solved it:
Had to enter expAll=1 to the first level entry in the menu.
Like this:
1=TMENU
1.expAll=1
1.NO.wrapItemAndSub = <li>|</li>
I always put it before the level configuration, like this:
5 = HMENU
5 {
   wrap = <ul id="secondmenu"> | </ul>
   special = list
   special.value = 82
   entryLevel >
   expAll=1
which did not work!
So, maybe this helps somebody else.. :-)