# 1. Where is the best place to position the jack stands
to support the front end of an '82 240D for inspecting the suspension and steering?

#2 At what speeds do you shift from gear to gear? (4 speed manual)

thebern

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1982 240D 313,000 (4 speed)
1984 300CD 172,483
1985 German Shepherd Dog -Lacey- R.I.P.11/04/05

Hood Stars, Wrist Crowns and Obsession Dobs

thebern,

I usually put a 2"X4" about a foot long between the jackstand and the area inboard of the jack tubes. Seems to work ok by spreading the load out a little.

As for the shifting speeds you will find the first gear designed for pulling stumps or something and it is not good for much speed. Second, third and fourth come when the prior gear kind of runs out of response, other than noise. There are some "not to exceed" tick marks for each gear on the speedometer to be used for guidance.

In general, I shift from first pretty quickly, essentially once the car is rolling at a measureable speed. The others vary depending on the situation, but in general terms I get to third by twenty and fourth by 40mph. My daughter raps it out in all gears, including first, and the car seems to like that too.

Third is a very elastic gear range for the car and you can pull from 10 and to all the way to 50 (or the tick marks). I often take advantage of this feature when driving in traffic or around town. Over 35 it is also pretty reponsive all the way to about 45 or more.

Hope this helps, Jim

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Own:
1986 Euro 190E 2.3-16 (291,000 miles),
1998 E300D TurboDiesel, 231,000 miles -purchased with 45,000,
1988 300E 5-speed 252,000 miles,
1983 240D 4-speed, purchased w/136,000, now with 222,000 miles.
2009 ML320CDI Bluetec, 89,000 miles

Owned:
1971 220D (250,000 miles plus, sold to father-in-law),
1975 240D (245,000 miles - died of body rot),
1991 350SD (176,560 miles, weakest Benz I have owned),
1999 C230 Sport (45,400 miles),
1982 240D (321,000 miles, put to sleep)

Jim, the more I hear about your daughter the more I like her...sounds like she is a born 240 manual driver....

The Bern, these are not like gas engines... unless something is drastically set wrong by a mechanic... you don't need to worry about the upper end rpms... you will feel the lack of continued acceleration and know it is time to shift...

TCane suggested on my manual 1980 240 that I try " rebreaking in" then engine by taking the rpms up and lugging it , then using the engine as a break going down hill...... trying to seat the rings... about 12,000 miles late evidently... it was hard to do because your instincts are to think it is going to EXPLODE... but the cam profiles are against that for the most part...

But no engine should be Lugged on a regular basis... that is what transmissions are for... to get your mechanical advantage up to make it easier on the engine...so don't feel bad about revving it up... and keep looking in the rearview mirror... something may be gaining on you

I drove a 68 220D/8 for 20 years and found that shifting from 1 to 2 at 12mph, 2 to 3 at 24mph, and from 3 to 4 at 36mph was a good set of average shifting conditions especially in town. Granted the engine is slightly smaller and the weight and gearing might be a bit different, but suspect that this would translate to a 240D pretty well. As mentioned, lugging the engine is possible but not recommended long term. As far as running out of top end in a gear, it feels like you have hit a soft wall. Very different from a gasser.

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1961 190Db retired
1968 220D/8 325,000
1983 300D 164,150