Hi all,

Last night as I was driving home worrying about the fact that I need replace the hose in the in-tank fuel pump when all of a sudden my car slowed down and it seemed like the transmission was stuck in a lower gear. Engine sounded like it was working hard just to go 30 mph and I could hear a soft whistle coming from somewhere in the engine bay.

This morning I checked the transmission fluid (seems fine if a bit too full) and when I drove to work, everything worked fine.

I'm just concerned that this may happen again and damage something that will cost a lot to fix.

Regards,

Ruben
91 240 88,000 miles
MIami

Did the problem start without having recently mad any changes to the accelerator position? If it happened after releasing the pedal (after accelerating), maybe the kickdown cable got caught on the throttle mount bolt. This happened to me.

With the engine off, rotate the throttle pulley, then hold the kickdown cable so it doesn't retract, and release the throttle. You'll see the kickdown cable loop near the throttle housing bolt. I put on a piece of duct tape to prevent the cable from extending around the bolt end.

If the problem definitely started while holding steady on the accelerator though, this would not likely explain your problem.

If an engine has a performance problem that prompts you to give excess pedal just to keep moving the transmission of course will down shift because of the action of the kick down cable. The symptom you describe may not be the tranny at all but a loss of engine power. Only you the driver can tell if it was a lack of engine power or unwanted downshift.

Of course a bad/out of adjustment kick down cable will cause delayed upshift or unwanted downshifts. If it downshifted from 4th (overdrive) to 3rd you may have a filing OD relay, resolder it.

All of the above is documented in the 700 FAQ section and applies to your 240 as well.
--
David Hunter

This happened to my 88 240DL several years ago. It occurred on and off. Later on I replaced the Over Drive Relay (about $30) and then it was OK.
If this happens to you again, you may pull over (if not on Freeway), turn the engine off and start again. If that problem goes away, then you may think about replacing OD relay.

Maybe your shifter linkage is not well aligned, or loose.

See if there is any play in it when in "D". It should be smooth and tight.
If not, either some bushings are broken/missing or a tightening nut is loose.

If it's tight, while coasting down the road on third try lightely pushing the stick up or down, see if it downshifts. Of course do this without pressing the button on the shifter. If it downshifts, or disingages, it is misaligned. Alignement is easy and painless, just a bit dirty undo there...

Otherwise maybe your fluid is old and dirty? I just flushed mine and I must say it shifts quicker.

Greg Mustang
Montreal - Ottawa
Canada

...also, are you sure it is not stuck in third gear? Often the OD relay goes bad, maybe just a resoldering, or the OD solenoid is sticky or has a poor contact. 2nd to third and third to 4th(OD) being problematic would likely have very different causes...