E320 transmission not shifting
 

I own a 1994 E30 sedan with 179k miles. yesterday I beagan to drive it and it would not shift up. It stays in 1st gear I believe and can rev upto 40k rpms and no change. I park it is reving about 8-10k rpms. I changed out filter and oil this morning and nothing. Please help.

I have read that symptom in here that if there is nothing wrong with the actual TCM and the tranny itself, you can disconnect the battery, wait 30 mins, reinstall it and that should reset it. what you are experiencing is what they call "Crawl mode" or something. Sometimes, when it is cold, mine would do that too, but i let go of the accelerator and it shifts. sometimes, i shift it back to neutral and then shift it to drive. that seems to work. Hope it helps. that's just based on what i've experienced so far.

I have read that symptom in here that if there is nothing wrong with the actual TCM and the tranny itself, you can disconnect the battery, wait 30 mins, reinstall it and that should reset it. what you are experiencing is what they call "Crawl mode" or something. Sometimes, when it is cold, mine would do that too, but i let go of the accelerator and it shifts. sometimes, i shift it back to neutral and then shift it to drive. that seems to work. Hope it helps. that's just based on what i've experienced so far.

A 1994 E320 doesn't have a computer controlled trans. It is straight mechanical hydraulic.

Behind the brake booster , there is a Switch Over Valve with a green vac line going to the trans...unplug that line and retry the car..

Your RPMs are not 40K and 10K..they are 4K and 1 K. [K =1000]

Hi Arthur,

The one thing to remember though is that the upshift delay system can only retard shifting the amount a full throttle shift would. Even if the cable gets stuck fully pulled.

I'd also suggest the kickdown switch, but it also won't prevent a shift, only delay it. I started to write about the common no shift problem of the check valve spring jamming the secondary pump and then breaking the governor drive gear. But that car probably doesn't have a secondary pump. It would have a governor though and I have seen them stick. I would surely check governor pressure as a first step.

Governor would make more sense... specially those sticky Spitzer Governors...:)

I knew an old tranny guy that told me he used to take them out on a real sandy/dirt road [ so the tires would not have traction] and stick the tranny into Reverse at about 10 MPH..he swore that would free up a sticky one, but I never tried it..mainly cuz he was a Wack to begin with..but, he was a VET tranny guy.

I am limited on autos....

thanks for all the tips , I'll try them and get back.

Today I noticed that I can shift my automatic transmission through all its gears if I shift to Neutral and right back to DRIVE while driving, can anyone pin point the problem with this symptom?

I was about to ask if he had a turbine engine... :)

What about transmission fluid level? Did you check that?

What was the last thing you did to the car before this condition occurred? More specifically, have you added anything to the trans fluid, or recently had a fluid service, or noticed any red leaks, etc.