88 300TE - had the tranny rebuilt about 1 month ago. When it shifts it feels like the rear end is going to fall off. Now I noticed under stress, like passing or quick acceleration - it jumps and bumps and I have to opt to remove my foot from the pedal and proceed at a slower acceleration (I also have noticed a few trans. fluid drips).

Any help would be appreciated!

124 tranny
 

Sounds like the shop may have overfilled the trans fluid. I would check this out first. (The fact that it drips may indicate overfilling through the vents; also, the very hard shifting may also be indicative of overfilling). Hope that's all it is-or I would go right back to the shop and get it done right! Good luck!!

Thanks, unfortunately I had the work done across the country. They gave me a 6 month warranty - but, they are 2,000 miles away. I'll check they level tonight - hopefully, that's all it is.

I'd give the shop a call, tell them your problem, where you are, and ask them where you can take it to be checked that they would pay for the visit. It might be a simple adjustment of the pressure valve on the drivers side of the tranny, but check the fluid level first. By the way, out of curiosity, what did you have to lay out in $ for a rebuild? I may be facing one in the near future. Good luck.

Thanks Ron,

The cost was about $1,100.00 - if I had to do it again though, I think I would opt for the re-built tran from MB.

As an update - I checked the fluid level and indeed it appears to have been over-filled. As a follow-up to this, I was wondering, in the early morning (even after the car has been driven 10-15 miles) the shifting seems smooth without the somewhat vicious "clunk". I have not attempted to put it under stress or passing gear until I get the fluid to a normal level. My first thought that since it is somewhat cooler in the am thats the reason, but even after the car seems "warmed up" - it shifts smooth. Any thoughts?

124 Tranny
 

Wellington -

This is absolutely routine and normal behavior.

As the transmission fluid circulates, it puts too much pressure on the throttle valves, etc. This is why the overfilling of the fluid causes rough shifting as time progresses during that particular drive.

You need to flush and refill the system properly. That will solve your problem; 99 % certain.

Thanks again, will do today - I'll let you know how it goes.

OK, it didn't appear to work. This is what is happening now: While accelerating from a stoplight (slightly faster then normal - not punching it), the car will attempt to go into 2nd, hesitate, jump to 2nd and then quickly into 3rd. The hesitation is similar to fuel being shut off (I know it is not bad fuel, injector problem, etc.), the hesitation is real jerky. On the highway when I try to go above 65, it will appear to almost go into neutral - no acceleration, the engine will rev if I maintain the throttle - after the speed goes below 65, it appears to go back into gear. I saw postings regarding various adjustments, etc. - could this be the problem - another item of note - the temps were above 95 degrees and the car appeared to be running a little hot also.

124 tranny
 

Wellington-

Sorry the fluid change didn't work. But it was important to eliminate that as a possibility.

Hopefully, adjustments will do the trick. However, this is out of my realm of experience.

Hello, Steve?

Don't despair.

Do a search on "flairing". There are a number of excellent threads that will get you through the adjustments. They work! Have patience and you will have the transmission working properly soon if you follow Steve's already written threads.

thanks, will do.

There are a lot less external adjustments on a gas motor's automatic transmission.

I do not understand your symptoms, but I fear that you may have a totally separate problem; fuel or ignition related. To verify, try shifting totally manual. Start out in 2 and only shift out after you have accelerated. It is unlikely that acceleration while held in gear will cause such a loss of grip as to be the way you describe.

Can you check your manifold vacuum?

Update - I have been out of town so I am getting back to the problems with the 124 TE - I think now that this problem may not have anything to do with the tranny (or very little).
It appears that I am actually losing power somewhere - if I place the vehicle in park or neutral and rev the engine, I get to 3000 rpms and that's it! This would be consistant with the shifting problems I previously discribed: if I try to punch it a bit from a dead stop - the tranny would appear to jump/shutter and I would have to release the pedal and it would shift ok - on the highway, I could not exceed 65 mph. This appears to be consistant with the 3,000 rpm level.

I realize there are many reasons for power loss - plugs, fuel pump, etc. Any suggestions?

Maybe you have excess carbon build up. Try an italian tune-up. Seeing as you revved the engine to 3000 in neutral, try doing that in gear, and see how it works out.
Other than that... there are MANY other possibilities. Among the simplest though are the Italian tune up and try getting a bottle of TECHRON and running that through a tank of gas.

Thanks David, actually last night I pulled the plugs - sure enough they were "carbonized" - very thick. I cleaned them off the best I could, replaced them and noticed a much better improvement - I am going to pickup a new set today and replace, hopefully this will solve the 3000 rpm problem.

