In my 1999 E430, 3/4 throttle upshifts from 1-2 seem to be very "rubber-bandy", like the car bounces a few times as it shifts. It only does it from 1-2, and does not do it under light or full throttle, but rather 3/4 or so. It makes the car rock forward and back a few times as is shifts. Any idea?

ON ALL 1999 M.B.'S THE TRANSMISSIONS HAVE ELECTRONIC CONTROLS THAT ADAPT TO YOUR STYLE OF DRIVING. THESE CONTROLS CAN ADAPT TO VARIOUS PERSONS & THEIR OWN STYLE OF DRIVING.IF A PERSON DRIVES THE CAR HARD THE TRANSMISSION WILL FIRM UP THE SHIFTS, & LIKEWISE EASY DRIVING WILL ALLOW TRANS TO SHIFT SOFTLY. IF YOU LET OFF OF GAS PEDAL DURING ANY SHIFTS THEN THE TRANS WILL GIVE YOU THAT "RUBBER BAND" FEELING.

Between my wife driving the car (like a little ole lady) and me driving it (I have a much heavier and aggressive foot), the computer controlled automatic get's confused quite often. I have had the trans goes into a pseudo-neutral when stomping on the pedal.... the engine revs way up and the transmission finally figures out that I want to go and quickly.... it takes a few seconds to sort itself out. In some cases, it would be better to not have it adapt to driver style... or couple the modified response to the driver seat memory. I still yearn for a stick shift. I never have those little hesitations....

KM

I've had the same transmission problem on my CLK430. This is my second one and what happends is that the tranny goes into Neutral for a while. THis can happen for 3-8 secs. I've had the factory rep come out to look at it. THey have recommended changing a switch on the trasmission. They did this once and it still happened. They just did it again yesterday. Do any of you master Mercedes techs hear of this?