W124 Clutch problem?
 

My new-to-me '88 300TE with 150k is exhibiting a worrisome problem that I'd love advice on. I think it's the transmission, but I've been wrong before.

Basically, when merging into traffic and trying to accelerate from a few MPH to match the traffic, the RPMs go up nicely (just had O2 sensor and fuel filter replaced, the fuel system seems fine), but the car doesn't move any faster, for a second or two, while you worry that someone's going to rear-end you, and then the transmission kicks in and the car surges forward. It's quite nerve-wracking. The car also has some fairly hard shifts at higher speeds. Acceleration at highway speeds seems fine, but I haven't done much highway driving (also I'm new to MB and not sure what I'm supposed to see -- the wagon is fairly different that my jetta =). Also, this happens _sometimes_, not always. It may happen more often when the engine is cold, but it _does_ happen even after I get the engine past 3.5k rpm (I thought for a while it might be the delayed shift problem, but it's not a delayed shift, or the car would at least accelerate when the RPMs increase).

I'm also not sure what gear it's going _into_. I understand that the car starts in 2nd, but it doesn't seem to be downshifting to 1 (trying to get to 35-40mph or so). I'm not used to automatics, so I'm not sure how to describe it, but it _feels_ as though I was driving a manual, pushing down on the clutch at the same time as I'm pushing on the gas pedal, and then popping the clutch when the car's at 3k rpm or so. Seems the wrong thing to do!

A friend of mine suggested that maybe the bands needed adjusting. I'd love advice as to what to do with it. Is this something that needs a transmission specialist? Is there a simple way to describe what's going on that a tech would understand easily?

Thanks in advance for any advice,

-- David

'88 300 TE, 150k

Update: only when cold
 

After a bit more driving this weekend, I can update this post and say that while the hard shifts continue when the engine is warm, the lack of power problem dissappears when the engine gets to 80-90deg.

Ideas?