Tranny trouble
 

My 87 190 2.3 8 vlv is having trouble shifting properly. I have changed the fluid and filter (had a leaky pan). It had the same problem before the fluid change. The problem is it won't shift into 4th until appx 62 mph. It goes into gear without any delay, forward and reverse. Normally starts in second, shifts to 3rd just fine, just doesn't like to go into 4th. I've tried adjusting the bowden cable with no luck. The cable is as loose as it can get. If I completely remove the cable from the throttle linkage the car will shift through all of the gears very quickly, getting into 4th by 30mph. With the cable connected it'll shift up to 3rd normally and once it gets to about 40mph if I quickly shift to neutral and back to drive it will shift to 4th. Once in 4th it cruises along just fine. I can get it to shift at any speed by doing the neutral/drive thing. But it just won't do it on it's own until at least 62 or later depending on how hard I'm on the throttle. Anybody have any ideas what could cause this? Remember, this a 294K mile car! Any suggestions welcome. Thanks.

It sounds like you've narrowed it to control pressure
 

based on what you see by disconnecting the cable. Did you check that the cable is seated correctly at the tranny end?

If the cable is OK, it sounds like you need more RPM than expected to generate correct control pressure. That could be the pump or valve. Given that it's isolated to the 3/4 shift, that would point to a sticking valve in the valve body.

Note: I am not a transmission expert. Just a former 201 owner who likes to think out loud.

Thanks Hirnbeiss,
the cable appears to be seated at the other end. It just seem like the cable needs to be longer than the cable adjustment allows. I think i'll try to move the bracket that holds the cable to create a little more slack. And by the way, I too owned a 99 e430. Bought it for the wife but she wanted a sport utility so we only had it for about 6 months. This was back in '02. I really liked the car but when mama's not happy - nobody's happy! Beside's, I get these old Benz cars as a hobby.

Valve body.



With that mileage could be K1 or K2 seals leaking, internal.

Any idea what I'm looking at as far as repair cost? If it's the valve body, I can do it myself. I'm not familiar with K1 or K2 seals. I'm sure I can handle it but I'll have to do a little research. I've never been inside one of these. Where can I find an exploded view of this tranny? I'll look around and see what I can find, if anyone here has one I'd really appreciate it.

be sure to work on a very clean and dust free environment if you intend to open the valve body

http://www.detali.ru/cat/oem_mb0.asp?TP=1 will give you a parts level view in case you can't find anything else.

Repairing the K1 and K2 drums means rebuilding the transmission since the transmission has to remove and totally disassemble.

Can you work on the valve body, which would be just changing springs in the K2 / 3rd to 4th accumulator. Not Hard to do.

Thanks for the inputs. I don't feel that I'm qualified to tear into this tranny. If anything, I'll just look for a good used one. After looking at the link that xvvvz sent, I know that it's over my head. For now I have the bowden cable disconnected so I have really quick upshifts. I just shift manually when necessary. It's too cold to do much of anything right now. I still think the car is worth the 100 bucks I paid for it. I got it to fill a void while I'm working on my 420sel. Doing an engine swap on that one. I guess I have a soft spot for these old Benzes. Or maybe a sick obsession.:silly: Thanks again and I'll post whatever I decide to do with this one.

Update:
Well I don't know if you guys saw my other post about my lucky break with my 420. Turns out that the car I bought as a parts car turned out to be better than expected, so I no longer plan on doing the engine swap. The car runs really good so far. Sooo, I decided to cut the 190 loose. I decided I didn't want to invest any money into a 294k mile car. I sold it today to a local guy that needed a good body. So everyboby is happy today. I did like the little car though. Who knows, maybe I'll have another one some day. For now I'm focusing on the 420. Thanks for all the help.