Charlie, Bad Boy,
You are not alone though, I had a similar issue and I had just changed pan, gasket, and filter in the tranny, so I just swore the fluid was fine, two weeks later the tranny was acting up like super way bad. I was so concerned, started calling tranny shops to book, everything, then it got so bad, i finally stopped at a truck stop and checkd the fluid, it was like almost non existant! I has the gasket tear along the pan and it was leaking out under pressure like a sieve! New gasket and fluid and all was back to normal, I felt like a fool, You jast have to be logical and methodical. Go by steps and logic and you can track any car issue. Good luck

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Christopher Henkel
1990 190E 2.6 - Arctic white SOLD
1986 190E-16v - Blauswartze
1993 300CE - SOLD
2003 W208 CLK 320 Cabriolet - Magma Red