I just test drove a 1994 e320 car that kind of clunks into gear during driving (upshifts, I'm not talking about when you shift from park into drive), and feels generally numb responsive wise. I know it's not going to be as responsive as some more modern cars, but my real concern is the clunky type of shifting- is this "normal"? I've never driven a w124 before this so I don't know. I do know my father's 1985 528e shifted clunky from the day we bought the car used with 70,000 miles and the tranny never broke when the car was sold with 230,000 miles. I also recall years ago driving a 1984 300SD that shifted funky but that may have been a function of the vacuume adjustment for the diesel.

I guess, my real question is, is this normal shifting? The seller said the dealer just perfomed a transmission service and it was normal, but that of course is something I'm hearing from the seller not the mechanic personally....

Thanks for any input!
-Andrew

 

Andrew,
I've got a '94 E320 Wagon and it shifts beautifully, although my earlier '92 300TE did not. I mostly solved the 300TE's rough shifting by adjusting the vacuum modulator on the side of the transmission. It's not too hard to do and needs only a 1/4 turn to make a difference.