Hi All,

When driving in traffic sometimes I place the car in 2nd gear. After a few yards it jerks like it kicked down to 1st. It seems to stay in 1st and never gets up to 2nd. Do I have a problem or it just appears to be 1st. I'm asking since normally the car starts in 2nd when in D and it feels torquier once it's been in 2nd for a while.

thanks,

__________________
sjsfiji

'87 W124 260E (DD)
98K orig. mi. @7/15
CLK 7-Spoke Forged Wheels
Neuspeed springs/Bilstein Sport
4/3 bump (F/R)

'97 993 Carrera
106K orig. mi.
Always driven like it's stolen

My 190E does the same thing...I was just about to ask this same question...I thought it was skipping a gear or something as I can only count 3 upshifts. I wondered if it started in 2nd. I've only felt 1st a couple times like the above person posted.

Some of this is normal MB transmission behavior. Your car does normally start in 2nd when in Drive. By putting it in 2, you force it to start in 1st. Also, when you are coasting to a stop and in 2, you WILL feel a rather abrupt downshift; for some reason this doesn't happen in Drive, even if you have 1st gear start (which came about in '92 if I'm not mistaken).

However, what's NOT normal is it not upshifting out of 1st.

__________________
Steve
'93 400E

If it is an I6 in 2 from a start, you will pretty much stay in first gear until almost redlien

__________________
currently just 1989 300SE 185k miles