Yet another tranny issue - any ideas?
 

1987 300d that I'm driving and working a trade with a friend for. 252k miles, no service records. No idea if tranny has ever been touched...

Two different times Ive had a strange occurrence where it shifts fine for several miles of driving, then go some reason decides to act up. It will shift 1-2, then on the 2-3 it acts like it goes into neutral and engine revs freely. Slow down and it returns to 2nd - then does same thing if you accelerate. I am quite certain that I was nowhere near full throttle and thereby hitting the kickdown switch.

The "fix" both times was to stop, shift into reverse for a second, then go back to drive. Drives fine after that...

What does this soun like? Piston hanging up somewhere? Sound terminal?

Thank you

I am sure someone will chime in with more knowledge than me but have you checked the ATF fluid level?

The problem is probably something else, but this would be where i would start to have a baseline.

I believe the procedure is close to this:
Car should be driven for 10 minutes or so to warm up the transmission fluid - not freeway driving
Park car on level service
Place transmission in Park
Check the dip stick near the battery/firewall - FSM recommends a bit of leather to wipe off dip stick
Fluid level should be at the top mark - very little fluid is needed to move the reading up so add a little at a time, while parked run the transmission through R, then D, back to R and then P and recheck fluid level. Repeat as necessary.



Chris