Hi,

Old Bessie with 225K miles is a great car, and in the 3 weeks I've owned her she's started every time and gotten me where I'm going. I replaced the 02 sensor last week with the correct Titania one and my mileage has gone up from 12 mpg to about 16, with no more check engine lights.

I've also fixed a number of vacuum leaks.

Here's the deal: when I'm tootling about town, Bessie seems to hang out in a lower gear (hence, higher RPMs) than I'd like. If I take my foot off the throttle once I'm at the cruising speed I want to be at, she then upshifts and cruises in the right RPM range. If I goose the throttle even a little, she downshifts promptly but does not upshift again unless I take my foot off the throttle long enough for the upshift to happen.

I checked the kickdown cable to see if it was too tight. It's not. If anything, it's too loose, it seems to have some slack when at rest. I loosened it a little more and will see if that makes a difference tomorrow, but somehow I don't think that's it.

If I pull on the kickdown cable, I hear the tiny *klik* of the switch closing almost immediately. I mean, any ovement of the kickdown cable immediately makes the *klik*. I can tell that, when I take my foot off the throttle, it is probably clicking off, leading to the upshift.

The quality of the shifts themselves feel right. Not too harsh, not too soft.

I there something I'm overlooking? Is there something else that needs adjusting? What should I fiddle with next? I'd like to pick up another mpg or 2 before I start replacing ignition components, which is next on my playlist.

Thanks!

Thaddeus