I just read my owners manual for the '90 300D 2.5, US. There is no mention of starting in second. It does have a bold warning that states:
"It is dangerous to shift the selector lever out of "P" od "N" is the engine speed is higher than idle speed. If your foot is not on the brake pedal, the car could accelerate quickly forward or in reverse. You could lose control of the car and hit something. Only shift into gear when the engine is idling normally." That seems to me to validate Marshall's statement that the second gear start of the ealier models was to prevent creeping. I know that this car starts in first every time, whether I'm flooring it or not. So does the '87 300SDL. My 115 300D's all started in second unless I floored them, or shifted into and back out of "L" first. The 450SLC starts in first, but it only has three gears, and first goes all the way to 57 MPH or so - I think they just eliminated first gear from the tranny --- On 1/24/06, Kaleb C. Striplin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > no > > John Berryman wrote: > > > On Tuesday, January 24, 2006, at 07:24 PM, Kaleb C. Striplin wrote: > > > > > >>every 124 diesel I have ever owned or driven has started in 1st > >> > > > > -- OK Don, KD5NRO Norman, OK '90 300D 243K, Rattled '87 300SDL 290K, Limo Lite, or blue car '81 240D 173K, Gramps, or yellow car '78 450SLC 67K, brown car '97 Ply Grand Voyager 78K Van Go