My 95 E 420 with 46,000 miles is not downshifting from 4th to 3rd when slowing to go around a corner, or for traffic. After slowing down, to 15-20 mph and then accelerating normally the trans downshifts harshly with a clunk. If I downshift manually, it drops into third smoothly and I can accelerate normally, and then manually shift up to 4th. When stopping completely the trans downshifts through all gears normally and starts out in 2nd. TYIA for any ideas.

Are you flooring the pedal? Will it downshift if you floor it into KICKDOWN?

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2006 E350 w/ 155k miles (Daily Driver)

Previous:
1993 300E 3.2L Sedan w/ close to about 300k miles
2003 E500 Brilliant Silver (Had 217k miles when totalled!)
1989 300E with 289,000 miles (had for <1 yr while in HI)
03 CLK 500 cabrio (Mom's)
2006 C230k (Dad's)
1999 S420 (Mom's/Dad's)
2000 C230k Sport sedans
2001 CLK320 Cabrio (Mom's)
1995 C280 My First Mercedes-Benz... (155k miles. EXCEPTIONAL AUTOMOBILE. Was Very hard to let go of!)

The 1994 cars have an automatic adjusting band piston on "B"1 band. Many times this piston won't hold its position & then has to re-adjust itself. THAT can cause both of your problems.

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