Auto box?

[dishmop]

Having owned many Mercedes over the years, most of which were automatics, I seem to remember that nearly all the "gates" on the auto gear shift had P R N D 3 2 1. One Diesel had a "sports" position which was a great laugh, but having had my 380SEC for three months or so it was not until today that I noticed a 2B????????????

Can somebody enligthen me as to what is what with the positions on this car please.

 

[guydewdney]

P R N D

2 is 2nd (and 1st)
B is Bottom or first..

2B i dunno..

 

[SLinKyjoe]

it was a pencil when i was a school.

 

[davidsl500]

2B is bottom (ie 1st) and second gear in the one selector position. So if you select 2B from rest it will start in 1st and move to and hold in second gear.

 

[mjtray]

The B stands for braking, as poster above states it will start the car in 1st and then lock it in 2nd........its to be used as a braking position for extremely long downhill gradients, ie for when you decend those long Alpine passes you encounter all the time in the UK!

At a speed of about 25mph, the transmission changes down to first and will remain engaged until the speed hits 37mph.

Cheers

 

[SLinKyjoe]

I have 5speed auto.

I have p,r,n,d and +/-. thats it.

oh, it has a button c/s but that makes no difference except change the dashboard display from C to S or back again. Was gonna write to MB to see what it is progammed for and find out more as the book says S is for normal driving and C is for Comfort? :?

I assume that it wont hold in any gear. by moving the - it drops down to whatever gear you select but will then change down and up as afr as that gear. obvioulsy not when you select 1st. :roll:

i must have a rubbish box having looked at all the other postings. they seem quite clever. :idea:

i like the auto tho. ideal for everyday driving.

 

[tom7035]

auto box

May seem a daft question to you enthusiasts, but as a newcomer to the marque I am a bit confused with the 's' and 'e' (which I assume to mean 'sport' and 'economy' respectively) switch on the auto box of my late '93 W124 200E 16v. Is the particular mode engaged when the symbol letter shows or is covered by the switch, and what differences should I notice in the gearbox behaviour? Thanks.

 

[davidsl500]

The S and E actually stand for Standard and Economy. In Economy mode the car moves off in 2nd gear and changes up much sooner. In standard mode the car will start in 1st gear and the each gear is held longer for a given throttle depression - foot fully down and it should change on the redline. The exposed letter is the mode set ie if you can see the S then your in Standard.

 

[tom7035]

auto box

Many thanks for that davidsl500. I'm now a little more knowledgeable. Great forum, gradually working my way through its pages! Cheers.

 

[jberks]

S&E C&S - mine says S&W. As far as I can tell they change the letters every few years but the actual effect stays the same. To be fair, the W setting does soften the character a lot and make the take up a lot sloppier - but in the case of mine, this is supposed to make it less twitchy in slippery conditions, however, it makes it effectively more comfortable so I guess the C would apply too.
The tip shift isn't Merc's greatest achievement. knock the lever left one notch and wait. Sometime in the future, it will change gear, but not exactly when you wanted it to. Someone should tell the engineers that a delay of 2 seconds when you spot a gap is an age.
I saw a review of a new VW auto box. It appears to be 2 boxes in 1 with 2 clutches, 1st in the 1st box, 2nd in the second, 3rd in the 1st etc so it always has the next gear already engaged before you need it, just swaps clutches. The auto is actually faster than the manual apparently. Perhaps Merc could take a look!

 

[dishmop]

Thanks for that info.

I always thought that all the older autos pulled away in 2nd..The thing being that you let it start to move then floored the gs pedl and it then changed into 1st and tipped you over into the back of the car, but my 380 seems to pull away in first even on a very light pedal. I used to have an imported stretched chassis 17ft long 115 ambulance. Weighed nearly two tons I think. 4 cylinder diesel, auto box. Getting it to pull away at all was something. Police told me to remove the flashing blue lights, so I removed the mechanism and said that they were no longer lights, let alone flashing lights.

