rough shifting transmission?
 

I've had my 85 300td wagon for over a year now. A freind of mine just aquired a 86 300sdl. His car is far more powerful than mine. I realilize that his is a six cylinder and mine a five, but that shoudn't make a huge difference right? I've always wondered how quick my car should be. I don't want a race car, but 0-60 in less than 60 seconds should be attainable. My car has exhaust leaks everywhere that it's possible to have one. Once I determine that my transmission is not bad I will repair the exhaust system and hopefully that will cure my power/acceleration problem a little.

A few weeks ago I noticed that the transmission hadn't been shifting very smoothly. I checked the ATF and it was a little below the bottom line on the dipstick. I added a little fluid to bring it up to half-way between the lower and upper lines. I really didn't noticed a difference. Then this afternoon the transmission started acting very funny. It would stay in first gear untill the rpms were at 3500-4000 then shift abrubtly to second then very quickly to third, bogging down the engine. Tonight it drove a little better anmd wasn't acting up at all, it acctually ran pretty good. I search a few threads and came up with very little. I got nothing worth while out of the Chilton manual. I did see a few things on some threads about kickdown switch and vaccum modulator and torque converter, but again nothing in my Chilton.

You need to try to do some troubleshooting on the vacuum system. I suspect you have a leak.

I found out what was causing the problem. I guess the accelerator's cover had sliped off and slid behind the peedal causing it to act extremely funny. I pulled it out and now it drives great. I can't beleive I've been driving the car around like this for awhile. That was one of the reasons the previous owner got rid of the car for so cheap. I made a point to tell him and now he's a little disappointed about selling me the car.