At 165,000 miles, my automatic transmission on my 1988 240DL is starting do do some odd things.

At times, it seems to be delaying the shifts, sometimes quite long. Mostly I notice that it takes forever to shift into overdrive. This seems to happen intermittently. I can drive for a few days and it is fine, then the problem recurs.

On less frequent occasions, it seems like the 2-3 shift is delayed as well, but I'm not quite sure.

In addition, the automatic downshift when i floor the accelerator pedal isnt happening at all. For the last few months months I noticed that the pedal seemed harder to push than normal. Now I can't get it to downshift at all. I CAN still downshift manually by placing the shifter in "2" that works fine.

So... what do you guys think? Is my transmision dying or completely shot? Is it one problem or several?

Should I change the fluid? It has been many years since I have done this and the fluid looks very brown to me.

Also, it seems like I hear some unusual "whirring" sounds from down there but I'm not sure if that's my imagination or not.

Is there something else I should look at? Any common failure modes?

I'm not really in the mood to replace a transmission. I have done one before but that was like 25 years ago. I'm not sure If I'm up to the task. I'm guessing it could quite pricey If I have to pay someone to do it.

And just when I think I have all the other problems solved.

Thanks,

Greg P.
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1988 240 DL 163,000 miles