No 4th gear!
 

Have a 89 MB 300 - the car won't shift to 4th gear. All other gears operate very smoothly with no other problems. Before I get soaked for thousands of $$$ is there anything I can do or check?

Thanks in advance

B

Your car starts in second. This confuses a lot of people because the 4th gear operates at a high rpm compared to other cars so it feels like its still in 3rd but its actually 4th.
To get it to start in first you have to make the tranny downshift. You can do this by shifting to second before taking off. Or flooring the pedal into contact with the switch.

Yal - thanks! I don't normally drive the car. My mother thought it felt "Weird" and has me looking at it. From a dead stop i can count 3 gears - at 60MPH it runs at about 3200 rpm - does this sound right? Also the gear shift indicates 2, 3, and D - I have read the owners manual and it says absolutely nothing about how to shift the car or how it is suposed to shift itself.

So just to confirm you are saying that there is a first (LOW) gear that the car dosn't normally use unless you jump on the gas from a dead stop? And does 3200 rpm sound correct for 60 MPH?

Thanks again.

B

Yes 3200 rpm at 60 sounds about right.
I have a 91 190e 2.6 not a 300e
At a stop put the car in
2nd then D. Now you will start
in 1st and can count out all 4 gears.

Yes as 732002 confirmed 3200 rpm is about right. Makes the W124/W201 passing machines at that rpm. And yes you really have to jump on the gas to get it to start in 1st when in D.

You can shift the tranny manually from D and fool it into starting in 1st again as 732002 explained.

Just an FYI - If you look at your speedometer you will see the following markings I, II and III. These indicate the maximum speed you should be going when shifting the tranny. So when the speedometer is at II you can safely shift to 2 on the shifter at that speed or below.