Howdy folks,

I have a tumbler that is kaput for my 84 300SD and am having some trouble getting everything aligned to push in the pin so I can unscrew the lock barrel sleeve. On the front the indestructible metal cover is spinning freely of the rest of the tumbler so I do not know when I have everything aligned right




So, I am thinking since the green plastic on the rear does move with the tumbler if we assume that the pin on the left for the vacuum connection is 12 O'clock where should the middle of the rounded plastic bit (red dot) be so that everything is aligned to insert a pin to unscrew the lock barrel sleeve?



Thanks a lot for your advice.

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1977 Red 240D ( Squished by a 18 Wheeler )
1976 Black 240D ( Sold )
1991 White 420SEL ( Sold )
1987 Black 560SEL ( Sold )
1983 White 300SD ( Sold )
1984 Blue 300SD ( Sold )
2014 Red Chevy Cruze Diesel ( New Hotness )

The position is when the key is 'on'. It's the position that turns on the accessory idiot lights and causes the buzzer to activate. If you look carefully, perhaps shining a strong light onto the assembly, you may be able to see the hole into which something needs to be inserted. A skinny jeweler's screwdriver is a better tool to insert than a straightened paperclip in my opinion.

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

I went thru the same ordeal a few months ago. The front face was broken from the rest of the tumbler.

X2 what Kerry said --- I used the biggest paperclip I could find and had to grind it down a bit to get it into the hole. A jeweler's screwdriver would work a lot better.

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daw_two
Germantown, TN

Links:
Sold last car --- 05/2012 1984 300D Light Ivory, Red interior
Cluster Needles Paint
New Old Stock (NOS) parts

Past:
3/2008 1986 300SDL "Coda"
04/2010 1965 190D(c) "Ben"
& many more

I recently changed my cylinder on my 123 and tried using a jewelers screwdriver. The metal they use to make these especially the ones from China are very brittle. I found this out the very hard way.

Fortunately i managed to get the cylinder unlocked and I was able to unscrew the ring and fish out the broken piece of the screwdriver.

Just sayin, this could have turned out real bad if I hadn't gotten lucky with the collar releasing in spite of the broken screwdriver in the pocket.

I found the "jumbo" size paper clip fits the release mechanism perfectly without having to do anything to it other than unfolding it.

__________________
The OM 642/722.9 powered family
Still going strong
2014 ML350 Bluetec (wife's DD)
2013 E350 Bluetec (my DD)

both my kids cars went to junkyard in 2023
2008 ML320 CDI (Older son’s DD) fatal transmission failure, water soaked/fried rear SAM, numerous other issues, just too far gone to save (165k miles)
2008 E320 Bluetec (Younger son's DD) injector failed open and diluted oil with diesel, spun main bearings (240k miles)

1998 E300DT sold to TimFreeh
1987 300TD sold to vstech