i decided to make this a more specific thread that David K. has been very helpful with. my 300e-2.8 won't kick down and the problem appears to be that it is not activating the kickdown switch properly. the pedal doesn't seem to get all the way down so that i hear a positive click from the switch. if i stick a piece of cardboard between the pedal and the switch then i do feel the positive click. i might do a test with a shim in place. the other possibility is for an adjustment on the throttle linkage that might allow the pedal to go all the way down. i am still examining everything to see if there is an impediment like maybe the carpeting. thanks to David for all his pointers thus far...

well, the shim worked in making positive contact but still no kickdown. i guess i got to order one now.

one last thing that i considered was that since the tranny is relatively new ('99), is it possible that a hookup was forgotten, i.e., for the kickdown?

i had mentioned this in another thread but thought i would post the outcome in case someone stumbles on this. i got around to taking the switch out to test it electrically. fairly straightforward operation - a pair of squeeze clips and the connector was a snap in plug that came off easily. the switch had two pairs of prongs, one silver and one copper colored. one of the pairs turned out to be constant on and the other was constant off (or momentary off / on). when i went out for a road test, it still had that vague feel when i floored it but suddenly the car surged forward - it was working! i have since tested it at different speeds and it definitely is kicking down now! thanks to David for giving me pointers on where the switch was and how it should behave.