My 97 E320 has the same malady. When you coast up to a, right turn yield , situation and feed in the throttle it will freewheel and then engage hard with a bang. Seems more on right turns than left.
Fluid level was fine, I changed fluid and filter ( proper fluid , checked level hot and cold) same problem. This transmission also will freely rev about 3-500 RPM at the top of a hard 2nd gear pull , and then bump back into engagement.
When it is driven very conservatively it shifts fine, and except for the top of second it can be matted and accelerate perfectly.
Sympathetic MB tech put it on the computer...no codes. He said that he had not seen a bad conductor plate without a code. I did have fluid in the plug, and I changed the adapter plug.
Is this the early trans symptom and does it take a valve body or can the ETC change things.
I have 166.500 miles of which I have driven 36,000 ....seems like it won't break it, but I would love to have a solid second gear.
Jeff
