For the past week or so my E300 has been having trouble deciding if it should shift into second gear when accelerating conservatively, meaning letting it shift just after 2000RPM. When the drivetrain is cold it never seems to have this issue. Once she warms up alittle or at normal operating temp she does it.

The condition is like so... From a standing stop with the switch in "S", I will slowly accelerate just after 2000RPM and let her shift. At this time she will sometimes either normally go into second, or other times bucks about 2 times, like it doesn't know if it should shift yet. After these two times the RPM's have usually grown alittle more and then it shifts. Other than this the tranny runs the same as it has before. When this first started I thought it might have been a fuel related issue but now I don't feel so....

Any thoughts guys? I had the tranny fluid replaced by my Indy when I had picked up the car. My mileage has also suffered severly I'm seeing, by looking at my fuel indicator and trip odometer. I haven't gotten a chance to look at the fuel filter yet though. The filter has maybe 10,000K on it.

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#dieselFLEET
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'97 E300
'99 E300

Just checked the fuel filters and they look ok. No chunks of black or anything at all, just some small pieces of rust in the pre-screen.

I took a quick drive after too and the shifting phenomenon is still there but not the same everytime. Sometimes it will hesistate goign into second, sometime now third. But oddly the hesitation isn't the same everytime and not always prevalent. And my MPG looks horrible so far. Would it be safe to say that it's some bad fuel and to run the tank way down before I refuel again?

__________________
#dieselFLEET
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'97 E300
'99 E300