My 1982 240D w/ automatic trans has been parked in the driveway since last Tuesday night when the big Midwest snowstorm landed its bullseye on me. I parked the car that night to awake to 4 inches of snow. I live in a rather hilly area and hitched a ride into work. Later that night the main storm hit and we ended up with around 22" of snow. The car remained parked and unstarted until Sunday. I decided to atleast dig the car out and help my dad clear the rest of the driveway. The car started up with a bit of engine starting fluid as an incentive (note the car had not been started in 5 days and it had not been above freezing and my block heater is kaput). I allowed the car to warmup to
60c or so and put it into drive and the tires spun, we then used a tow rope and our 02 Ford Explorer Sport Trac to pull the car out (in drive w/ slight gas applied) in order to be able to clear the driveway. This worked fine, no strange noises, pops or cracks and i left the car running while we cleared the area. I put the car into reverse to back it back into its preivous parking place and the tires spun again (ice was caked on the tires themselves). So i held the brake to stop the tires and put the car into park to go get my dad to push the car a bit and get it moving. When i stepped out of the car i was amazed to see the tires still spinning. I checked and surely enough the car was in park. I tried shifting to drive and other gears and the shifter gave me no trouble and the car made no noises. Amazed, i looked under the car for damage and checked the trans fluid, nothing looks to be damaged or hurt in any way. I eventually assumed there had to be ice building blocking a lever, no such luck as the temperature reached 50 today and ice would have surely melted. The trans would not shift hard, as in later than factory but not danagerously when driven with the ac turned off, i always drove with it on when driving in town. When in "park" the reverse lights are not lit, but the car is in reverse when shifted to reverse the reverse lights come on.It truely is time for me to find a new car, and im eyeing a pre-EDS
300D from the early nighties, however ill be waiting for my income tax returns before i go car hunting. Any and all ideas are welcome, minus those cut out the floorboards and do it flintstones style :)- Mitch Stuck in reverse