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1986 Mercedes 300E Auto Flair Shift

Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2012 7:38 am
by MarionB2BAuto
I had a customer come in the other day with his 1986 300E. He is wanting us to take a look at his transmission because other shops either can't, or won't work on it. I hope someone out there has some experience. I am doing initial research right now. Here is the situation:

Under light to moderate acceleration transmission will flair and shift into second and third, shifts into 4th normally. If cruising in 4th and hard accelerate, transmission will downshift into 2nd or 3rd (depending on speed at time of downshift) normally with no flair. It will not always flair/slip, but it does do it with fair regularity. The fluid is a bright pink, and the customer replaced the filter and fluid recently. When he replaced the fluid he stated it was still a good pink color. He is an old-school tech and has worked on cars for most of his life, but he said he is just too old to mess with it. I have rebuilt transmissions for GM for 17 years, so I am not at all scared to crack this thing open, but was curious if there are any people out there that are familiar with this transmission. It is a 722.320 transmission model by I believe Borg/Warner.

Anyone out there with some info or advice?

Re: 1986 Mercedes 300E Auto Flair Shift

Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2012 8:40 am
by brianp87
I have never seen one. Good luck.

Re: 1986 Mercedes 300E Auto Flair Shift

Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2012 1:56 am
by steven kiser
I'm not 100% here but take a good look and see if there is a pressure cable attaching to the throttle linkage. I would run across one from time to time where the end of the sleeve is broken and messes up the transmission.

Re: 1986 Mercedes 300E Auto Flair Shift

Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2012 8:43 am
by MarionB2BAuto
I will look into it when he brings it back in. thanks for the tip!