Hello - first of all, I just found brickboard, and It´s been a wealth of help for me recently. Thanks to everyone who post regularly.

I just bought an 1985 244 DL, kind of on a whim, after I sold my 1995 850 Turbo. 212,000 miles, strong B230 engine, manual M46 tranny - 4 speed with overdrive. So far it´s been a fantastic, reliable car in general, and I´m driving it almost every day now, trying to get a feel for it. However, I don´t think I have, or else something´s wrong.

If I shift and accelerate into 1st gear too quickly (i.e. not overly conservatively), not only does it (the whole car) shake and shudder, but the shifter will shake from side to side, and I feel that it might be the whole tranny that is moving around during takeoff.

Should I look for tranny or engine mounts? I havn´t seen their locations, and I´m afraid that one may be missing or damaged. This is one thing I havn´t dealt with before. Or could it be that the tranny is just on its way out?

I´m also thinking that it could be something with the clutch. It doesn´t have the fluidity of the clutch on my old Mazda pickup. Could it be that something is sticking, either open or closed? Again, I´ve done my fair share of garage work, but I´m pretty uneducated about manual transmissions.

I also have the apparently common problem of the OD not working for the first 10 miles or so of driving. Once everything seems to warm up, it works without fail, green light and all. Can I take apart and clean up this solenoid, or must I simply buy a new one?

Thanks for all your help.

- Josh, in IL, near St. Louis