Well I looked for the modulator yesterday but had no luck finding it (this was without the car jacked up). Now if it's on the right side facing the car, that's still the driver's side, I think? I looked on the passenger side, too, but there's so much other stuff over there I don't see how I would get to the modulator even if it were there. I should mention that I did see a metal plate on the driver's side that looked like it was held in place with Allen bolts. It looked like I would probably have to remove the fluid pan to get to it. The modulator isn't under that plate, is it?

There was some good news yesterday. I realized the line to the transmission wasn't even connected to the modulator! It could be that it was knocked loose very recently while I was working under the hood, but the elbow joint that would connect to the modulator was filled with so much oily gunk that it doesn't seem like the disconnection could have been recent. OTOH, I wouldn't have thought that all my shifts except the first two upshifts would be smooth if I had no vacuum at all. On the other other hand, I'm far from being an expert.

I'm thinking that the buildup of gunk is the reason I had some vacuum in the system as opposed to none like you would expect with the line completely disconnected.

The fact that the line may have been disconnected since I've owned the car (Jan. 6 of this year) makes me wonder about the tranny rebuild that was done last July by the PO. It also makes me wonder whether re-conecting the vacuum line will make the shifting worse.

Thanks for the warnings about supporting the car. I'm not too keen on having it fall on me so I definitely plan on taking the proper precautions. I'm still not sure exactly how I will do it, though, as I can't really afford to buy too many car accessories right now.

__________________
Ralph

1985 300D Turbo, CA model
248,650 miles and counting...