Could the bowden cable have stretched so the adjustments make no difference?

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Muleears
'07 E320 Bluetec 133K my DD
'04 Jaguar XJ8 VDP, 34K
'10 Hyundai Accent 60K Grocery Getter
'02 VW Golf soon to be on the road again
'97 E300 Diesel Son's DD
'61 VERY tolerant wife

Hampton Roads, VA USA

Gone but not forgotten:
'67 250S 95K
'86 300SDL
'87 300D Turbo, 364K! R.I.P.
'98 E300 Turbodiesel, 213K
'02 S420, 164K
'01 Prius 138K

I don't think so - but I've never run into a problem like this before. You might want to start a new thread on this subject, something like "W124 transmission upshifts too soon", etc. Might find someone who has an idea what else to look at...

Yes, please do that - on BOTH of your 1987 300D's. It will shift hard (brutally hard at light throttle) but should shift at the same RPM's as before, on both cars...

whats an ALDA?

Vast simplification: It's the device that tells the injection pump to send more fuel as boost pressure increases, and vice-versa. The pumps tend to lean out as they age and if you tweak the ALDA setting it can return power to normal.

how do u do that? b/c i have similar symtoms, 91 300e 3.0.
if i gun it off the start it accelrates very slowly. but if im driving and gun it , it goes. and when it shifts, its shifting very hard. if i stop and turn a corner, and giving it a little gas, u can har the tires squeel when it shifts hard.
aany ideas?
thanks

What does ALDA stand for? Is one of the A's "aneroid"?

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85 300D turbo pristine w 157k when purchased 161K now
83 300 D turbo 297K runs great. SOLD!
83 240D 4 spd manual- parted out then junked

"Hmmm. Will it rev to 5000rpm in park? Floor the pedal and listen, it should scream away (don't worry, it's governed, just don't hold it up there for more than a couple of seconds.)"

This reminds me of a funny story. I was 17 at the time and worked at a dealership as a car jockey. I had to move a shiney new Avanti and noted the tach says something like 6000 RPM. So, in neutral, i floored it peddle to the metal and held it and watched the pegged needle. after a short period, I heard a loud bang and everything came to s stop. I called the mechanic and told him the engine stopped (I didn't tell him what I did though).

He later asked what the hell did you do all the belts came off? I said with a stupid grinn: "nothing"

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85 300D turbo pristine w 157k when purchased 161K now
83 300 D turbo 297K runs great. SOLD!
83 240D 4 spd manual- parted out then junked

bear with me because I will probably ramble in this reply.

Purchased my first MB diesel last october, with no prior knowledge of such cars. I drove it home and thought to my self "this car is slow and the trans mission shifts funny, but I guess its an old diesel so oh well"

Then I got on here and started reading about the 1987 300D's and the ability to hit 60 in the 10 second range, I was closer to 30 so I started pokin around.

I thought maybe it was a power issue so one day after reading a bunch on here and realizing that my trapox had been replaced I started to play around.
* I made sure the turbo spun freely and had no play.
* I replaced my fuel filters
* I did some reading and tracing and found that someone had already disabled the EGR and done it somewhat propperly.
* Cleaned boost lines to overboost protection solenoid and ALDA.
* Checked vaccum all over the place with my guage on my Mity-Vac.

Everything looked great and the car started better that newer diesel trucks I've owned and idled absolutely smooth and so quiet.

after a few adventures I was unable to find any power and still had long hard shifts.

I let a friend that is a diesel truck mechanic look at it and drive it around, he said he thought the car ran great for 300K miles and that he thought if we adjusted the throttle valve cable up tighter it would rectify some of the shifting issues and would kick down earlier and make it feel more powerful. I didn't let him touch anything because on advice from this board and some of its members in sidebars I thought the car should run better.

Frustrated, I dug the boost guage out of my Cummins powered truck and rigged it up to a T in the line going to the overboost solenoid.
I was seeing maybe 2lbs of boost at max load going up the road in 2nd and 3rd gear. OBVIOUSLY THERE WAS A PROBLEM.

Confered with some other board members and decided it could be a clogged cat and that I would lose only the time taking it off to check it out. Took the down pipe off and just left the exhaust exiting the turbo. The boost guage instantly hit 12+ psi when we left the driveway with my foot on the floor and every issue with power and shifting went away. The car accelerates like a 603 with un-molested ALDA should and shifts better than any other automatic car I've ever owned.

I'm not sure if my shifting troubles were the same as yours but you may want to check the cat. Boost and power expected by the tranny due to the vacuum signal it is receiving obviously affects how it shifts.

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87 300D Turbo (still wondering about #14 head)
98 Buick Regal GS (one quick grocery gettr)
07 Honda CBR1000RR
04 Dodge Ram Laramie 4x4 CTD (heaven)
95 Dodge Ram 3500 CTD. Need snow plowed?

Your 300E has a totally different setup than the diesels. but if you are getting hard shifts, I'll almost guarantee you have a vacuum leak between the engine (intake manifold) and the transmission. There is a single vacuum line, check that and make sure it's intact, and the rubber fittings on both ends are not falling apart. The fluid & filter need changing every 30kmi, so do that also if necessary. (Make sure to drain the torque converter also - half the fluid is in there.)

It's an acronym for a long German term (or terms). I don't recall offhand what that is. I know the non-turbo models have an ADA (no "L") which compensates fuel delivery based on altitude only. The ALDA adjusts for both altitude and boost pressure.

The 300e is a gas engine, no ALDA.

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Gone to the dark side

- Jeff

True. However you can tweak the EHA on the M103. The effect is similar to tweaking the ALDA on the OM602/603. However you'll need to adjust the idle mixture afterwards, which requires an ammeter and home-made wiring harness. Kind of a pain, but if you have a doggy 300E it can help. This won't do squat for shift quality on the gas engine though. The gasser sends the shift signal based on engine load, the diesel sends the signal based almost entirely on throttle position, which is why the two respond differently.

Muleers,

Did you ever check boost pressure?

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1990 300d 2.5 new to me.