Gday just brought a 1996 E200 auto, love the car drives very well except for one thing, when changing from 1st to 2nd there’s a bit of a jerk but the rest of the chages feel soft. Is this likely to be a big problem or is it a known one with the E200 auto box, I will be taken it to a mechanic but would like to know in advance what it could be, thanks for any advise.

The auto transmissions that MB built from 1980-96 were mechanically controlled by the valve body..

First to seconds shifts were firm SO MB started most cars off in second gear due to that problem. Cars with "small" low torque engines started in first & you will feel that FIRM shift!

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Thanks for the advice, had noticed that first to second shift when taking a couple of Mercedes for a test drives but this feels a lot different. The jolt is to firm it feels more like a bad manual gear change, I was hoping it was an adjustment but I suspect something may of broken & the person I brought the car from may of adjusted something to make less of a jolt & that has made the rest of the gear change soft, well I hope that’s why they are soft. Have put the car into a gearbox garage, I will update this thread with the outcome. Hoping it’s not too expensive.

I find the 1st-2nd gear change quite noticeable as well, only insofar as the car always wants to start in 2nd, and changes to 1st usually if I press the accelerator harder.

The W/S switch was stuck in W for a long time before I fixed it (previous owner never bothered), I sometimes wonder if the ECU has gotten used to never using 1st gear....

Problem now fixed, mechanic said it was due to a broken valve causing the oil not being able to get the correct pressure, I think that’s what he said as I can’t find the receipt & I’m doing this from memory that’s not to good. he rebuilt the broken part, flushed the gearbox & it now drives like it should, the bill came to $616 NZ. Thanks for every ones advise