 

[pascal]

Automania

The W stands for WINTER. On a slippy surface, changing down gear too
frequently or unexpectedy can cause a skid more easily. So the W setting
Holds a higher gear for much longer (which is the safest on a slippy road)
than S; standard setting.
Failing that, the ESP activation light will glow, which means you are
driving too fast. :lol:

 

[paulcallender]

Its the only gripe I have with my Merc. It pulls away in 2nd. If its in "S" mode, its possible to achieve a kickdown to first. This kickdown always tends to be a bit jerky.

There is a junction that I always pull out of (becuase its the one at the end of my street) and its a tricky right hand turn. Most of the time, its busy, so I spot a gap, make the turn, and just as I turn the wheel for the tightest part of the turn...bang! It changes into 1st, and the back end loses grip and I end up doing a tail slide.

If I promptly lift my foot off, I lose the speed and the car behind gets too close. So, I tend to keep the power in. I used to do a rather inelegant slide from side to side, nowadays I have gotten the knack of turning less, and ending up 4 wheel drifting in one slide, until the back end comes back into line.

Why oh why did they design it to start in 2nd? I know you can make the thing start in 1st, with a really heavy right foot. But, I want to be able to start in 1st all the time. If I want to start in 2nd, I can switch into "E" mode!

 

[dishmop]

I did notice an advert on an american MB forum for a gizmo so that they would pull away in first.

I THINK this is where I saw it, or there may be a link.

http://www.benzworld.org/forums/forums/forum-view.asp?fid=12

Also found out from this forum that the Americans had a diesel 126.

 

[tom7035]

Auto box.

Thanks for all that guys, but I notice not the slightest difference whichever mode is selected. Always pulls away in 1st. Nor do i have any illuminiation of gear selection on sidelights. Someone is going to tell me I have a fault somewhere, yes? Cheers (?), Tom.

 

[paulcallender]

Which model car do you have? Mine is a 1990 230TE (W124) with a 4 speed auto (pulls away in 2nd). I also have a 1975 280CE (W114) and that has a 3 speed - pulls away in 1st.

 

[davidsl500]

Re: Auto box.

Thanks for all that guys, but I notice not the slightest difference whichever mode is selected. Always pulls away in 1st. Nor do i have any illuminiation of gear selection on sidelights. Someone is going to tell me I have a fault somewhere, yes? Cheers (?), Tom.

Sounds like you have a blown bulb if you have no illumination on the gear selector strip. It can be a bit fiddly to change if its anything like my SL was.

There should be a distinct difference between E and S modes. Find a nice quiet road and bury that right foot in both modes from rest - the S mode should give you gear changes near to the redline on your tacho (the dial not the food!) the E should change up sooner.

 

[tom7035]

Thanks paul callender and davidsl500. It's a '93 W124 200E 16v. Will try what you suggest. New to Merc., but have experience of Borg-Warner auto boxes none of which I was ever aware started in other than 1st ratio. It would seem I have a fault. (Like your addendum about indecision by the way paul I think, maybe, wish I perhaps had thought of that!) Cheers, Tom.

 

[tom7035]

Oh! for my nice, simple, V16 Rolls-Royce Merlin MK IV or V engines left over from redundant Spitfires which used to be shoehorned (with a little help from other 'pongos' and washing-up liquid) into straightfoward Conqueror tanks! Happy good old days! Have to attack my anti-roll bar bushes in the morning. Getting old! (Hence Merc.?)

 

[paulcallender]

The 'fault' could be that the auto box mode switch is inoperative, hence even when switched into "S" you are getting the behaviour of "E" mode - which is to use 2nd, 3rd and 4th. Of course, if you were new to the car and hadn't driven another, to the extent of trying both modes and also having the chance to have exercised all the kickdowns available, then you would think it was a 3 speed auto.

I remember when I bought my car (it was a part-ex and was very dirty, it hadn't been cleaned and was stored under a tree or something), I only counted 2 gearchanges and thought it wasn't getting into 4th - also (partly due to jumping into a high power car, from a diesel van) I thought I simply hadn't gone fast enough to engage the 4th. I'd heard stories about the 5 speed Mercs only using 5th at high autobahn speeds.