Question about Automatic "S" gear
 

Finally got my 81 240D back, after someone broke into it and I had to get it fixed.

I have question about what is the top speed when you are driving up hill in "S" gear.

S locks it in 1st/2nd, so it's wherever your speedometer's two-dots marking is. That's the top of 2nd for downshifting purposes, and is frequently quite close to the max acceleration-achievable speed too.

Also, these things can never really hit any sort of redline so if it was a desperate hill climb and your temperatures held low enough to be safe you could plant your foot in the floor in S and just keep trucking.

Thanks. Wow, they really let this things rev. very high! I'm going to keep it on the slow end because higher the RPM the more fuel it takes.

The above info is incorrect. "S" locks it from going to 4th gear....you have use of 1st/2nd/3rd in that mode. On a 240d the max speed of third gear is probably around 60ish mph is my guess...where ever the three dot marking is on the speedo.


"L" mode gives you only 1st and 2nd gear, and it will hold 1st all the way to near red line before it shifts. :eek: Not a good thing to do....

I looked at your photo album, that's a real nice 240!!

Oops!
 

You're right, that was me being absentminded. Apologies to all for the misinformation. Had the letter order reversed in my mind, had my mind turned off... who knows. But sorry

I normally drive around town in S, it avoids a lot of up and down shifts to 4th. I'll manually shift to 4th on the streets that let me get up to 45 mph or so. I seem to get better in town mpg that way and also saves wear and tear on the tranny IMHO.

thats a good idea but keeping it from going into 4th would use more fuel due to the braking effect

I've done tankfulls both ways and I don't see a mpg difference (consistenty 23 mpg with 85% in town driving to and from work, errands, etc). Mine downshifts pretty quick on slow down so I get the same breaking effect as if I was already in 3rd. I don't seem to need to do as many Italian tuneups either as I'm hitting higher rpms on a more regular basis around town. Also, my idle has gotten smoother since I started doing this.

I know it doesn't seem like it should be this way, but the mpg figures are pretty accurate.

The only time I ever used it was in snow and ice going down a hill in a residential area. Didn't want to lock up the brakes, but didn't want to accrue andy speed downhill either. kept it at 10 - 15 mph until the bottom of the hill.

"S" stands for "slope" used for going up steep grades or other such conditions....towing perhaps or going down a slope as well for better braking/speed control.

"L" I assume to mean "low" but never actually saw that written anywhere, but nor did I ever look for what "L" means either.

My guess is that there is more than likely a German word that the S and L stand for. {like that pesky "R" for "Empty" on the fuel gauge} ;)
Used to be basic American car nomenclature though. Low and Second......

Besides, as long as we are all square on what "T" stands for, I'm OK......
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c2...Batmanhead.jpg

R means "Reserve".

I thought that was for "Reverse"....... :joker:

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c2...s/donkey-2.jpg
I'll be here all week.....

I don't see how it would use more fuel when coasting in "S"....the engine will be at higher rpms.....but when you're off the throttle the fuel rack is at idle/closed....so little to no fuel is being used. In fact, I bet coasting at 1500-2000rpm in 3rd gear uses less fuel than coasting with the engine idling at 700 in 4th gear. Gassers shut down the fuel when coasting above idle speed......