85 300D Federal Version 240,000 miles.

Drove car pre-purchase and it shifted very well 1-2 and 2-3, but 3-4 was very late, almost redline. Found stuck kickdown switch, replaced it and ran car on jack with wheels off the ground, shift 1-2, and 2-3 good couldn't rev it high enough comfortably to get the 3-4 shift. Can't run it on the road yet due to insurance and reg.

Fluid looks good, but who knows how old it is.

Any thoughts? Thanks!!!!!

G'mornin',

I recently received this little book from MB USA....and I happened to look this fact up.....as I also have an '85 300D-T "Federal Version".....and the final shift to 4th seemed a bit late to me as well......without backing off a bit...

Officially......(am only going to type the values for "Selector Lever Position D)

................................up...............down (in kilometers/hour)
Idling 1-2-1..............16.................13
..........2-3-2..............29.................19
..........3-4-3..............38.................29

Full Throttle
...........1-2-1..............40................24
...........2-3-2..............73................41
...........3-4-3.............121...............79

Kickdown
...........1-2-1...............47...............36
...........2-3-2...............75...............66
...........3-4-3..............124..............113

You folks with "Califunya" cars have a different set of values.....

It appears that the shift point into 4th gear while heavy on the accelerator should be around 78 MPH (roughly).......you can convert the rest of the data as needed...........1 klik is about 5/8th mile

Hope that this helps you.....it sure eased my mind a bit........

SB

Note: I have no clue as to how to do a table in this forum.....did the best that I could with that info

__________________

Diesels:
'85 300D, "Max, Blue Benz", 155K, 27.0 MPG
'84 190D 2.2, "Eva, Brown Benz", 142K, 40.2 MPG
'77 240D (parts car)
'67 Eicher ES 202 Tractor "Otto" (2cyl, Air Cooled, 30HP)
Gassers:
'94 Ford F-150, "Henry", 170K (300 Six) 17.5 MPG
'85 190E 2.3, 148K....Parts Car
'58 Dodge W300M Powerwagon (Flat Fenders) Less than 10 MPG

Thank you for the info...valuable stuff, noticed the vacuum/part identification project you are doing, great work!

Thought about this after the post, my fault, should have made it clear that this one shifts so late that it gets concerning from an over-rev perspective. We have two 85's, one shifts very well through all the gears and this one is radically different (late).

If it was a vacuum or cable problem wouldn't it affect all the shifts?

Sometimes a turn of the bowden cable can really make a difference.

__________________
It is a truism that almost any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so. Robert A. Heinlein


09 Jetta TDI
1985 300D

Thank you everyone for your suggestions.

Finally got the car on the road, and it appears that replacing the kickdown switch (under the diesel pedal, it was stuck closed) fixed the problem - the car now shifts very nicely from 3-4. This was the only transmission related change made to the car.
<-(My son after it worked)