It sounds like the Italian tuneup is very similar to the Hungarian tuneup! Will do - thanks again.

Back Again! OK - we are sure now that I don't have a tranny problem, I have replaced the spark plugs, increased octane, added the Chevron fuel additive. Anytime, in neutral or driving, if the engine (tach reading) goes above 3,000 rpms it drops back down and will not go higher. The engine idles fine, It drives real well (even with AC on) unless I exceed 3,000 rpms (this means I slowly accelerate and can only top out at 65mph on the highway). I've looked for loose vac lines - but I am not sure where they all are. What is a puzzle, is this 3,000 rpm limit - it doesn't matter if I am in neutral, accelerating, or just driving down the highway, it happens at the same spot???

Does it happen at 3,000 rpm and above... or just at and close to 3,000 RPMs? Is 4,000 RPM ok?

David, I can't get above about 3,200 rpms at all! If I sit in neutral and hold it down it just revs to 3,200 max ( then it backs off to about 2,900 and increases to 3,200) it kinds of oscillates there. While on the road, I generally will accelerate slowly to allow the trans to shift and slowly build speed. If a try to accelerate too fast and exceed the 3,000 rpm limit it shifts - but it is pretty ugly. I can slowly accelerate with normal shifting of the tranny until I get to about 65 mph - that is where the rpms reach above the 3,000 rpm level, if I try to go faster it acts like it governs the speed and rpms.

Thanks

Beef....Wellington
 

Indeed, your problem may be stemming from other issues. Did you have a recent and decent tune-up? Did you put Redline sythetic oil in the tranny and rear dif? New tranny filter and gasket? Explore the cheaper fixes like fluids and plugs, cap, rotor, wires, etc. I know you must be frustrated at this point and $1000+ in lost coin and your babey still isn't right. My sympathies, brother. May the automotive gods shine brightly on you.

Jim
1992 500E

If all you can get is 3200 RPM out of the engine in neutral, this is an engine problem not a transmission problem. Look for horses, not zebras when you hear hoofbeats. Since you had a bad carbon deposit problem on your plugs, you might look for either valves that are adjusted way out of spec., or possibly timing also way out. How many miles on the car? Has anyone adjusted the engine lately? Were the plugs the right ones or were they way off in the heat range? Any possibility of fouled fuel? Something is simply not right here! Go through the various possibilities in a logical manner and you will get an engine that runs correctly, then work on the transmission.

I would put it into first gear, and then just try and get it up past 3,000 slowly... but then again, if it runs really rough, I wouldn't want to hurt it.
I agree with Jim on trying to get the cheaper fixes first... maybe you could try some of the X66 stuff (recent discussions on it) and see what happens if you still believe it's carbon build up... but carbon build up should slowly burn away the more you get the revs up... seems weird. Try a bottle of Techron also... what gas are you using? Good luck.

Thanks all for the help. The funny thing with this, other then the limit of 3,000-3,200 rpms is the car seems to be running well. The engine is quiet (not pinging), the tranny shifts a little rough (from other threads, this may be normal or could be improved with some adjustments). I use octane greater then 91, I am running tectron through the system.

I do have a local tech that I am going to take it to. I was hoping that others may have experienced this also. Anyway, I will follow-up on the cause for future reference after the tech gets done bilking my bank account.

Sounds a lot like a plugged exhaust (catalytic convertor).

Problem Solved!!!!
 

:D

Well, let me update you all! If you remember, I was having an acceleration problem - I could not go beyond 3200rpms (Drive, Neutral, or Park). Here is what was done.

7. Checked Catalytic Conv. - back pressure test and with it totally removed. (did not solve - conv. ok)

6. Checked Plugs - some carbon build-up, replaced (did not solve)

5. Checked and cleaned Distributor (did not solve)

4. Cleaned and checked injectors (did not solve)

3. Cleaned and checked Fuel Distributor (did not solve)

2. checked all vacuum connections (all in tack)

1. Replace Fuel Pump Relay - BINGO!!!

Evidently, the relay switch had some sort of govenor (sp) that went bad - the tech was not sure why there was a govenor (sp) on the switch - but it was there. Anyway, thanks for all your help and I hope this saves others some time and $$$$.

Wellington,
I'm glad you finally solved your problem. WHat a relief! It seems as though your rev-limiter wasn't working properly, it's supposed to prevent higher revs at about 6,000 RPM, not 3,200!
Well I'm glad your problem is solved. :D :) :o :eek: :p ;)

Thanks David,

I had the opportunity to participate with the tech during the search. This forum helped a lot with the process. The tech was very knowledgeable, but didn't mind my suggestions etc. His smile was as big as mine when we localized the problem.