hard shifting a4ld

[workdog]

'86 a4ld. 2.9 v6. 2wd. 150k on the clock.
When the transmission is cold, I have to bring it into a higher RPM so it will shift say from a dead stop to driving. And sometimes it hits hard. Made me spill my coffee a few times. Some times it does not want to engage back into drive. Say Im at a light and it will seem to be in neutral untill I give it a bit of gas then it engages and it hits hard. Then recently it seems like it does not want to shift up. It eventually will but if I let it do it by its self the RPMs get really high so I usually let off the gas and it shifts. It does not do that all the time maybe 1-10 times. Im thinking its something vacuum related but I wanted to verify with someone who has more experience.
Maybe a new vacuum modulator may get rid of the issues? Servos? Shift kits? Hell I don't know.
Fluid levels seem to be fine. Changed the fluid and put a new filter on a little over a 1k miles ago.

 

[kimcrwbr1]

It sounds like the classic low tranny fluid. I have a slow leak in the oil pump seal and mine will do that same thing. Is your oil pan on the tranny wet with ATF. I have the new torque converter and seals to hopefully fix mine just need the time. Add half a quart of ATF and see if the problem goes away. Are you checking the fluid level in neutral after the engine is up to temp.

 

[kimcrwbr1]

Oh yea with the engine running in neutral.