Wife asked me to get her car washed. I got in it, started it, put it in Reverse, backed into the street, put it in Drive and hit the accelerator.
Guess what? NO UPSHIFT!
In fact it hit the rev limiter a couple of times before I lifted my foot and let it gear down to a near halt. Hmmm. I was at the corner, so I decided to see what would happen if it warmed up. I eased out into traffic, went a half mile at partial throttle and although it didn't upshift when it should have, it finally did take 2nd gear before I got to where I had to make a left turn to descend a half-mile hill. On the way down the hill I pulled the shift lever back into 3rd and let compression slow my descent. Finally the road flattened out a little and I put it back in D. Came to a corner. Waited for the traffic to go by before making my right hand turn. Stomped on it, and it hung in High gear from 0 to about 50. So it didn't down shift out of high when I rolled to a stop at the corner!
Won't upshift. Won't downshift. What a crock!
Anybody else have one of these?
Pat
PS - I rarely drive this thing but I bought it new in '98 and have had shifting problems with it since the second or third year. Caliber Motors always tells me it's normal. It's a "driver-adaptive" transmission or some such bull. I can't believe M-B actually engineered this piece of baloney to perform like this on purpose. When I got done at the car wash it shifted OK on the way home.