spent a bunch of time hunting for info, like a road map to where everything is and suck. printed off an almost complete book of the trahs from eAutoRepair.net@mitckell1.com. full tear down and R|B plus some decent diagnostic steps. has all the rest of the stuff as well. it did cost like $8 to sign on to use it for a week but i think it's worth it thnx for you input folks and when i get if figured out i'll post what it was and what it took to fix. also went hunting for worst case parts and found a few places that sell trany parts on the web including a full R|B kit with friction disc but not the steels. importecparts.com & buyautoparts.com where both under $200 for the kits from Precision International plus a vac modulator or what ever MB calls it at $40.
aPS. any tips on stting the cranck sensor without rippping half the top of the engine off? i marked it b4 teardown but not well enough i guess so it may be off a bit thnx all. jim