Got a bit of a shocker today when I put my car in park and it decided to exit the parking spot as I was exiting the car.

Some experimentation has confirmed that it is useless. It will roll forward or backward if the car is on more than a slight incline. There are no discernible noises or anything, and the shifter moves crisply with no slop. Car has never not started in park

Would I be correct in my assumption that it's probably not the shifter bushings but the mechanitron inside the tranny?

My parking brake is also non functional so I have to downgrade to a ****ing Kia till it is. Sucks. The parking brake lever depresses all the way down to the floor and pops back up fine but the car rolls. Cable broken?

Body of this car is perfect, engine is perfect with no smoking even on kick down. This ****ing sucks

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1978 300D

If the shifter bushings are totally wasted, the trans may not shift completely in to park. Try new shifter bushings first. If not, then the next probable cause is the "parking pawl" in the transmission. Not too bad, but takes a trans person to repair. The parking brake cable may be broken or just way out of adjustment.

A tranny job means the car will be parked for a while. The Parkin brake adjustment is done with a screwdriver with the wheel off after lining up the holes IIRC. I guess it's worth the five minutes to try it.

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1978 300D

1) Two blocks for one rear tire so your car doesn't roll away again.
2) Do your Parking Brake adj for giggles and possibly safety, won't fix the underlying trans issue.
3) R&R the shifter bushing.
4) go to a trans shop and find out why it won't hold in gear.

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Terry Allison
N. Calif. & Boca Chica, Panama

09' E320 Bluetec 77k (USA)
09' Hyundai Santa Fe Diesel 48k (S.A.)

My '82 300D did that on occasion right after I bought it 22 years ago. You could hear the pawl clicking as the car rolled. The issue somehow resolved itself after a week or so and has not been a problem since.

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When cryptography is outlawed, bayl bhgynjf jvyy unir cevinpl.

Most likely the linkage bushings and adjustment. Highly unlikely you could damage the parking pawl without knowing it...those things are stout?

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Current Stable

• 380SL (diesel)
• Corvette C5
• Manx
• Baja Bug
• F350 Powerstroke
• Auburn Boattail Speedster replica

There was no bang or other indication of anything failing which was why it was such a shock when the car started rolling. I'll try the parking brake adjustment but if that doesn't work then it will have to go on the back burner for a bit.

Just enfuriating that this would happen when I put so much work into the car this year. I had it to the point where I was doing silly cosmetic stuff like putting new seats in. Tranny stuff is the one major area I can't really do myself so now I am screwed.

Now I am downgraded to a goddamn hobbit car. Just enfuriating

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1978 300D

my 85 126 had lots of "rollback"after you put it in park and it turned out my shifter bushings were totally gone..worn trans shifter bushings also would keep the car from starting,as if the NSS switch were bad,and sometime i think i was driving around in 2nd or something on the highway because the shifting was all wonked up,the parts were like under 10 dollars,but you need a tool to put them in. i had an AAMCO shop do it for about $ 150.00 but it cleared up all those problems
good luck!
kenny

The bushings in your shifter may be fine or barely holding on, the bushings that are more then likely to blame are the two on the rod from the trans to the shifter....had this exact thing happen...

Also you have 5 bushings on a 78, two in the shifter, two on the rod and one on the pressure control rod on the opposition side of the transmission...

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The test is really easy. Chock your front wheels securely on level ground. Jack up one rear wheel. Crawl under the car with the transmission in N. Grab the linkage rod and push it all the way to the rear (it will click 2 times). Then turn the wheel and you should hear the parking pawl click into place. That confirms that Park is good. Then wiggle the linkage rod and see if it is at all loose. If so, the bushings are bad. They're relatively easy to replace - lots of posts with different techniques.

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Current Stable

• 380SL (diesel)
• Corvette C5
• Manx
• Baja Bug
• F350 Powerstroke
• Auburn Boattail Speedster replica

Did park ever work on this car? Check shifter bushings , trans mount then shifter rod adjustment.

While not common, I have seen parking pawls or even tail housings on various brands of transmissions snap off before. To a one it was caused by a person that puts the car in park while it is rolling to a stop, does not use a parking brake and had vocabulary issues.

I'd prioritize getting the hand brake to work, it's not that hard to do and the result is certain. You can live without park forever if your hand brake works. It could be a frozen cable, frozen compensator, or frozen ballancer. All easily replaced or repaired.

The four stages of transmission repair:

1) Denial. It's gotta be bushings, right?

2) Depression. I'll just park it against the wall and drive the Corolla

3) Anger. It's gonna cost how much?

4) Adjustment. An indy repair will cost half as much as a dealer.

Thanks so much for that suggestion mach 4, I will try that out on Thursday. I have had no issues with the car shifting into park. It did roll a bit before reaching it's stopping point though if the car was inclined when you put it into park. That is a sign of bushings?

Thank you very much for the suggestions guys. After replacing and upgrading the glow plugs, replacing the fuel lines, doing some engine work and getting the body pristine having a show stopper happen in the one area I have no idea what to do with made my brain **** off

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1978 300D

You guys are all making this sound worse then what is really, its two simple things....bushings and adjusting the parking break shoes...

http://ozbenz.net/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=7658

You can even buy a nice little kit

http://www.atpartsmotor.com/index.php?lay=show&ac=cat_show_pro_detail&pid=156662

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.....and the problem has magically fixed itself. I think it was a combination of the super hot humid weather affecting something. Either that or my car is a Decepticon, since is no the first time something has gone wrong, I've threatened to switch to the winter beater, and it's magically fixed itself

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1978 300D