Last week my 300E was 'drug home in disgrace', after the engine stopped running in rush hour traffic - and refused to restart.

I was planning on doing some under hood inspection anyway as drivability was [and is] poor. The car is upshifting into top gear by 25 mph, and does not downshift when [moderately] stomping on the throttle. [I need to get out of the local roads to see if flooring it to hit the kickdown switch will force a kickdown]

Shifts are [too] quick and smooth, and the transmission downshifts when you get slow enough.

All the vacuum lines seem to be in place, but the dashboard gauge goes deep into the red with even moderate throttle.

Most of the other posts regarding transmission problems seem to be a failure to upshift combined with hard shifting.

I was wondering what to look at next with the opposite problem.

I would like to get some confidence back in the car - driving the Escape isn't quirky enough.