Mercedes-Benz 300 SE 1993 Owner's Manual page 80

S electo r Lever Positions
400 SEL, 500 SEL
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 when parking the vehicle.
Engage only w ith the car
stopped.
Note:
The key can be rem oved from
the steering lock only with the
selector lever in position " P " .
78
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 Neutral.
No pow er is transm itted from
the engine to the rear axle.
W hen the brakes are released,
the ve hicle can be m oved freely
(pushed or towed). Do not e n ­
gage " N " w hile driving except
to coast when the vehicle is in
danger of skidding (e.g. on icy
roads, see Winter d riving
Instructions in Index).
Important!
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 4th gear. Position
" D " provides optim um driving
characte ristics under all norm al
operating conditions.
3 U pshift to 3rd gear only.
Suitable for m oderately steep
hills.
2 U pshift to 2nd gear only. For
driving in m ountainous regions.
Since the transm ission does
not shift higher than 2nd gear,
this gear selection w ill allow
use of the e n g in e 's braking
power dow nhill.
B In this position, the e n g in e 's
braking effect is utilized by
shifting into 1st gear. Use this
position w hile descending very
steep or lengthy dow ngrades
and only at speeds below
40 mph (60 k m /h ).
Im portant!
W ith selector lever in position " D "
or " 3 " , upshifting from 2nd to 3rd
gear is delayed depending on
vehicle speed and engine tem per­
ature. This allow s the catalytic
converter to heat up m ore 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. H owever, neither
the engine nor transm ission are