Some of you have been following the thread on the 83 300SD I recently got off of ebay.

I'm reposting a few questions here from that thread. I bought it with pulling the trans in mind upon arrival, but if it can be avoided, I'd like to fix it while its still in the car.

1) When I got the car last saturday, the trans was way overfilled. 2 inches or so over the high mark when hot
2) The car wont move forward untill about 1500 rpm, and then its jerky
3) reverse is almost non existant, it will move only about 40% of the time and again, it jerks
4) in park, it will sometimes still attempt to move forward
5) in reverse (with lights on) it will sometimes attempt to move forwad as well.

Anyways, if anyone has any thoughts, or ideas to try out, let me know, I need to get this car driveable as soon as possible.

thanks!

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1980 500SE/AMG Euro
1981 500SEL Euro
1982 380SEL
1983 300TD
1983 500SEC/AMG Euro
1984 500SEC
1984 300TD Euro
1986 190E 2.3-16
1986 190E 2.3
1987 300D
1997 C36 AMG
2003 C320T 4matic

past: 1969 280SE 4.5 | 1978 240D | 1978 300D | 1981 300SD | 1981 300SD | 1982 300CD | 1983 300CD | 1983 300SD | 1983 380SEC | 1984 300D | 1984 300D | 1984 300TD | 1984 500SEL | 1984 300SD | 1985 300D | 1986 300E | 1986 560SEL | 1986 560SEL/Carat | 1987 560SEC | 1991 300D 2.5 | 2006 R350

here is a little test for you...

disconnect the vacuum hose going to the trans... its at the top
of the fuel pump.... leave the one dangling from the tranny and put
a plug in the other one... (no vac to the tranny is the goal.) start it up
and drive it around the block and see what happens....

if the thing drives and shifts right away then the problem is in the vac system...

usually when you have a reverse problem it means you need to rebuild the trans...

Well, its strange, its the only one I have that I cant tell when its goes in gear- theres no clunk, so I kinda have to guess. I will have to try thought though, I hadnt thought of that being the problem.

The vacuum system is all screwed up. I dont think the white 3 way valves are even there under the cover on top of the valve cover. Huge vacuum leak inside the car too from the acc, it hisses loudly.

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1980 500SE/AMG Euro
1981 500SEL Euro
1982 380SEL
1983 300TD
1983 500SEC/AMG Euro
1984 500SEC
1984 300TD Euro
1986 190E 2.3-16
1986 190E 2.3
1987 300D
1997 C36 AMG
2003 C320T 4matic

past: 1969 280SE 4.5 | 1978 240D | 1978 300D | 1981 300SD | 1981 300SD | 1982 300CD | 1983 300CD | 1983 300SD | 1983 380SEC | 1984 300D | 1984 300D | 1984 300TD | 1984 500SEL | 1984 300SD | 1985 300D | 1986 300E | 1986 560SEL | 1986 560SEL/Carat | 1987 560SEC | 1991 300D 2.5 | 2006 R350

My guess is that its either in the front pump/torque converter or in the valving. You might try taking off a transmission radiator hose and seeing what's going on with the fluid when the car is trying to move. If you have an extra good valve body lying around you might be able to swap that in and see what happens.

Just as a pont of reference my W116 wouldn't even make any attempt to move in any gear. Turned out to be a ruined front pump

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80 300SD (129k mi) 82 240D stick (193k mi)77 240D auto - stick to be (153k mi) 85 380SL (145k mi) 89 BMW 535i 82 Diesel Rabbit Pickup (374k mi) 91 Jetta IDI Diesel (155k mi) 81 VW Rabbit Convertible Diesel 70 Triumph Spitfire Mk III (63kmi)66 Triumph TR4a IRS (90k mi)67 Ford F-100 (??)

I've got a trans that slipped out of an 85 TD. That should work for the VB, right?

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1980 500SE/AMG Euro
1981 500SEL Euro
1982 380SEL
1983 300TD
1983 500SEC/AMG Euro
1984 500SEC
1984 300TD Euro
1986 190E 2.3-16
1986 190E 2.3
1987 300D
1997 C36 AMG
2003 C320T 4matic

past: 1969 280SE 4.5 | 1978 240D | 1978 300D | 1981 300SD | 1981 300SD | 1982 300CD | 1983 300CD | 1983 300SD | 1983 380SEC | 1984 300D | 1984 300D | 1984 300TD | 1984 500SEL | 1984 300SD | 1985 300D | 1986 300E | 1986 560SEL | 1986 560SEL/Carat | 1987 560SEC | 1991 300D 2.5 | 2006 R350

You are getting out of my league. I know the 85s have some very different characteristics than the earlier ones. I don't know how different the valve bodies are. If you've got the time, it may work. I don't THINK you can hurt anything. Just compare the two valve bodies before you slap them in there and make sure they look similar as far as bolting and input/outputs.

Isn't there anybody else out there who has at least an opinion?

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80 300SD (129k mi) 82 240D stick (193k mi)77 240D auto - stick to be (153k mi) 85 380SL (145k mi) 89 BMW 535i 82 Diesel Rabbit Pickup (374k mi) 91 Jetta IDI Diesel (155k mi) 81 VW Rabbit Convertible Diesel 70 Triumph Spitfire Mk III (63kmi)66 Triumph TR4a IRS (90k mi)67 Ford F-100 (??)