W201 1.8 1991 aut. - Gearbox adjusted
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C238 E220d 4Matic Coupé - W176 A200d - W201 190E 1.8 Aut.
W201 1.8 1991 aut. - Gearbox adjusted
I am the happy (and lucky) owner of a Mercedes 190E (W201) 1.8 aut., from 1991. It's in pretty good shape both cosmetically as well as mechanically. I spent a good year restoring it back to original. It has been running very well, but someone asked me if I ever had the automatic re-adjusted since rolling of the assembly line 34 years ago... So, with that question, I took the car to a SPECIALIST in vintage Mercedes cars and gearboxes. He spent only 1.5 hours fine-adjusting the gearbox... and guess what, it runs like new. Crazy what change it made. Not saying you shall do the same, but, food for thoughts
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From: SF Bay Area, CA
190E 2.6L 1989, 190E 2.6L 1988, BMW 535dXdrive 2014, BMW 428i 2015
Very happy to hear Harritso. Both mine are manual transmissions so I would not know but for other's benefit do you know know how they adjusted things?
I have heard of the vacuum modulator bowden cable adjustment and perhaps a gear selector lever adjustment only.
I have heard of the vacuum modulator bowden cable adjustment and perhaps a gear selector lever adjustment only.
Thread Starter
Junior Member
Joined: Jan 2025
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C238 E220d 4Matic Coupé - W176 A200d - W201 190E 1.8 Aut.
Vacuum controls how "hard" the shifts are, the manual cable controls when the shifts take place - both are super sensitive, and not for the novice without special tools
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1991 190E 2.3
I've owned my 1991 190E-2.3 automatic since it was brand new. I've never done any "adjusting" of the transmission because it works just fine. The harder shifting that the MBs from that era are known for is because back in that time the engineering thinking was that smoothing out the shifting was harder on the transmission components ,resulted in more wear and tear on the transmission which resulted in transmissions not lasting as long. The harder shifting was felt to cause less wear and tear on transmission components resulting in a longer transmission life..
