1986 240 DL HARD TO SHIFT

Hey everyone. I'm the happy new owner of an 1986 240 DL with automatic
trans. It seems to me that it requires more muscle than normal to shift
from P to R, or between any positions, for that matter. Sort of makes a
load "clunk" noise too, which you can feel. Is this normal - just a
matter of a heavy old car? Or does something need to be lubed,
replaced, etc? But runs like the wind...

Any help would be appreciated.

 

It's hard to say without feeling it for myself, but if it takes much effort
the linkage probably needs cleaning, lube and/or adjustment, pretty simple
once you're under the car.

 

Besides the linkage (as James Sweet suggests), a peek at the engine mounts
will tell you whether the tranny is tilting to one side because of a broken
or smooshed (technical term) mount. Don't forget the one that holds the tail
of the transmission.

Mike

 

And, as James and Michael said, there are two easy explinations:

1) The linkage is in and of itself binding. If you can get under the
car safely with a bright light you will see that there are three pivot
points to the linkage. One is at the base of the shifter itself, and
the two others are at each end of the rodt that connects the stick
shifter to the tranny. At each of thise three points there is one or
two bushings. If these are really dirty, broken, or missing it should
be easy to tell. You could even disconnect the one at the tranny and
have someone CAREFULLY shift through the gears to see if it is stiff.

1b) With the linkage off it may be possible to manually shift through
the gears by moving the lever on the side of the ranny to ascertain
whether that is he problem (see "3" below).

2) You may find that the linkage is difficult to remove becasue it is
under stress. This would be from the failure or shifting of one of the
"3" motor mounts (two front mounts and one tranny mount). With teh
stiuck shift car, it doesn't take much movement to make shifting
difficult. The mounts should not be deformed or shifted away from
parallel along their sides. If they like more like parallelograms than
rectangles, if they have separated, or are noticeably bulged or
disformed, then they need to be replaced. Fortunately, they are
inexpensive. Unfortunately, without a floor jack, firm ground, and
jack stands it can be difficult or even dangerous to change them if
you don't know what you are doing.

3) Those are the two easy solutions... unfortunatewly, the last one
would mean that there is probably something wrong in the tranny.


__ __
Randy & \ \/ /alerie's
\__/olvos
'90 245 Estate - '93 965 Estate
"Shelby" & "Kate"

 

That's a good point, bad mounts will also make the fan grind into the
shroud, been there, done that, should have thought of it here.

 

Thanks for the troubleshooting! All of it is beyond my mechanical
skills, but now I know what to suggest to my mechanic. I am, however,
going to take a crack at the notorious odometer repair.

And how about the erratic fuel gauge? Most people online are suggesting
it's probably the wires on top of the sending unit, and not the unit
itself. If it's the wires, are they fairly simple to replace?

But hey, body in excellent shape and only 100K on the engine, so I'm
happy.

 

Yeah the body/interior are the hard part to find in good shape on such an
old car, the inner workings are a breeze to deal with in comparison.

 

For the erratic fuel guage, in my 85 765T the guage was erratic because the
sender ground was screwed down, but the paint wasn't cleaned away under it.
A minute of scraping with a pocketknife and fastening the terminal back down
fixed it.

Mike

 

_____
Wires above the fuel tank are exposed since there is an air gap. the
harness to that point is usually good, but the connector under the
carpet could be dirty. Check the ground at that location. I would also
suspect the sender unit. Have a look at what i found in a 1981 245DL at
http://contrex-consulting.ca/245dl_1981_restoration.html. Go to section
3.1 Fuel injection system, and look for notes about the fuel sender. If
the sender unit is bad, you are in for a lot of work. Finally, it is
possible that the connections to the instrument cluster need cleaning.

/ JCH

 

_____
Note that this ground connection also provides the current path for the
in-tank fuel pump. The spade connector on top of the fuel sender top
must also be checked and cleaned. To reach that connector, remove the
two screws on the sender access cover. Reseal the cover with fresh
caulking compound if needed.

/ JCH

 

I thought it was separate in the 760, but I could be wrong. It can also be
different in the 240 anyway. If it is a combo ground, it won't take much
resistance to drive the guage crazy.

Mike

 

Okay guys. I've determined that the shifting issue is just a matter of
the car not having been driven much over the last 10 years. The
previous owner just kept it for his housekeeper to make weekly runs to
the market. So now it's broken in a bit more and working fine. But the
gas level sender issue remains, and I thank you for your input.

 

Change oil in gearbox.

Gas sender level - wiring. The wire is intermittent from the sender to the
gauge. The 2 devices themselves are not prone to failure, the wire is.