Well they can certainly wear out, and the base of it is a hard type of plastic. When I put the 617 into my 240, it didn't take long to see that the shifter on mine had taken a hard hit from something on the road or even possibly a flex disc or in some other way the drive shaft may have hit the road and flew back up leaving extreme "scar" marks on the bottom of the car . The bottom piece on mine was broken, but it still held together and it would shift with difficulty. I bought a new plastic bottom piece, (the mount) and a few inner pieces. I can no longer show you the pieces because the "Russian" web site listing of Mercedes cars no longer has the diagrams up. I imagine the MB ordered them removed. That is to bad because I loved to use them and look at all the various assemblies - but no more. Now all you can get is major part numbers and vague description names like "gasket" or "pin" or washer. It is pretty much useless now.

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Junqueyardjim
Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important. C.S. Lewis



1983 Mercedes W123 240D 4 Speed 285,000 on the road with a 617 turbo, beautiful butter yellow, license plate # 83 240D INDIANA

2003 Jaguar Type X, AWD. beautiful, good mileage,
Mom's car, but I won't let her drive it!