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  #1  
Old 05-10-2011, 11:41 PM
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94 e320 shift question

have noticed that the engine speed has been increasing before shifting from from 2 to 3 and when it shifts it shifts harder. Been looking looking at the posts and it seems it may be the vacuum regulator but wasn't sure since most of the posts cover the 3 to 4 shift. By adjusting the vaccuum regulator does that affect all shift points or just the 3 to 4? I don't live close to a dealer and was wondering if I can use another type or brand of trans. fluid other than the mercedes synthetic? Appreciate the help

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  #2  
Old 05-11-2011, 11:19 AM
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the vac reg/modulator valve doesn't affect shift points so much as it does Firmness of said shifts. Adjusting the linkage has more to do w/ shift points. Check your throttle cable/alignment of your linkage.

You don't Need MB synthetic in a .3.. conventional is fine.

For cars that I drive Harder I use B&M trick shift synthetic. Makes for a very Positive shift!

Jonathan
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  #3  
Old 05-11-2011, 11:41 AM
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You need to adjust the bowden cable, it controls shift timing, while vacuum controls shift quality. It's an easy adjustment on the m104 engine. With the hood open, stand at the drivers' side fender. The throttle cable is easy to find, it's below the plastic intake manifold and runs vertical, up and down. From there, look a bit toward the rear of the car - the bowden cable angles up and toward the firewall. It has a threaded plastic adjuster, and the cable itself is covered with a protective plastic sleeve. Turn the threaded adjuster by hand to slacken the cable. The specification is for no tension with the throttle in the idle position, though it's a bit difficult to tell the tension level. I suggest just slackening it 1/2 a turn, then go for a drive. Repeat until the shift points are acceptable.
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Old 05-16-2011, 04:03 PM
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I finally got home after my long business trip and adjusted the bowden cable to bring the shift rpms down. when the car is cold (not up to operating temp) I noticed once it seemed like the transmission was not engaged. could rev the motor but no car movement. Trans fluid was correct level and clean. Never had the problem occur all weekend until my wife drive the car today, same problem. Plan to change fluid and filter tonight. Will check modulator for vacuum leaks etc but is there anything else to look for? I do not have any "check engine light etc" so assuming no codes. Car has 140K miles. Seems like the "disconnect" issue is in the lower gears.

Appreciate any help or suggestions.
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  #5  
Old 05-17-2011, 10:41 PM
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I changed the fluid and filter, fluid was not clear but not a burnt smell either, looked like it was time to change it. Drained the torque converter as well. Shifted normally but then tonight after I started the car and drove down a small hill and not trying to accelerate it was like the trans was out of gear for a brief moment. I stopped and tried to get it to do it again and it didn't. I did many starts and stops going on level, up hill and down and it shifted normally with no slippage, kickdown shift worked as it should Test drove for 20 minutes and it shifted perfectly. No vacuum leak to the modulator. Maybe running with new fluid for awhile will clear this problem up? Thought it might by the B2 piston but not sure. Should I run a cleaner in the trans for awhile? If so what is one that is recomended
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  #6  
Old 05-18-2011, 07:38 AM
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The bowden cable should be adjusted just to the point of no slack. If you're far off, not sure if it could give strange symptoms like that. If there's no vacuum to the modulator, you get extremely hard shifting (banging into gear), which seems to be the opposite of what you describe.
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  #7  
Old 05-18-2011, 07:43 AM
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I have run several things in my transmission (95 e320) such as lucas stopslip, and even some pumpkin juice (diff stop slip) and it has improved it (I need a new tranny, I'm just getting the last life out of this one before I install the rebuilt one). It is livable now, so if you want you CAN put the stuff in. In my experience on the forum, most techs here advise against additives.

If it were my car, I would drive it. I would steer my wife away from it if possible so that I could keep tabs on what the tranny was doing all the time until I was sure it was solid. If it does give symptoms, you will be the one experiencing them and can relay to the smarty pantses (not me, everything I know I learned here) here exactly what happened.

On a side note...how are the shifter bushings? A really bad shifter bushing will actually keep it from going into gear until monkeyed with.
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83' 300SD, "The Superdon" 325k+ @ 28mpg
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95 E300D, "Sherley" 308k @ 33.69 Mpg, currently anticipating a head
99 Suzuki Intruder "Trudy" @ 45 mpg
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  #8  
Old 05-18-2011, 07:48 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 240diowa View Post
have noticed that the engine speed has been increasing before shifting from from 2 to 3 and when it shifts it shifts harder. Been looking looking at the posts and it seems it may be the vacuum regulator but wasn't sure since most of the posts cover the 3 to 4 shift. By adjusting the vaccuum regulator does that affect all shift points or just the 3 to 4? I don't live close to a dealer and was wondering if I can use another type or brand of trans. fluid other than the mercedes synthetic? Appreciate the help
This is a flare (Momentary increased engine speed during shift with little/no forward torque).

Increasing the vacuum may cover up the weakening clutch disc problem for a while
Flushing (which you have done) will slow down the degradation of the clutch disc.
Easing off fuel during shifts will also slow down the degradation.

