AutoTrans Kickdown Question - 300E
 

Can you kickdown trans. in speeds over 120kms.?
i floored the gas at 120 kms. but transmission doesn't
downshift, car will however speed up. is this normal?

It *should* kickdown into 3rd gear at something like 90 or 95 mph. So when you say 80 mph (roughly 120km/h), that does seem too low.

thanks for the reply, will try that in an opportune time.

yes, it could kick dowm , have you check the auto tran fluid level?? and the fuse???

The fluid shouldn't have a factor in kickdown speed (but should be checked anyway!). And to the best of my knowledge, there is no kickdown fuse.

Joel,
Check to see if the transmission is kicking down at lower speeds... IE, go 15 mph, floor it (into kickdown) and see if it kicks down into first gear.

You might need to adjust something with the transmission.

david- yes, it does at lower and moderate speeds!

A topic of interest that i share with David! Joel, what about your upshift points - while accelerating does the transmission shift at or near the red line when you hit the kickdown switch? My tranny behaves the same way with kickdown but it is also "low shifting" meaning it shifts about 1k rpm lower than it should when accelerating...

Ok, so your kick-down is working properly.......
the problem lies elsewhere. JSmith has a somewhat similar, but more sever problem (I believe). Maybe he can give you some clues on where to go from here.

How else is the operation of the transmission? If you have it floored into kickdown, will it redline before shifting into the next gear?
Some adjustments probably need to be made.
GOOD LUCK.

it may just be an adjustment of the bowden cable - check this thread out:

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/tech-help/6746-downshifts.html

and here's the thread where Steve B. and Mike F. weighed in and told me about valve body adjustments. this would be useful to you if your car also has lower than normal shiftpoints while accelerating.

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/tech-help/25366-what-controls-full-throttle-kickdown-m104.html

reviewing my car's history i discovered that the bowden cable and the vacuum modulator were both replaced after they replaced the transmission. something definitely fishy going on in my tranny. i have an appointment to see a local MB indy about it and will post results.

was able to road test the car tonight. everything is well.
it downshifted at higher speed. i was just too eager to
engage the kickdown the other day - i floored it while picking
up speed.

tonight it kickdown when i floored it at cruising speed, which
makes a lot of sense. it was kinda scary though since it was
accelerating hard at 160kms.

and, yes if i floored it, rpm will be very close to redline but not
over, then it will shift to the next gear.