1990 420 sel wood trim
 

I searched the listings and found out that this car has a bulb in the gear selector, but before I get into it I was hopping to find out about the wood trim and how it comes apart can any one give me a hand? just-n-time:silly:

It is glued on at the factory. Which is how most of us re-attach it....with glue.

Glue! Heat gun?
 

Great, Now tell me do we use a heat gun or just pry gently? just-n-time:idea2:

I'm pretty sure it's not glued on. I have a 1987 560SEL, which should be the same...

On mine you first need to remove the ashtray by pulling out the ash part of the ashtray and then removing the two screws that are now exposed. That will allow you to pull out the remainder of the ashtray assembly. It will remain connected by the power leads to the lighter and the ashtray light. Just yank those out and set the ashtray aside.

Next, pull out the sunglasses holder. If you have heated seats, then you will need to disconnect the power going to the switches for that. You may also have a country/city horn switch which needs to be disconnected.

Now you should be able to slide the wood toward the front of the car about an inch and then lift it up. You would need to disconnect all of the window switches, the passenger side mirror control, fader and rear window lock switch as well as remove the shifter to completely remove the wood, but I don't think you need to do all of that to change the bulb.

I changed mine about 5 years ago, so I may be forgetting something...

^^^^^
Correct up to removing the shifter - you don't have to do that.

Once you have done all the above (except remove the shifter) the bulb is located at the forward most section of the shifter gate.

Would this bulb illuminate the position of the shifter relative to the letter for each gear? I've noticed that on a friend's 420SEL you cannot easily see which gear the stick is adjacent to at night.

Thank you all for the info I could not understand the glue thing sounds like it would work lose like so much junk in todays market,but who knows maybe this company has had to cut back too.

Your correct!
 

Took the system apart and found I did not have to remove the black ring or slide the plate forward,Though every thing you said was good up to the shifter, The bulb can be removed from the shifter Assembly,as it is in the forward most left side of the housing,Auto Zone had the tinny bulb it just pulls out of the holder and push in the new one,then slide the holder back into the socket,It to just pulls out and pushes in,just-n-time:silly:

Light up.....
 

The bulb lights up the letters of the shift selector,not the individual letters.:silly:

OOOOOHHHHH! Duhhh! I'm sorry!!

I was thinking that you were asking about the rest of the wood trim - not the trim to get to the shifter bulb. When you wrote "before I get into it", I was thinking that you meant before you started that project, you were going to do something with the wood trim....ie another, different project.

Sorry about that!

-Larry

Cool
 

Like always no one is infallible,I thank you for your note and the time you took to reply,So I take from your last statement that the trim around the doors and dash are glued in place?:dizzy2:

Trim on dash is held in with various attachments - mostly screws, trim on doors is held on by little metal tongues, if you take the door cards off, you will see how the wood is attached.

Removing the dash wood (if you were so inclined) is a whole new ball game and requires a lot of dash disassembly.

Having said that, member danwatt did it and refurbished all his wood with spectacular effect.

wood trim
 

Thank you for the help,I have some cracked and some that are,well look like the clear coat is cracking,this will be a job to do list. Thanks again j-n-t:laugh2: