hard shifting automatic

My 84 300D has 200K mi. and ever since I've owned it (my parents were the previous owners) the automatic transmission has shifted harshly, especially when cold. I have a friend with 79 coupe who says he's heard there is some kind of adjustment for the shifting located on the transmission housing behind some kind of door. Has anyone heard of this or have any other ideas why it shifts so harshly?? Thanks in advance!

[Benzmac]

The biggest and best bit of advise I can give here is to go to an experienced MB only tech. These can be hard if you don't know them...but if you do they are pie!
Good luck.

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Benzmac:
1981 280GE SWB
1987 16V
ASE CERTIFIED MASTER AUTO TECHNICIAN
SERVICE MANAGER FOR 14 BAY FACILITY
MERCEDES SPECIALIST 8 YRS
PARTNER IN MERCEDESSHOP.COM

Thanks for the advise. The mechs at the shop in my area don't seem to think there's a problem. Besides, I do most of the work on my Benz myself, and if it's a fairly simple adjustment that can be made without dropping the tranny, I'd like to try. Or at least have knowledge of such adjustment so I can recommend it to the mech. Thanks.

[VA300SD]

Try the Search feature at this Tech Help forum as there are tons of headscratching discussion on transmission and vaccuum, most of the time interrelated.
It takes methodical tracking down of causes, usually several.
Sometimes it's a simple fix, other times it takes a lot of patience and time.
Some have mentioned just the simple act of changing the tranny fluid and filter improved the situation, others had to deal with oil contaminated vaccuum lines that resulted in other problems besides shifting.
There are also plenty of opinions out there on what to live with in the MB automtics (harsh vs. smooth shifting and the tradeoffs on longevity of trannys.)
Since I don't consider myself an expert on this subject but have dealt with many quirks of the transmission, my recommendation is to peruse the search results and pick your way through the information.
One more suggestion is to visit: http://www.mbz.org/resources/articles/trans/
This site gets down to the nitty gritty of shop talk.

Even if you choose to feel comfortable farming out the work to a shop it certainly doesn't hurt to be better informed as there probably is plenty of misdiagnosing if you stumble upon the wrong shop or an apprentice ends up practicing on your car.

Thanks for the tip. I'm new to the forum and the search feature provided a wealth of info about rough shifting scenarios. Thanks, again...I'll be tinkering tonight!

1984 300D 200K mi

Gentlemen--thanks for all the advice. After ruling out a vacuum leak, I located the MV and the adjustment nut and now my 300D shifts better than the first day I owned it. I definitly is nice to have this resource to pull from. Thanks again.