I bought a 79 240D last year, guy I work with made me a deal I couldn't turn down and delivered it as well. He had lost the key, and I put it on the backburner until now. I got a key (at 324K miles it still had the original tumbler, so I got lucky). I started it up and drove it in my shop but found out that the shift pattern is upside down. First gear is all the way to the right and back. 4th gear is up where #1 should be. What gives?

ar:

Iron case gearbox? with the shift arms on the side cover pointed down? and the linkage rods mis-connected between the selector and the trans arms?

Which way are the tranny shift arms pointing?

Also they may not be connected to the right levers on the shifter

Turn the shifter knob 180°. Problem solved.

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CC: NSA

All things are burning, know this and be released.

82 Benz 240 D, Kuan Yin
12 Ford Escape 4wd

You're four times

It's hard to

more likely to

concentrate on

have an accident

two things

when you're on

at the same time.

a cell phone.

www.kiva.org It's not like there's anything wrong with feeling good, is there?

smarty pants

The shift linkages were not hooked up properly, but worse than that they all had been bent and adjusted. The two that are supposed to be mostly straight, are anything but. The linkages are hard to find. Does anyone know if the W115 linkages are identical to W123?

W123 Linkages are not the same as W123 ;-) First you need to know if a magnet sticks to your transmission (probably does on a 79) then check car-part.com and look for shift linkages from a car with iron or aluminum transmission depending on what the magnet says.

__________________
CC: NSA

All things are burning, know this and be released.

82 Benz 240 D, Kuan Yin
12 Ford Escape 4wd

You're four times

It's hard to

more likely to

concentrate on

have an accident

two things

when you're on

at the same time.

a cell phone.

www.kiva.org It's not like there's anything wrong with feeling good, is there?

???

Sorry, just saying you need to know what you have to find what you need. Just knowing it's a W123 240D is not sufficient.

__________________
CC: NSA

All things are burning, know this and be released.

82 Benz 240 D, Kuan Yin
12 Ford Escape 4wd

You're four times

It's hard to

more likely to

concentrate on

have an accident

two things

when you're on

at the same time.

a cell phone.

www.kiva.org It's not like there's anything wrong with feeling good, is there?

The linkages used with the three models of 4-speed and two models of 5-speed W123 manual transmissions are not interchangeable.

I found this schematic that gave me all the information I needed to know to straighten this out enough to make it functional.



I removed all three linkages and started with the 3-4 linkage, bent it back to roughly the shape it should be, attached it to the transmission and adjusted the length via the threads with everything in neutral until it connected with both in neutral. Repeated for the other two linkages and now it works in all four gears. First is a little notchy, but this was a cheap car I bought that the owner had lost the key, has some rust on the passenger's side, and I am just trying to make it functional until I decide what to do with it.

Awesome! That round hole through the levers beneath the shifter, if you put a pin through it like a big nail, you'll lock the ouput levers in the neutral position. It's shown in the sectional view at the top with an arrow pointing at it. That being done, you can adjust each rod as you need to put each input lever on the side of the transmission in the neutral position (you'll feel it drop into the detent at neutral)

__________________
CC: NSA

All things are burning, know this and be released.

82 Benz 240 D, Kuan Yin
12 Ford Escape 4wd

You're four times

It's hard to

more likely to

concentrate on

have an accident

two things

when you're on

at the same time.

a cell phone.

www.kiva.org It's not like there's anything wrong with feeling good, is there?