The only real fix will be new clutch discs.
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77' 300D, "Cartman" SOLD @ 150K (didn't know what I had)
83' 300SD, "The Superdon" 325k+ @ 28mpg
95 E320 wagon, "Millennium Falcon" 231k+ @ 24 Mpg
95 E300D, "Sherley" 308k @ 33.69 Mpg, currently anticipating a head
99 Suzuki Intruder "Trudy" @ 45 mpg
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  #9  
Old 05-18-2011, 08:18 AM
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Drove the e320 this morning and no problems at all, Shifted nice and smooth. My previous "flair" occurred while there was little or no load on the trans (going down hill with no acceleration at approx 30 mph). Guess I will keep driving for awhile and see what happens. I have had the car about 6 weeks and drove fine when I test drove it. Have had other Mercedes in the past (all diesel) and never had a tranny problem.

shift bushings seem nice and tight.
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  #10  
Old 05-18-2011, 11:47 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 240diowa View Post
Drove the e320 this morning and no problems at all, Shifted nice and smooth. My previous "flair" occurred while there was little or no load on the trans (going down hill with no acceleration at approx 30 mph). Guess I will keep driving for awhile and see what happens. I have had the car about 6 weeks and drove fine when I test drove it. Have had other Mercedes in the past (all diesel) and never had a tranny problem.

shift bushings seem nice and tight.
flare on 2 to 3 shift involves a 20 dollar diy spring kit. That usually solves the problem
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  #11  
Old 05-19-2011, 12:10 PM
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Which spring kit are you referring to? the K1 spring?
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  #12  
Old 05-20-2011, 06:28 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bob_98sr5 View Post
Hi folks,

I have been doing some transmission troubleshooting by testing the critical vacuum components (I need to do more of this), but also adjusting the transmission thrust cable and the accelerator cable nut. A few weeks ago, I put in a K1 kit and it made a huge difference from 1st to 2nd. Now I've erroneously said that the K1 takes care of 1st to 2nd, but in fact, it takes care of 2 to 3. Now i can only say from the feel of the transmission, it did make the 1 to 2 shifting a helluva lot better. But according to specs, this is not the way the K1 is supposed to work (its designed for the 2 to 3 shift)

Instructions are amazing and not too difficult to understand. See pic 1.

So I tried to do more adjustments with the thrust cable nut (some people call this the bowden cable nut) to adjust the shift points, but all it did was to make 1 really good, but all the other gears suffered. So I had a feeling that something was not quite right. So having had experience w/ the K1 kit, I decided to pony up $60 or so bucks to buy the Superior shift kit.

After draining the trans pan of all the fluids, I removed the pan and saw that I needed to remove the filter out of the way. I drained it and stuck the 3 screws in a gallon sized ziploc bag.

The K2 was just as easy to remove as the K1 accumulator. Of note, the K2 is directly on the opposite side of the K1, so its on the rear side of the valve body. See pic #2. I took out 3 of the 4 screws, pivoted the plate out of the way, and then removed the K2 Elmer Fudd slowly.

So what do I find? See picture #3. So what's wrong? The plastic ends are missing!!! Flat out G-O-N-E. I thought I mightve dropped it, but no, it cant be. Later I fished around for them, but to no avail.

So given that the springs have nothing to hold it together, it was using the wall of the metal plate and the inside of the accumulator to compress into. Since that would (theoretically) mean that it would take a fraction longer to start the compression effect, it would be akin to a softer spring. And in these shift kits softer springs = softer shifts. I am about 80% confident that my understanding is correct, but if not, please correct me in this thread.

So now I have to order the K2 accumulator from a parts seller Man, I want to drive this thing again! But if there's a silver lining in this cloud, its knowing that my crappy 3 - 4 shifts were probably more due to the lost plastic ends. Nevertheless, I'm going to experiment with the springs and see what happens. I can only thing of positives at this point. Who knows, maybe once I get the shifting all dialed in, I can break 20 second 0 to 60 runs!

Bob

Hey 240, I found this among the tranny posts in another thread.
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77' 300D, "Cartman" SOLD @ 150K (didn't know what I had)
83' 300SD, "The Superdon" 325k+ @ 28mpg
95 E320 wagon, "Millennium Falcon" 231k+ @ 24 Mpg
95 E300D, "Sherley" 308k @ 33.69 Mpg, currently anticipating a head
99 Suzuki Intruder "Trudy" @ 45 mpg
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  #13  
Old 05-20-2011, 08:43 AM
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Thanks Thayer, I'll do a search for that post so I can see the pictures. Car has been running good with no shifting issues except my wife said it did it this morning but she was going uphill and accelerating so it probably just downshifted.
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  #14  
Old 05-20-2011, 11:54 AM
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Thayer:

Looked for transmission spring kits at Peachparts (fastlane) and didn't find any. Is this a dealer item only? Based on the link you sent me I'm not sure which kit I need. Don' know if I need the K1, K2 B2 etc. I'm new to auto transmission stuff so please be patient as I learn the lingo .
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  #15  
Old 05-26-2011, 08:14 AM
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More tranny issues/questions

I have a K1 kit on order (and K2 as well) and will install next week. While driving to work this morning the car basically came out of gear between 3 and 4. I put the shifter into 3 and there was no slippage etc then put it back into drive. Came to a stop and the same thing happened again. Once the car was warmed up it shifted much better with a slight flare on the 3 to 4 shift. 1 to 2 shift occurs at 3300 rpm with other shifts at 2000 rpm. Hoefully the K1 and K2 kit will solve it........ If I put the trans under heavy load I don't have the shift problem. Are there other things I shuld look at besides the K1, K2 kit?

I'm in central Iowa with no close trans. shops that deal with Mercedes....

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