I have a '92 E300D Turbo Diesel. A while back, the diaphram in the shift modulator split and the engine ingested a healthy dose of ATF thereby melting the pre-chambers and valves out of 2&3. After lots of parts and finally getting it all back together, I once again have a wonderful car! I also replaced the modulator and serviced the tranny while I had everything else apart!! I adjusted the shift firmness and everything was fine. 10k miles later, it's not wanting to shift normally into fourth, especially cold. You have to bump it into neutral briefly and back into "D" again to make it shift. It seems to do a little better the harder you drive it though!? Am I missing something really simple here? Do you have any ideas that may help? I sure could use a little boost on this one. Thanks, Edwin.

Check and make sure the bowden cable is properly adjusted. You do not want any preload on the cable portion. Pop off the ball and see if it is lined up, if not, adjust it with the cable nut.

IF all is well in the above area, you may have a problem with the clutches in the bottom drum (K2) I think.

__________________
Benzmac:
Donnie Drummonds
ASE CERTIFIED MASTER AUTO TECHNICIAN
MERCEDES SPECIALIST 11 YRS

My guess is the clutch pack lip seals and/or the pack feed hole nylon shaft rings.

Pressure is fed through the shaft to the clutch pack. The drum is spinning on the shaft and the fluid passes in the area between the drum and the shaft sort of like a rod bearing. The pressure is held in by nylon rings someting like piston rings. These are fairly fragile in the 722.3 trans.

The lip seals in the pack inflate with pressure and hold that pressure against the clutches. If fluid is leaking from the shaft seals it arrives in the clutch at reduced pressure. If the seals are worn and or hard (cold)they don't inflate (seal). Using higher speed or shutting down the flow and restarting can catch an edge and cause the inflation.

OR, on the other hand you may have a valve body problem. The command valve may just be sticking. I would suggest a trans service with the addition of an additive designed to soften seals and remove varnish. Lubeguard is a good brand.

Another approach that has fixed at least a few VB problems is to loosen all the VB screws and retorque them. The point here is to stop internal leaks.

As Donnie noted the control pressure cable can be involved. I have seen cables stick and I have also seen the control valve pistons be the one that stuck.

And last but not least is the kickdown switch and solenoid. The switch sticks periodically, but this usually makes all shifts late.

Our approach to your problem would be to check the adjustment and free action of the control pressure cable. We would remove the wire from the kickdown solenoid to keep its activity out of question. We would proceed by removing the trans pan and remove the VB. We would then check the activation of the clutch pack with shop air pressure. Having done this a hundred times (or more), we would have a definite idea whether the leaks are internal. If the pack inflates we would then examine/replace the VB gasket, install and retorque the VB, and refill anding a good additive.


[Edited by stevebfl on 01-21-2001 at 11:37 AM]

__________________
Steve Brotherton
Continental Imports
Gainesville FL
Bosch Master, ASE Master, L1
33 years MB technician

switch where the bowden cable connects used for?
thanks
Jim
'95 E320
'97 CRV

I had a shifting problem similiar with my 86 560sl. It would only shift to 4th if I did the nuetral thing or it would shift to 4th automatically when I got above 65 mph. I had someone tell me that 90% of the time it is caused by kickdown switch or "b(brake)" switch. I isolated it and mine was the "b" switch. The "b" switch is on the right side of the shift console. It is for manually shifting into 1st gear. I changed the switch($17) but you can isolate by unhooking switch and driving. Good Luck Rob Thomas