Hubbidaddy

Hello,

My daugther bought her first car and it needs a lot of work. She had her heart set on a 300E since she learned on mine. The car she bought has 92K on it, and has very strange shifting symptoms. In 2, the car starts off in 1st, and usually will not shift into second untill you move the shifter to 3. When you do it will up shift to second for a breif period of time then act like it slipped into nuetral untill you move the shifter back to 2 and it stays in second gear. Sometimes it will shift from 1st to second fine when the shifter is in the 2 position, but it never hits 3rd under any circumstances. My 88 300E had something weird like that and it turned out to be the shift cable adjustement. I told her to expect to replace the tranny. The fluid is full and not burnt, we only drove it to get it home from the lot she bought it from. I read about a spring that might be he 2nd to 3rd shift problem. Any advice?

ps2cho

The K1 spring could be toast...but first check the linkage.

These transmissions rarely fail, but the disks inside will over time like any transmission. 92k sounds very early though...

If she just bought the car, first check the linkage, then get the fluid and filter changed, then possibly look into the K1 spring.

Hubbidaddy

Automatic transmissions are not my best subject, are the adjustments in the engine compartment or down at the tranny? It is 17 degrees outside right now, so I will check tomorrow. I was also reading about the modulator adjustment for the correct pressure on another forum. I did hear a strange sound like rocks hitting the undercarriage when I drove it, I think I read that the linkage is known to pop out or something. So I am just visually going to run down the cables from the tranny up right? I was unable to locate a good chilton for this car.

Thanks for the advice so far!

ps2cho

The Haynes manual is best to get for the car.

The linkage is at the engine near the back. It is adjusted clockwise for harder shifts and anticlockise for softer (IIRC).

The rule of thumb is not to touch the modulator unless its a last resort.

Hubbidaddy

Well after a little more investigation I checked the fluid again, very burnt. My parts get here Tuesday, but now the car is under 2 feet of snow and blocked in by a huge pile of snow that will be here until mid March, so any repair attempts will have to wait. My mechanic said the 93 2.8L "might" have a drain plug on the torque converter. Does anyone know?

ps2cho

Yes it has a plug on the TC. Make sure to drain it there is a lot of fluid in it. To access it you are "supposed" to turn the crankshaft at the front (17mm), but I just used a big screwdriver to turn the TC until the plug is visible.

JSe420

yup i agree with ps2cho. Its tough to get to the 27mm crankshaft so its easier to just turn the tc with a big screwdriver. Just be careful not to break the bell housing, seen that done before. Not a huge problem, but still

If you have an insufficent amount of fluid or if the fluid is thin and burnt it might not be capable of holding or delivering the pressure needed.