BENZ AID - COMMON QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

Everything on my car works great except the auto trans and I am by passing that problem by shifting manually.
Question to you "am I doing any damage" by not allowing trans to shift automatically?
Right now, 1st gear shifts out quickly below 10mph, 2nd shifts at 18mph with a huge flair and 3rd shifts a little firm.
What I have been doing is keeping 1st in gear until 17mph (high revs)then manually shifting to 2nd and the shift is smooth as can be! Shift into 3rd manually is around 35mph (high revs)also smooth as silk and then we are off to the races and as long as it's in high gear it will run all day without any problem.
What is your take on what I'm doing as far as future problems being created.

I am still trying to track down a baffling noise that one tech has said is a rod knock. The 300D has 117k miles and has had regular service by the M-B dealer where it was purchased. I am the second owner having purchased the car at 116k.

I have now driven the car 1,500 miles half of it on Interstates. Last weekend I did about five miles at 95mph. The noise hasn't changed the oil pressure still pegs above 3 bar at speed and just below 2 at idle.

I keep thinking that if this was a rod bearing it would have gotten much worse by now.

Hello, the reverse lights in my 84' 300D are not working, the bulbs are good and all other lights now work as intended, I'm thinking maybe something with the neutral safety switch.

Kent,
I am replacing the front seal in a 1982 300d. I used the kit and the seal installed quite easily. The problem occurs with the install of the balancer. The two pins are not attached to the balancer on the 300D as it was in my 240D balancer. The problem is that even when I heat up the balancer to 300 degrees in a toaster oven, (it can be positioned for nearly a minute) the pins do not fit into the holes. Every time I try to insert them, they go in partially and then stop with most of the pin sticking out or on a angle.