Hey just installed a brand new kickdown switch and everything remains normal.

When I begin to think of it, I really wonder what sort of treatment I would have received if I drove the car to an MB shop and explained the problem I was experiencing to them. Perhaps they would have told me my transmission was going to hell and made me bend over and take it in the rear like a man by paying for a rebuilt transmission? I've still got the old kickdown switch and the crazy kid in me is beginning to tell me to put it back in the car and drive the car to the MB shop just to see what they say. Hmm... if I actually pull it off, the results should be interesting.

__________________
1999 Mercedes-Benz S600, 103K miles - garage queen
1988 Mercedes-Benz 560SEL, 89K miles - daily driver
2007 Hyundai Sonata Limited, 31K - daily driver

It all depends on their honesty.

The diagnosis was not all that difficult, so, I would suspect that they can make the proper diagnosis. But, if they are dishonest, and you came in there in a business suit with no knowledge of the vehicle, they might size you up as a "mark" and tell you that the tranny is NG. They roll the dice and see if you bite.

With this problem, I'd seriously put my money on straight dishonesty, rather than stupidity should they fail to properly diagnose it.

my tranny seems to be slipping on start up...

car just dont want to go forward... i really have to work it..

Well, the MB shop around here with the best reputation for service once told me that to eliminate a "clunking" noise from my front end that I needed to get new shocks. This car had 162,xxx miles at the time. I decided to pass on it at the time. When my car got wrecked just a few months ago, the guy who repaired it checked it out all over and told me I needed to replace my front right upper ball joint. I purchased the part for $45, he put it in for free and the noise was gone!!

The most annoying part of the false information from the shop was that several months later while I was there to buy some fuel filters, I inquired into the cost of shocks just out of interest. The owner of the shop, an man that's been working on MBs for over 40 years, asked me: "how many miles on that car?" I replied, 162,xxx miles. Then he said, "your problem must be something else because those shocks normally last for about 200,000 miles." At that point, I got really angry because his less experienced guys wanted to change my shocks, but had he been there himself, I would have been told the correct thing.

So with such conflicting reports from the same place, it becomes quite hard to tell who will fix your car correctly or not.

__________________
1999 Mercedes-Benz S600, 103K miles - garage queen
1988 Mercedes-Benz 560SEL, 89K miles - daily driver
2007 Hyundai Sonata Limited, 31K - daily driver

Your disconnecting the vac control valve as mentioned may be the root of your problem.
Too much vacuum going to trans modulator.
Over time this condition can ruin your trans.
Mark

__________________
1987 300D T
1994 Dodge/Cummins 2500
1986 Winnebago Lesharo
1990 Miata