82 300TD hard shifting from 1st to 2nd

My 82 300td seems to shift a little hard at slow speeds from 1st to 2nd. It seem to wait a little to long before shifting and then bam. Worse when cold. Does anyone know how to check for vacuum leaks.

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Chassis Model Number

W123

Could be a number of problems

Solving your transmission shift problem can be a complex issue. Much more than can be address in a short forum post. My manual on Diesel Transmission Troubleshooting and Adjustment is in the final phases of editing and should be out before summer.

I look forward to it.

Shiffting...

I have a 123 TD - 1984. I have had a number of shifting problems - the booklet that Ken B sells helps quite a bit -anyway, what I did with the 1st to 2nd shift was to loosen the bowden cable on top of the valve cover 1 or 2 turns at a time until the car shifts at 2000 rpm when I take my foot off the throttle. When starting off slow, I accelerate up to 2000 rpm, drop my foot off the throttle a little, and the car shifts into 2nd so softly I can't even feel the shift - and when I throttle up, it is in 2nd gear. Works good. When I want to start off quickly, I put my foot down on the throttle and it will shift fairly smoothly at a higher rpm - 2600 to 3000 rpm, depending on how much I put my foot down. You may have to adjust the rest of the system - the nut below that white thing (vacume adjustment - remove the white plastic cone, exposing a nut), make any adjustments a turn at a time. Try to find and get rid of any vacume leaks. My 4 way Y thing was leaking, I replaced it with a $1.00 'T' thing from a auto store. I also put some check valves in the air lines, don't know if they help at all, they didn't hurt anything. My car works very well now, and it has 280,000 miles on it...