Hey everyone. I was driving some friends to the airport today and I moved my car closer to the dorm so we could load their stuff. The car started up fine and I drove it to the dorm, but when I came back the car will not turn on! Everything powers up fine, all the lights, radio, seats, blower motor run fine. All of the fuses in the fuse box work fine. The thing is, when you turn the key to crank, nothing happens. No response whatsoever from the engine. I thought it was the security system starter disable so I disconnected the battery and left it for a bit and reconected it to no avail. Could someone please tell me where to look to find any relevant fuses, relays, solenoids, etc. that have to do with the starter. Thanks!!!

If it starts, it may be the starter safety switch (I think is called). It is located on the driver's side of the transmission.

__________________
J.H.
'86 300E

If it will start with the gear selector in 'neutral' and won't start in 'park', then you have a problem with the neutral safety switch. Do a search on this and you will find lots of info.
regards,
Mark

Could be a marginal battery. A starter pulls a lot of amps - I've seen it where everything appears to work fine but the starter won't turn. And a marginal battery could just need water. This is the optimistic, best case scenario - but I think the place to start - make sure you've got a good battery.

Thanks everyone, it is either the NSS or the shifter bushings. I put the car in neutral and it fires right up no problem. Im leaning more towards the NSS as the shifting action is pretty smooth, but I figure since im going to be under there, might as well replace both...

Almost aways the bushings -- when the second one falls out, not only does the shifter start to rattle sometimes, but the lever will no longer push past the detent to Park -- tranny will go SNAP SNAP SNAP and the car will roll on slopes, too!.

If it still fails to start in Park, you need a new neutral safetly switch.

I've never managed to get the shifter side bushing in (will be attempting this in a pit rather than on the ground under the car on jack stands shortly). I always take the lever on the tranny off for this job -- unclip the rod, noting the hole it's in (there are usually three on the lever!), remove the clamp bolt (10mm head and nut), pull lever off and use a vice to shove the bushing through. Reinstallation is the reverse. The new style clips (as opposed to the ones on the 1970's cars) usually require two screwdrivers to install -- one to hold the clip open and drag it back over the end of the rod and another to push it down. You may need to use a block of wood or something to push the rod through the bushing, the little slot has to show.

Peter

__________________
1972 220D ?? miles
1988 300E 200,012
1987 300D Turbo killed 9/25/07, 275,000 miles
1985 Volvo 740 GLE Turobodiesel 218,000
1972 280 SE 4.5 165, 000 - It runs!

If it starts in N and the shifter is aligned with the gate N position with no play, it is a bad switch. If the bush is bad, there will be slop/play in the N position and therefore the switch will not engage in the P position as the gate has stopped the shifter travel before P sw engagement...
..the sw is adjustable , as is the shifter control arm.