Gearbox, W or S?

[mole]

Hello all,

I was getting a little fed up with my C180 (1998, 5-Speed Auto) changing gear at 3000rpm in the mornings so yesterday I tried the 'W' switch position instead. This makes the car much nicer to drive (I was also annoyed by the whining noise in first) without too much affect on performance. My question is, will it harm anything by leaving it in this mode? If you started in second in a manual, wouldn't you be more likely to stress the gearbox/engine, so does the same apply to an auto? Or am I just being paranoid?

Thank you all,

Helen

 

[Steve_Perry]

The question has been asked before and the concensus of opinion is that it doesn't harm the car at all if you leave the gearbox in W mode all the time. I've certainly not read any warnings to that effect in the handbook.

The link between driveshaft/gearbox/engine drive is actually made by the auto gearbox oil via the torque convertor. So I imagine you just end up thrashing the oil a little more taking off in 2nd all the time. The older 4 speed mechanical boxes always took off in 2nd gear no matter whether you had S or E selected. The only way to move off in first with those boxes was to select '2/1' or hit the kick-down.

S.

 

[mobeyone]

I only use w in bad weather...

 

[pammy]

I only use w in bad weather...

Same here - very bad weather, or an ice rink car park.

 

[BTB 500]

Doesn't it intentionally hold on to lower gears when cold, to warm the engine up quicker?

 

[aka$h]

Doesn't it intentionally hold on to lower gears when cold, to warm the engine up quicker?

Your right, it does that to warm the cats up to operating temperature quicker, so Ive been told.

 

[BTB 500]

And the engine / oil too, I would guess. So bypassing this could result in more engine wear (since most of this occurs when cold, I think).

 

[portzy]

I cant call myself a true expert here being as I have only been a MB'er for a couple of years or so but I have never seen a warning to NOT use W either for a prolonged length of time or at times when its not winter. They even call it comfort now? so, it says to me that if you just want to waft around all day long then W or C is the way to go.

On the subject of cold engine / high revs. I can see the logic of warming up the oil and cats quickly but to me the elecronic intervention never really lasted long enough to make that worthwhile. Even then, I was brought up to nurse the engine for the first few minutes / miles so I asked for this feature to be disabled on my C Class coupe as I wanted to be responsible for the destiny of both the engine / oil and the cat.

Portzy.

 

[Thmsshaun]

Never really used W but the other day the wheels were constantly spinning Never thought I would be fed up with the odd wheel spin. Put it into W and thats where it will be staying for the winter. Problem solved. Not seen if it has any effect on the economy yet.

 

[BTB 500]

I've used W on wet grass, worked a treat for that.

 

[didgit]

i dont know if anyone has mentioned before but i use W mode when in traffic queues to stop the box jumping between 1st and 2nd

 

[Satch]

I cannot recall if this was posted or if I read it elsewhere but there was something about certain transmissions not "learning" adaptive shift patterns whilst in W (or C) modes . Just a default shift pattern then?