Wow - thanks for all the help. Only just joined the forum, and that's a great welcome...

Yep, vacuum line had popped out! Feel like a bit of an idiot - though in my defence this is my first diesel, and first automatic... Having reconnected it though, while a vast improvement, the shifts do not seem entirely regular - sometimes it feels like I'm only going through 3 gears, skipping over 3rd and straight to 4th....

Having had a closer look at the vacuum line arrangements, I think something may be missing on my engine: every picture and diagram I have found seems to have at least one more 3-way connector than I do...my surge damper - I think that's what it is...stubby green cylinder with tube coming off either side? - is not connected to any other line...and I'm a little confused by functioning of the 3-tube switch connected to the throttle linkage...

Has anyone got good photos or a definitive diagram of their set-up for a 240d automatic. I've had contradictory results searching for one..?

Good news however - because it's been running with the present set-up for at least 15 or 20 000 miles, and the shifting is functional, if not perfect, I figured I'd give her a post-valve-adjustment run...all was very smooth, and my mpg went from a pre-treatment 26ish to a scarcely credible 38!