New member here from Southern California who loves and adores their Pagoda. Even when she acts up and abuses me, I seem to love her even more. I may suffer from battered woman syndrome, but that's a separate issue.
Here is what's going on with my Pagoda;
Life was peachy, and my 1964 230SL was running very nicely 25 miles round trip (most of those miles were freeway miles), every day for perhaps 2 weeks straight. A British car friend was in town so I suggested we drive the Pagoda from Carlsbad to San Clemente Outlet Mall so he could experience a true Southern Californian Cars and Coffee.
So we all went; the Brit, myself and the Pagoda, drove 43 kilometers (26.3 American miles), to San Clemente. It was such a lovely day-turned-afternoon, then out of NO WHERE, as we approached the freeway onramp for home, the Pagoda’s behavior drastically changed;
- She started hiccupping, would lurch forward, then almost die, so pressing on the accelerator was necessary to keep her from dying, then you’d get the lurch-y thing again.
- But at the same time, a ton of pressure had to be maintained on the brake to keep the Pagoda from driving itself through the intersection.
We took shelter at a Mexican restaurant and drank margaritas while waiting for a tow home. Because the car caught between almost dying and lurching forward, I rode with the tow guy as he drove the Pagoda onto the flat bed cheering him on to “punch it” (accelerator) then “Ok Ok! Break! Break!” so the car wouldn’t hit the back of his cab.
The following is the Pagoda’s abbreviated Medical history;
- This 1964 230SL Euro version has been severely molested before acquiring it in 2016. Somebody had the gaul to;
- Convert to an automatic transmission
- Original engine removed, and a 280SE implanted in it’s stead.
This forum is a wealth of information, and there are a handful of previous posts which closely resemble what we experienced that afternoon driving home from San Clemente.
Before breaking into open heart surgery on the car, is there a fluid level to check that may solve the problem? It’s been my experience with owning classic cars (American ones at least), that sometimes there is a very simple fix.
PREVIOUS FORUM POSTS describing similar symptoms:
- A September 12, 2009 response to a post from a forum user suffering from jerky gear shifting, directed him to the Linkage tour.
- A different post from April 26, 2009 endorsed changing the plastic transmission bushings as they tend to wear out and disintegrate.
- Stickandrudderman seemed to nail the general feeling in a September 13, 2020 post when he stated, “…there are so many idiosyncrasies to these cars; if they’re not properly set up then the symptoms are just some of the many ways that many faults can manifest themselves”. Sigh.
- The clutch seems to be another popular culprit…
- And lastly, May 10, 2009, someone on the forum suggested to another user suffering from similar symptoms, to replace the fuel pump, and or investigate possible fuel starvation, hence the fuel filter, a detached fuel feed line, or a clogged fuel tank that may have sediment in the bottom.
So many places to start investigating, but again, is there a fluid level or something ridiculously simple that could be the culprit?
Thank you for your consideration,
Marisa
