shifts fine again.

I replaced a radiator a few months ago with a new one and put in new cooler lines. That's about the only change.

Any thoughts? Is my tranny in need of a rebuild? I would think the SD should be able to take stop and go traffic in LA all day. Maybe it's time. Or is this something to expect out of the 722?

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79 300TD “Old Smokey” AKA “The Mistake” (SOLD)
82 240D stick shift 335k miles (SOLD)
82 300SD 300k miles
85 300D Turbodiesel 170k miles

How many miles are on the transmission?

__________________
Jim

200K.

Thanks. Had a soft shift 2-3 or 3-4 I cannot recall. I put in the springs suggested on this forum and it solved it years ago. Now it has good shifts with no flaring or slipping.

__________________
79 300TD “Old Smokey” AKA “The Mistake” (SOLD)
82 240D stick shift 335k miles (SOLD)
82 300SD 300k miles
85 300D Turbodiesel 170k miles

A transmission that is low on fluid can lead to improper reading of fluid level, potentially causing it to read high as you found it. The pump will also make noise, which may be what you were hearing. See this PDF from the FSM on checking transmission fluid levels. The last page describes this condition.

http://www.benzworld.org/forums/attachments/w123-e-ce-d-cd-td/985929d1402424136-checking-transmission-fluid-level-your-w123-trans-fluid-check-auto-123-120.pdf

What it suggests is you stop the engine to let this condition subside, then check fluid again.

I think following this guidance on checking fluid level would be your first stop before digging deeper.

__________________
1979 300D 040 Black on Black - 1985 300D Maaco job (sadly sprayed over 199 Black Pearl Metallic) on Palamino

http://i.imgur.com/LslW733.jpg

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Thanks. I'll need to check the fluid and post results.

Doh! I am replaying back my radiator R&R. I was in a hurry (on the road) when I swapped the radiator and replaced the fluid that was lost into a coffee cup with fresh fluid...assuming all was well before. I bet my tranny cooler had a significant volume of fluid in it when I dumped it.

I get dumb when I'm under pressure. I never bothered checking it again. Let me go for a warmup drive after dinner and see where it is.

__________________
79 300TD “Old Smokey” AKA “The Mistake” (SOLD)
82 240D stick shift 335k miles (SOLD)
82 300SD 300k miles
85 300D Turbodiesel 170k miles

Hi,

Thank you guys. I'd have to drive a Camry if it weren't for you.

The fluid, checked warm and idling in a level trader joes parking lot was 1cm below the low mark. I added about two Dixie cups and checked the level but somehow the oil gets in the tube and messes up the dipstick. I haven't gotten a good level reading since.

I'll check it again tomorrow after a drive. I'll add slowly and home in to the spot.

Thanks again.

__________________
79 300TD “Old Smokey” AKA “The Mistake” (SOLD)
82 240D stick shift 335k miles (SOLD)
82 300SD 300k miles
85 300D Turbodiesel 170k miles

In Stop + Go "Around" 10th and Peachtree Circa 1992
'Took 45 minutes to go from the High Museum to The Hyatt Regency.
1984 300SD,No Cooling Problems.

Of Course, Mobil's: Mobil1 Synthetic ATF formula was different then!

'Will not put any mobil lube in anything NOW.

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'84 300SD sold
124.128