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#1
03-12-2012, 11:26 PM
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108 Won't shift into 4th
A friend of mine found a '71 280S (108) a few hours away. The owner is asking $3300, because the car won't shift into 4th. It needs other things of course, front seat upholstery, door seals, etc. The car looks good, and supposedly drives well, I'll ask my friend to drive it.
My instinct is that it is likely a bad modulator, or split in the vacuum line going to the modulator, but I do not know anything about these transmissions. Any ideas? I would assume that as long as it is not slipping it does not need to be rebuilt. Thanks, Csaba 
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#2
03-13-2012, 09:59 AM
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Be aware that 1st speed with this trans is a very high "stump puller" type gear. If you're starting off in 2nd (which is what most people do), you've only got 2 gears left. These cars rev very high at highway speed, which is normal and not harming anything.
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#3
03-13-2012, 11:41 AM
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Ditto what Jmela said. Try starting-off in the "2" shifter position. It should start in 1st. Then go through the other gears and count them. Or floor the pedal from a dead stop.
It's weird that an owner would say it won't go into 4th if he's driven the car and knows how it works. The other possibility is the kickdown switch is malfunctioning.
__________________
1981 300TD 310k miles 1970 280sel 172k miles 1966 230 Fintail 162k miles "Where are we going? And why am I in this hand basket?"
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#4
03-13-2012, 04:48 PM
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I too had questions about my trans, since the first shift would occur when the car barely got moving from a dead stop. I assume the trans drops down in to 1st at a stop, then as it moves away gently from a stop (light pressure on the gas pedal) it immediately, as in within 2 car lengths, shifts in to 2nd. It'll hold that gear until around 18mph when it shifts in to 3rd.
Then in city street cruising (typical surface streets with 25mph speed limit, with traffic actually going around 30-30+) if I keep up with traffic at say 34.9mph, I feel the car is at the upper end of a rev range, so I will bump up my speed briefly to ~38mph and it'll shift in to 4th, at which point I drop back to the same speed everyone else is going at a lower RPM... (so as not to be "that guy" holding up traffic... or maybe I should just put on a fisherman's floppy hat and just drive around at 27mph with my right blinker on.  )Here is the thread I posted about my trans Qs... http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/vintage-mercedes/313885-108-280se-transmission-shift-speeds.html cheers, pat
__________________
Looking for Early 108 windshield surround wood in decent-to-good condition.
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