My 1989 260E seems to be very sluggish 'off the mark'.

I have researched this on this site and it seems that an explanation of how the transmission works on this automobile (or a 300 or any 124 from this era) would help me. One thread discussed putting the car into second at a stop light to assure first gear startup and avoiding kickdown. Is this how you do it? What dies this mean? Or is my car misadjusted - or am I?

Any thoughts or pointing me to a thread that can explain how to make my car start up from a stoplight would be helpful.

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1985 300SD
1983 107

Your car should start in second gear when in drive when coming out of a stop. You can either get it into first with kickdown or by manually putting it in first.

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Ali Al-Chalabi

2001 CLK55
1999 Dodge Ram 2500 Cummins Diesel
2002 Harley-Davidson Fatboy
Merlin Extralight w/ Campy Record

how do you do either of these things, and why?

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1985 300SD
1983 107

You can floor it which will engage the kickdown switch and it will go into first gear.

Or you can pull the shifter all the way back while you're sitting still. This will shift the trans into first gear.

What may be bothering you is that the transmission is intended to start off in SECOND gear and will do so unless you do one of the above.

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2012 E350
2006 Callaway SC560

As stated, to start in first gear and run through all four gears . . . while stopped, put the gear selector into "2", then back to "4". Upon accelation, the trans will go through all four gears. It will only stay in first gear for a few seconds before shifting to second.

There is a way to manually shift through all four gears. Again, at stop, put the shift lever in "2". Upon starting, keep it in "2" until it winds out and you want to shift into second gear. To do that, briefly shift into "3" and right back to "2". That will cause to shift to second gear. Then, when appropriate, shift to "3" and finally "4". It helps the shifting if you let off on the gas momentarilly when shifting. It seems to go into the new gear sooner if full throttle is not applied when shifting in a manual method.

Or . . . you could use the kickdown switch, but that just wastes a lot of petrol.

this is all so educational! thanks!

So, why is it that sometimes I rev the engine and not get much forward movement, and other times it moves (out of a stopped position) easily?

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1985 300SD
1983 107