My 1984 240DL is not going into 4th. It did this Friday night, but when I decelerated, it went into 4th. It was fine all weekend, but did it again this morning. Just wondering what could be causing this. It was 16 degrees here this morning...would that cause it to do that? Or would low transmission fluid? I haven't checked the trans fluid yet...guess that would be the first thing to do. Any suggestions? PS: I'm not even skilled enough in auto repair to call myself a "novice." But I would rather do what *I* can before taking it to my mechanic. I would appreciate any and all advice.

Thanks in advance,

MS Tennis

You do not mention what the Overdrive light (the arrow) is doing, does it stay off at all times? If it comes on then most likely a bad OD relay. Easy fix, replace or just resolder it.

I replaced the OD relay just a few months ago. Prior to replacing the OD relay, the "OD Off" light would stay on constantly, or would just come on by itself (even when I was doing about 75 on the highway--made an ugly noise). After replacing the OD relay, no more problems with 4th. Until now. But yesterday, I checked the trans fluid, and it was not even registering on the stick. So I added fluid and it is shifting to 4th now. The only thing is, even when shifting into 3rd, if I don't ease off on the accelerator a little, it will stay in 3rd or 4th. I may be showing my ignorance here, but I don't recall having to ease off on the accelerator in order for the car to shift gears. Is this normal? Or is my transmission going out?

MS Tennis

Make certain that the transmission kick down cable is not caught on the manifold.

This happened to the 2 240's I own last weekend!

From the drviers side of the car, follow the round silver hockey puck looking thing which has a cable on the top (the throttle) and a cable on the bottom (the transmission kick down or upshift cable). Is the tranny cable free? On both mine the cable got "S-curved" by a bolt on the intake manifold and a casting. This effectively locked the transmission in "passing gear".

Neither car would shift out of second or third and the upshifts were very hard.

I am considering making a small cable router which would prevent this from happening.

peace

Is it manual or auto?

Auto.

There are 2 possibilities, the overdrive relay or the overdrive solenoid. If you press the overdrive button on and off and the overdrive light goes on and off and you hear clicks coming out from behind the dash, your overdrive relay is ok, if not, replace it. On my 87 240 its between top center vents and the radio (high mounted). I dont know where it is in an 84. If the OD relay is ok, crawl under the car and check for 2 small wires going to the top driver side of the transmission, alot of time these 2 wires rot and comes loose, thats why sometimes it works, sometimes not. Resolder and secure these wires and hopefully you'll have your 4th gear back.