So.. heres my situation.....


My car has been running fine up until yesterday when I noticed the gears were shifting out of wack. Today it is totally noticeable... when i accelerate past say 50mph the car does not up shift and the rpms begin to run high.. it seem as if the gears are out of wack.. this all happenened in a very short timeframe(2 days). All the mechanics are closed until monday.. is it safe to drive with this problem or should I park it.. What is going on.. someone must know.?

 

by the way

my car is a 1990 500sl

 

it seems that your trany is starting to give! it should be ok to drive, just be cautious. are you hitting teh rev limiter? inbetwen second and third does it feel like its shifting into Nutral and reving up?
Mark

 

GO to the dealer and just have the trany serviced with new fluid and a filter. It is possible the fuid is low or old. I am not sure but some tranys have little filters in them called sylinoids. Ask a Benz technition if yours has one. Other wise I agree with the goose on this one. JJ

 

ya thats pretty much exactly how it feels.. like it just revs but theres no pull... also feels like its sticking in second.. or third and not shifting up during accelaration. Im gonna take it easy.. try to keep the speed down until monday when my shops open.

 

Park it until you can have it looked at. It could be valve body in the transmission and it's a common problem on aging MBs. If you continue to drive it you risk damaging other parts of the tranny and adding to the expense of the repair. The valve body isn't cheap but it's cheaper then a rebuild and you might have to replace two electronic transmission modules if your tranny has an updated valve body available. Mine is the 5 speed and that was the case since the old valve body that went with my electronics wasn't available anymore...your's a 4 speed, so I don't know if you will have to spend the extra $$$. It was $2K for mine including labor at a reasonable independent, the dealer will charge at least a few hundred more for this repair.

 

Do you notice any tranny fluid leak? It sounds like your fluid is low. I have a severe leak on my 87 300E (a quart every 100 miles), and it does exactly what you mentioned. Since it has over 300K on the clock, I choose not to have it fixed but keep adding fluid whenever it is low.

You should check the fluid level, but make sure it is at operating temp. Let the car run for 10-15 mins in the driveway and check the fluid.

 

I havnt noticed any leaking fluid... Sorry for my lack of knowledge but where is the cap to check the tranny fluid?? I'll talk a look at the level.

Dave.

 

happen to me.......nothing to worry about.......your fluid is low........