<E30>My A/M switch is not working

[Mark Colasante <mcola@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I have an A/M toggle switch for my automatic transmission in my 90
325iC.  My understanding was that if set to M  then I could put the
transmission in say 2nd gear from a stop and the transmission would
begin in 2nd gear instead of 1st gear.  Same for starting in 3rd.
However, when I do this it still just starts in 1st gear.  

This was originally designed to help out in snow conditions I thought.
But, the reason that I want to do it is for testing purposes.  I would
like to start out in 2nd, maybe even 3rd, and bring it to redline.  I am
testing out some new software/hardware called the Home Dyno and I want
to avoid shiftpoints in my output.  If I start in 1st gear then it
shifts too quickly and I can't get a good sample reading off the
ignition wires.

Am I mistaken about this switch?  If not, how can I check out the
integrity of the circuit or switch?  Where exactly does it connect to,
etc?  If I am way off on this I guess I can just wait until the
transmission shifts and start taking my readings then, but I will miss
some of the lower RPM range in my sample.

Thanks,

Mark Colasante
#163942

------------------------------