Our '96 E300D (W210, OM606NA) is becoming a "non-starter." Yesterday, my wife called to say that "the car won't start." After making sure she wasn't trying to start it in gear (which has happened), I drove to where she was. Indeed, although all the lights came on and the glow plugs cycled, the starter did nothing. I moved the shifter from Park into Neutral and voila, it started. Turned the engine off, went back to Park, tried again, now it would start in Park.

So--probably a flaky Neutral Safety Switch, right? Same problem repeated once in three starts today except now the wife knows about trying Neutral. She said it took several tries (moving the shift lever back and forth) but eventually it started.

Back at home, I pulled the belly pan and took a look. The pictures show what I saw. I need help with identification. Remember that this is a 722.4 4-speed tranny, not the new 5-speed that the '97 models got. I also played with the shift lever, moving it back and forth, trying to get it to misbehave. It did not, of course. Is the thing with the long plug in it the NSS? What about the plug at the rear of the tranny? The reverse light switch maybe?

The NSS should be fairly new, since about 18 months and 13,000 miles ago Santa Rosa Hydramatic rebuilt the transmission. I will ask them tomorrow but I would assume that the NSS was replaced at that time. Maybe not--anyone have experience in this area?

You'll also notice the repair job on the wiring, done when the transmission was overhauled. The environmentally-friendly insulation on that cable had disintegrated so they patched it up as best they could. This means that the starter problem could also be that wiring. That is something I can rebuild myself. I'm not sure I can replace the NSS--the factory DVD says something about "lowering" the transmission to get it out. Not sure I want to do that.

Is there anywhere in the 210 chassis to jump the starter, in case whatever is now intermittent turns into a hard failure before I can find it? I know how to jump the starter on the W123 and the W124 but don't see anything familiar under the hood of the W210.

As always, your advice is appreciated.

Jeremy

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"Buster" in the '95

Our all-Diesel family
1996 E300D (W210) . .338,000 miles Wife's car
2005 E320 CDI . . 113,000 miles My car
Santa Rosa population 176,762 (2022)
Total. . . . . . . . . . . . 627,762
"Oh lord won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz."
-- Janis Joplin, October 1, 1970