W123 Trans issue
 

Hello all....I have a transmission problem looking for your input.

The car is: 1983 300DT 49 state car 4 speed auto.

The trouble is: when I manually shift down from drive into second/third and then try to shift back to drive I either have to go to neutral then back to drive or put counter clockwise pressure on the stick to get back to drive. If I don't do one of these the car remains in second/third.

My first guess is this would be nothing more than a linkage issue. What do you all think?

Thanks for your time.

Bill

Get underneath the car and make sure the bushings are still good, and the linkage isn't bent.

How much do you have to move the lever to change each gear?

That'll tell you if your bushings are bad.

Jim

The lever shouldn't have play in it and the shifter should line up in the gates with the correct gears. I'd guess bushings also. They're cheap (less than $2 ea.), but they aren't easy to get to (on a W124, at least).

Todd