Auto tran question

[202rules]

For the 4-speed auto transmission 202, the selections are 2, 3, D, N, R and P.

I always thought that 2 means that the car will only shift to second, 3 means it will only shift up to 3rd, and D is where you get all the way up to 4th.

But recently I noticed that the car won't shift to 2nd when it's on 2 (unless it has to redline before it shifts, I didn't wanna try). It will only shift to 2nd when you move the selector from 2 to 3 and it will only hold the 2nd gear for two seconds before shifting to 3rd.

If you move the selector to 3 and bring it back immediately to 2, the car will hold the 2nd gear (ie. it won't go back to 1st).

Is this the normal behavior?

[yusuke280]

no. you need to get your car checked.

"2" means that it will shift from first to second, and hold second.

If it keeps on first, and never shifts to second unless you redline it.. there has to be some problems.

either way, i will reset the ECU and see what happens.

[202rules]

I unplugged the battery for 5 minutes, so i hope that took care of resetting the ECU. I still see the problem though.

I think it's weird that the car does this. I don't hear any bad sounds or anything, it just doesn't shift. The only thing I forgot is to try and see how it shifts if I accelerate while on the 3 position. I'd like to see how long it holds the 1st and 2nd gears before shifting.

Other than that, and the occasional misfiring that I'm having coz of my spark plug wires I think.

[Denlasoul]

Any CEL codes? You may be in LIMP mode.

[202rules]

Originally posted by Denlasoul
Any CEL codes? You may be in LIMP mode.

Is this a known symptom of limp mode. I've read for people talking about limp mode before. Is it actually a mode that the car gets into by design?

I did have a misfire in my car through out the last week, because of my spark plug wires (I think), and my CEL has been on forever because of my air pump. So if the misfiring was what put the car in limp mode then maybe that's it.

I did make my misfiring problem go away today though (by creating more contact between the main wiring harness and the coils) and even after disconnecting the battery for like 5 minutes and not misfiring after that, I still see this behavior. So I wonder if my car is currently still in limp mode.

Honestly I'm not gonna worry about it very much in the short term. The car drives perfectly fine (when not misfiring) while on D. I ordered a set of magnecor wires for my spark plugs, and I hope that will completely fix the misfire problem (I haven't driven the car hard to see if it starts misfiring again). And maybe, just maybe, if I completely fix that problem, this problem will go away after a while.

[FRieD.eGG]

I have a 1994 W202 C36 with a 4-speed auto like yours. When accelerating from stop, with my transmission at "2", it will stayed at first gear and will not upshift to 2nd gear (I haven't tried to redline yet). But when running at 3rd or 4th gear and I manually downshift to 2nd gear. It will stay on 2nd gear not 1st. I don't know is this abnormal, but it sounds the same as your car. And I think it is okay for me and it is quite logical.

Because, when running downhill (I lived in Hong Kong, and it is quite a lot of uphill/downhill), usually 2nd gear are more than enough to give engine brake to the car. And when I accelerate at start, when I shifted to 2nd gear, it will start at 1st gear, to give me tons of torque. And when normal accelerate, I can use D4 so the car will start more smoothly.

If this is abnormal, I would like to be notified too. So I can fix it :)

[OzC36]

I can confirm that when starting from standstill with 2 selected, the auto will hold first gear until redline RPM, even without WOT. At redline, the auto selects second gear and will hold that gear until up-shift is manually selected to 3 or D.

I would expect my 1996 C36 to do nothing less and I like what it does!

I thought that this gearbox logic was confined to AMG vehicles only, as my old 1997 C200 certainly didn't do that!

[NISMOPOWERED]

Redline that bitch! She'll switch!(at redline!:D )

[Denlasoul]

Originally posted by 202rules
Is this a known symptom of limp mode. I've read for people talking about limp mode before. Is it actually a mode that the car gets into by design?
LIMP mode is a basic default mode that the car goes into to prevent extensive damage. Not sure how it is controled, but there are probably many situations that the car can experience for it to go into LIMP.

[svt ricco]

what i understand about your tranny is if it's on 2, it means that you'll only be able to go up to 2nd gear, if its on 3, up to 3rd.. i may be wrong...

[202rules]

Ok, I tried it again today and true enough it shifted to 2nd gear juuuuuuuust before redline.

I was just too scared that it won't shift and I would end up harming the engine :D