After a test drive yesterday in another '87 300D, presently on a local dealer's lot, I'm wondering if perhaps the tranny in mine is not adjusted correctly or may have bigger problems.

In general, during the test drive, I noticed that on the dealer's vehicle, the engine was consistently turning 300 to 500 rpm slower than mine does at different speeds. I drove the vehicle at speeds ranging from 45 to 70 mph, on both secondary roads and interstate.

On the interstate at 70 mph, mine is pushing 3000 rpm, the dealer's vehicle was almost spot on 2500 rpm.

I wondered if perhaps there might be something going on with the tach, but it idles at the same speed as mine, and it looked to respond consistently over the range of speeds.

Also, the tranny responded quite differently than mine. Nice smooth consistent shifts, no lengthy delays when initially going from park into gear, or from R to D, etc. In short, it behaved no differently than you would expect an auto tranny to behave in any other modern vehicle, gas or diesel.

Mine, OTOH, displays quirks I had put off to being peculiar to MB and the age of the vehicle. On initial startup for my daily commute, going from park to reverse, there's something on the order of a 3 to 5 second delay before it engages. A similar delay at night going from park to drive. At light throttle, it seems to hang in gear and shift quite hard, especially 1-2, and do a quick step shift, 2-3 and 3-4 one immediately after the other. With a considerable amount of throttle, it acts more like a "normal" auto tranny.

In case there might be some equipment differences, mine was built 7/86 and is the US model, the dealer's vehicle was built 1/87 and is a CA model. Both have had the trap ox recall done to them.

Any opinions or info?

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Just say "NO" to Ethanol - Drive Diesel

Mitchell Oates
Mooresville, NC
'87 300D 212K miles
'87 300D 151K miles - R.I.P. 12/08
'05 Jeep Liberty CRD 67K miles
Grumpy Old Diesel Owners Club