Not holding revs through the range
 

Hello!

I'm nearing completion with my 190E 2.5-16 but this one has me stumped...
I still have no kickdown, but I'm not worried about that at the moment, now my issue is this:

Previously, when everything was working perfectly, more accelerator pedal = higher revs before gear change (it's an auto).

But now, when I give it some, it still changes at 3000rpm irrespective how much pressure I'm putting on the pedal!

I've pulled the bowden cable out all the way, but that hasn't made a difference. I know the cable itself is very stretched, so could it be that it's beyond the threshold and is now not putting any real pressure on the gearbox?

As I said, it was working perfectly before the engine swap, but it has been standing for a year and until recently hadn't been driven. I've obviously flushed all the fluid and replaced the filter, but now I'm a bit stuck.

Could it be related to no kickdown? I know the kickdown wire isn't plugged into the solenoid at the moment due to the end connector being torn off, but I have yet to address that issue.

Thanks for any help, these auto boxes are beyond me.

Please help, forum members. You're my only hope.

Older automatic transmissions used vacuum to decide when to shift - that's the kind I have. At some point they switched to electronic control of the shift points. You don't mention what year your car is (and I wouldn't know from that, anyway) but if it's vacuum controlled I'd look for vacuum leaks, if it's electronically controlled the only thing I can suggest is taking it in to a shop and have them diagnose it. On an electronic transmission it would probably be a sensor attached to the accelerator cable, but without the diagnostic equipment I couldn't even begin to guess where to start looking.

I would check the Vacuum Modulator. Make sure the vacuum lines are connected at both ends. Could be defective.

well, with what i know with the diesels, the vaccume modulator simply determines how soft or hard the shift is, not exactly when it shifts. The bowden cable is what determines when the shifts happen, i would suggest playing with the adjustment, try to get the slop out if you can.