1988 300TE Wont rev as high in 1st - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

ps2cho · #1 03-28-2007, 06:24 PM

Hi guys,

Recently my car will not rev up as high in 1st gear. Every now and again I give it a good bootfull of gas, but I noticed that it no longer rev's high in 1st gear.

It only goes into first when the button on the floor is pressed and it revs fast to about 3,500 rpm then shifts to 2nd and revs all the way up to 6,500 rpm before it shifts to 3rd....It never used to be like this, so I'm not sure what has made it do this now.

I just took the car to EZLube last week so all of the fluid levels are all good.

Any possible ideas?

Could it be related to my bad stem seals? (I will be doing this in a few weeks finally!) The thing is that it used to go all the way up to 6,500 rpm in 1st, but now only to ~3,500 before it shifts...and my stem seals have been like this before it stopped doing it.

Thanks, ps2cho

A264172 · #2 03-28-2007, 06:40 PM

You can force a 1st gear start by (at a stop) shift down to 2, then back up to D.

Also...
If you leave it in 2 (from a start) it will stay in 1st gear.

To manually shift to 2nd gear move the selector briefly to 3 then back to 2.

Then shif to 3 to get 3, and D to get 4.

Play around with the shifting a little and see if it will rev higher.
Also check the tranny fluid level (warmed up and running) to be sure the jiffy lubers didn't do something wrong. (wouldn't be the first time) Could be you were low on tranny fluid and it is now running right?

ps2cho · #3 03-29-2007, 01:25 AM

Thanks for the info. I'm still really am new to cars in general, but my dad knows quite a lot, so I'm just doing the posting as I drive this car everyday...

And yes I have tried all combinations trying to get that 1st gear above 3,500 rpm and it doesn't like it at all and shifts regardless of how hard my foot is on the gas.

I will check the tranny fluid tomorrow, but I think it is good as my dad has done a check of everything a few times, but I will double check and post back.