Hello all. I have a down-and-out 1987 240 dl and I needed some advice on what may be wrong with it and about how much it would cost to fix. When I'm driving on the highway, between 60-75 mph on somewhat hilly highway, my transmission started shifting very strangely. I pulled over to find that I had lost a great deal of transmission fluid. When it starts shifting strangely, it goes into a lower gear (or higher) on the hills and gets much louder. The temperature shoots up and I have to get to the right lane and slow down to about 55 mph until it cools down. When I pulled over to put trans fluid in, it took about 2 quarts. I drive about 220 miles on Fridays and 220 back on Sundays. I was told that I needed to replace my a bushing of some sort, but I don't quite recall what it was. Please let me know what this may be, thank you very much.

Sounds like a tailshaft bushing and its seal have gone south.

Do you feel any vibrations from the transmission/driveshaft area? Drivehaft moves around when the bushing goes bad...

Should be about $200 to fix in a shop or do it yourself for much less.


Good luck,
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Jim 90 244DL with 240K!

How would I go about fixing this myself? Is there an FAQ on this somewhere that I'm missing? Also, are the parts readily available at parts stores?

The URL below is from the 700/900 FAQ. See features pulldown menu above. A good starting place.

http://www.brickboard.com/FAQ/700-900/TransmissionAuto.htm

Also, you might want to do a search for tailshaft bushing as well.

I had mine replaced by a mechanic not long after I bought my car. Might attempt it now that I know more. From what I understand, it appears to be a medium difficulty job. Not a piece of cake, but not the hardest one around either. I think the main thing is that you gotta be comfortable working under the car and removing/replacing the d-shaft and rear trans. housing.
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Jim 90 244DL with 240K!