Mercedes-Benz 300 SE 1993 Owner's Manual page 78

S electo r Lever Positions
300 SE
The autom atic gear shifting
process can be adapted to
specific operating conditions
using the selector lever.
P Parking lock.
The parking lock is an a d d itio n ­
al safeguard to the parking
brake w hen parking the vehicle.
Engage only with the car
stopped.
Note:
The key can be rem oved from
the steering lock o nly with the
selector lever in position " P " .
76
W ith the key rem oved, the
selector lever is locked in
position " P" .
R R everse gear.
S hift to reverse gear only with
the car stopped.
N N eutral.
No pow er is transm itted from
the engine to the rear axle.
W hen the brakes are released,
the vehicle can be m oved freely
(pushed or towed). Do not en­
gage " N " w hile d riving except
to coast when the vehicle is in
danger of skidding (e.g. on icy
roads, see Winter D riving
In structions in Index).
Im portant!
C oasting the vehicle, or driving
for any other reason with se­
lector lever in " N " , can result in
transm ission dam age that is not
covered by the M ercedes-Benz
Lim ited W arranty.
D The transm ission autom atically
upshifts to 5th gear. Position
" D " provides optim um driving
characte ristics under all norm al
operating conditions.
4 U pshift to 4th gear only. S uit­
able for perform ance driving.
3 U pshift to 3rd gear only.
Suitable for m oderately steep
hills. Since the transm ission
does not shift higher than
3rd gear, this gear selection will
allow use of the e n g in e 's brak­
ing pow er dow nhill.
2 U pshift to 2nd gear only.
For d riving in m ountainous
regions or under extrem e
operating conditions. This gear
selection will allow use of the
e n g in e 's braking pow er when
descending steep grades.
Important!
W ith selector lever in position " D " ,
" 4 " or " 3 " , upshifting from 1st to
2nd to 3rd gear is delayed de­
pending on vehicle speed and en­
gine tem perature. This allow s the
catalytic converter to heat up more
quickly to operating tem peratures.
D uring the brief w arm -up period
this delayed upshift and increased
engine noise m ight be perceived
as a m alfunction. However, neither
the engine nor transm ission are
negatively affected by this m ode of
operation.