The following is from a Staff Member from the 500E Board Forum, dated from 2012....
That Mysterious European E/S Shifter Switch
You've probably seen that E/S shift program selector switch on most European 124 models, also used on a number of other chassies.
There's some debate as to the exact meaning of the letters but it's basically "Economy" vs "Sport/Standard".
Now, I always thought the USA cars, without this fancy setup, were defaulted to the "Economy" setting, and if I installed the system I could get a "Sport" setting.
Well, I fiddled around with one of these units on the bench, and made a depressing discovery..... the additional function adds the Economy Mode. :eek :eek
In other words, all US-spec models already have the "Sport" mode all the time. Adding the switch, vac plumbing, and dual-chamber Bowden cable would just allow me to add an Economy mode. Bah, humbug! :frown
Basically the system limits the travel of the control plunger in the tranny... instead of the normal 40mm total travel on the cable, the Economy setting limits the travel to about 25mm max.
So you'd always get relatively low shift points, even at (for example) 50-90% throttle.
At 100% throttle the kickdown switch/solenoid should activate and bump the shift points to redline, in either E or S mode.
I know, the US standard is Sport mode. But I now have an Economy option while I'm stuck in low moving traffic and I have to say, the ride is more smooth!
In heavy stop and go traffic; the combination of drive by wire (later models), S selected on the tranny rocker (1st gear start) and AN ABUNDANCE of low end torque results in a jerky start and stop ride. Switching the tranny rocker to W forces the tranny to start in 2nd gear and the result is a very civilized heavy traffic experience.
Attachment contains European user guide page of S and E transmission modes, in early R129 up to 1993. Even in Standard mode the car moves from standstill in 2nd gear except kick-down. In addition, shift points can be adjusted to driver's preferences in the pre-722.6 trannies.
Do you have the full diagram of the picture titled e-s.jpg?
I have the E/S switch in my car but I feel the vacuum line is not connected properly or something is missing, as my car behaves very differently in E mode.
In E mode, the shift points are the same but the car tends to stay in gear at low speeds. Meaning that if I let off the gas, it won't upshift and keep me in 3rd for example until I depress the pedal again.
It also doesn't engine brake on E mode. It downshifts in a very stealthy manner and the rpm drops as of the car was in neutral. Press the gas pedal and the rpms would fly all the way to around 4k rpm before it feels like it engaged a gear....this feels sort of like rev matching. Hard to explain.
This is why I feel the vacuum line is connected to the wrong port or something is missing. Did you connect only one vacuum line, as I see multiple ones in your pics.
And what exactly where you measuring with the multimeter?
You may have some vacuum line disconnected, in particular the one(s) connecting to the shift delay/bowden cable actuator on the transmission (IMG_3756.JPG).
With the multimeter I was testing the positive connection to the switchover valve that I added (IMG_3755.JPG) that it is directly connected to the E/S switch.
From year to year and different market the specs and location of the switchover valves could be different. I just added the E/S one close to what you describe as the one "responsible for harsh and soft shifts" which is not. That switchover valve is for the "delayed upswitch" for when the engine is cold. The "harsh and soft shifts" are controlled on the side of the transmission with a direct vacuum line that comes from the intake manifold.
Is the Vacuum line for the E/S switch connected directly to the switchover valve as one vacuum line or is there like a y-pipe somewhere that splits it into two vacuum lines?
You can use a Y pipe on the delayed upswitch switchover valve or like I did, use one of the available ports on the vacuum distributor block module.
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