This morning I was parking (backing in) in the Library parking lot. missed the space slightly, shifted 'drive' went forward, (dont know which gear fwd), shifted to reverse, shifter went dead, the linkage to trans fell? off shifter. No park, no reverse no any fwd gears at all with shift lever. All I had was foward gear (drive? -1? -2?) selected. Had to shut off motor to push, (a few folks helped me), car into the parking spot. No park, no start! (parking lockout switch does not close).

Had to have the car towed home. (up on trailer)

Question: Can the link be reconnected from inside, or do I have to jack up the car & fix from under the vehicle?
Never had this problem ever.

-corne-

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"I applaud your elaborate system of denial"

Stuff like this has to be inspected/fixed from under the vehicle.

What model/year is it?

Same thing happened to me on my SDL a couple years back. I found a video on the topic on the site which shall not be linked. The nylon bushing that holds the bottom of the shift lever onto the rod that pushes the gear selector lever on the tranny tends to get old and falls out. On the other end of that rod at the tranny selector is an identical bushing. Might as well buy two while you’re at it. I forget who on the site told me about it, but yeah, the bushing in front was in bad shape also, but still in place. It’s easier to replace that one.

There was no bushing to be seen on mine at the shift lever. You can see the whole thing pretty well but it’s a tight fit for working. I was far from home when it happened, like 50 miles, luckily I had some long zip ties with me. I put it back in the hole where it’s supposed to be on the lever and zip tied the holy hell out of it, ran it for a couple of months that way.

It’s better with a nylon bushing and they’re cheap, just a bit hard to put in. If you go that route come back to this thread and I’ll give you my two cents on installing it.

Would not be at all surprised if my car is much like yours, down at the shifter linkage anyway.

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1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

I know you just want to get it road worth but when I checked mine both of the exterior small bushings were toast as was one of the large Bushings that had a cracked off flange at the base of the sifter.

There is even to other small plastic bushings within the base of the shifter.

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

'83 300CD turbo.

While waiting for the tow, I had removed the plastic 'trim' covering the shift lever, (had to wait 1½ hr.), at that point, three 10mm bolts/screws to go, I decided to check here @ peachparts, , ,

Also, I am now 74 years young. {hardest part of my childhood was the first 50 years, , ,}

Many years ago I had an '82 300D turbo junker, I was gonna remove the trans, Mercedes is not user friendly to driveway mechanics! I ended upgiving the car away, , , only issue besides a lotta rust was a hole in the #3 piston, it still ran though.

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"I applaud your elaborate system of denial"

I would say that a w123 is easier to work on than most cars

Post #8 has some pics of where the other shift bushings are on a W123.
300SDL Neutral Sensor Switch

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

I think the 3rd pic is it. The circlip eventually gives way after the nylon bushing degrades and falls out.

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1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

Replaced the two bushings, finally.
In one of the links from #7 above, guy said 'it takes 2 bushings and 10 minutes' (!!) After jacking up the car, it took 3 hours! Is there a special tool for installing the bushings? Not that it matters now, , , ,

-c-

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"I applaud your elaborate system of denial"

The nylon bushings are cheap and easy to source. A special pliers tool costs $17 and helps a bit. Still a tight place to force your hands in and grubby, so will be frustrating. At least you are fixing simple mechanical parts you can see, not a new finicky electronic-shift transmission, though those do have trouble codes to help.

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1984 & 1985 CA 300D's
1964 & 65 Mopar's - Valiant, Dart, Newport
1996 & 2002 Chrysler minivans

Did you read any threads before doing the job?

For pics a substitute tool see post#8. I used a similar setup when I did mine I also saw a similar pic in a thread.

Shift shaft bushing installer tool

Post with sites that have instructions see post #5:
Auto Tranny Shift Rod Bushings?

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel