thanks all for your help and suggestions... I solved shifting weirdness the
problem by doing the following, from the internet of course, not my own
invention...

someone mentioned a trick given by Daryl at AA Transaxle...

- put the shifter in neutral
- loosen the 2 bolts at the bottom of the shifter
- put the shifter in 2nd gear
- tighten the 2 bolts...

and voilà my problem was solved... very happy

obviously I followed  the Bentley bit it didn't work...

the great Daryl was gone but his legacy is still around...

dan