Starting And Shifting Gears - Mercedes-Benz 450 SL 1980 Owner's Manual

Starting and Shifting Gears

Do not store any objects in the
d rive r's footwell area because they
could become lodged under the
operator's pedals thus rendering
these controls partially or totally
inoperative.
Test service brake after driving off.
Warm up the engine sm oothly. Do
not place full load on the engine
until the operating tem perature has
been reached.
The autom atic transm ission fa c ili­
tates and sim plifies the handling of
the vehicle. The individual gears
are shifted autom atically dependent
upon selector lever position,
vehicle speed and accelerator
position.
Hint
When parking the vehicle or if w ork­
ing on the vehicle with the engine
running, depress parking brake
pedal and move selector lever to
position " P" .
Starting
Shift selector lever to the desired
driving position only when the
engine is idling and the service
brake is applied. Do not release the
brake before moving off. The ve­
hicle may otherwise start creeping
when the selector lever is in a
driving position.
A ccelerator position
Partial throttle = early upshifting
= normal acceleration
Full throttle = retarded upshifting
= maximum acceleration
Depressing the accelerator beyond
full throttle to kickdown position
means dow nshifting to the next
lower gear and thus maximum
acceleration. If you ease up on the
accelerator after having attained
the desired speed, the transm ission
w ill shift up again.
Gearshifting is controlled by the
vehicle speed.
Selector Lever Positions
The autom atic gear shifting process
can be adapted to specific
operating conditions by means of
the selector lever.
" P" Parking lock. The parking lock
is an additional safeguard
when parking the vehicle.
Engage only when the car is
stationary.
" R" Reverse gear. Shift reverse
gear only with the vehicle at
halt.
" N" Neutral. No power is trans­
m itted from the engine to the
rear axle. When the brakes are
released, the vehicle can be
moved freely (pushed, towed
or towstarted). Do not engage
" N" when driving except when
the vehicle is in danger of
skidding (e. g. on icy roads).
See page 44.