I just successfully (I think) replaced the output shaft bushing and performed a flush of the tranny in hopes of eliminating a hard shift from 2nd to 3rd. It is not a terribly hard shift, but seems unaffected by the maintenance. The real issue is that the shift seems to happen very late - at about 3000 to 3500 rpm (and I'm not gunning it to make the turbo have fun).

Is there a sensor somewhere that monitors when to shift or do I likely have more serious transmission issues. There are only 191K on this car - so should still be good. Right? :-)

Thanks for any help.

You could try loosening the kick-down cable some. Keep track of how many turns you crank it so you will always know where you started. In theory, you will also be affecting the first-to-second shift point also.