My daughter recently purchased an '88 240 Sedan. Vehicle itself is in very nice shape. Has 150,000 miles. There are two issues with the vehicle.
The first issue is with the transmission. It seems that when she goes to shift it into drive, there is a slight delay. At other times it will not go into drive at all. When this happens she just lets it run for 15 minutes and it finally shifts into drive.
It's been years since I've worked on cars but I remember things like shift linkage, band adjustments, trans seals, changing trans fluid. She's been told that because the vehicle sat for some time (i'm guessing 6 months) that the trans seals dry out some and this could be the problem. What has been proposed to her is a transmission flush. The mechanic suggested that he add some brake fluid to the trans to soften the seals and thus prolong any major trans work, which could run as high as $2000.00. I'm hoping that there is a more favorable approach to remedy this problem. Any help with this will be greatly appreciated.

The second issue is much simpler (I hope). The seat belt red light in the center lower part of the dash stays on and will not go off - doesn't matter if the belts are hooked up or not.

Thanks, Ron

 

My suggestion is to flush the transmission and put some new tranny fluid in it. There are some over the counter transmission leak stop (seal softener) additives at the local auto shop. I have not used them, but I have heard good things about the Lucas products. It could just be low on tranny fluid, but you most likley already checked that. I have seen some dumb things where people put power steering fluid or 80W in auto trannies, that is why I reccomend the flush. The seat belt light should shut off when the metal belt clip completes the circuit. I don't know off hand if the 88' 240 has a sensor in the passenger seat (a little switch that gets pressed when something or someone sits on the seat). You might want to check for a passenger seat switch, loose wires around the seat belt clips and look for crumbs and other gunk in the seatbelt recepticle.

 

Thanks Chris: That's a good idea about the Lucas additive. They have an excellent reputation. I've used them before.
I'll also check out the areas you mentioned for the seat belt light. Thanks for your input. Will let you know how I make out.

Ron

 

Got a price to flush the transmission - $150.00. The mechanic recommended that I skip the flush for now and try adding a small amount of DOT 3 to the trans. to soften the seals. He said these AW70 transmissions were very good units - bullet proof, as he put it. I felt that if I at least drained the pan and replaced with new trans fluid, that would help even more. However, I didn't look forward to crawling under the car and fiddling with the nuts where the dipstick goes into the pan. So I got out my Shur-Flo pump and put the 1/4" diameter plastic tubing down the dipstick tube and pumped 3 quarts of trans fluid out. Replaced it with new trans fluid and the DOT 3 and took it for a drive. Since I never drove the car before I couldn't compare but I can tell you that it went into gear very nicely and shifts very smoothly. I hope this corrects the intermittent problem my daughter has been having with the car. I've thought about doing the pump and fill thing another 2 times - at least a larger percentage of the fluid would be new.

As for the seat belt light, I took the easy road and just removed the bulb. Was very easy to get to.

Thanks again.

 

Those pumps are really nice...good for oil changes as well. They get ALL the sludge out of the bottom of the pan.

It's an easy job to completely flush ALL the tranny fluid yourself...just get at least a 5 gallon container or bucket to receive the old fluid, and have a helper to add new fluid as the tranny pumps the old (out of the upper fitting on the radiator).

Here's the complete procedure:

http://www.brickboard.com/FAQ/700-90...X940FluidFlush

That way you will get it done in one shot.


Of course, flushing it "statically" with your pump is more fun, I'll bet...

 

Carbuff:

Thanks for the flush info. I copied all 29 pages of it. I'll try that sometime.

What I did when I pumped it out was I had two empty plastic water bottles. After I pumped out all I could (3 qts), I sat the empty bottle right next to the one with the old fluid and filled the empty to the same level with the new fluid. Then added it thru the dipstick tube.

It would be more efficient to just flush it as per the instructions you noted. But since I've started with the pump I'll complete the job this way. I plan on doing it two more times. I figure by then I should have at least 65% new fluid in tranny.

By the way, that's a nice looking wagon you have.

Thanks, Ron

 

Actually it's not that involved...in a nutshell, you open the upper tranny line at the radiator. Hook a hose from the rad to your receiver bucket.

Then while one person watches the fluid going into the bucket (it doesn't pump all that fast with the engine idling) the other pours new fluid into the dipstick hole (using an appropriate funnel). The goal is not to let the tranny pump air...you have to keep pouring the new fluid in.

When the "old" fluid starts to become red (indicating that the new fluid has cycled throughout the tranny) you are done. Takes about 20 minutes.

Note: If your helper is colorblind [:@] you may need a couple extra quarts more than what you anticipated! I did...