if any of you w126 owners are wondering how to get to eaither your climate control unit or to your window switches, here is how.


1. Put the shifter in N with the PARKING BRAKE ON!!!slide out the ashtray, and lift up on the removable part. You will see two screws in the opening(bronze ones) remove those.

2. with much care you will now be able to remove the entire ashtray assembly, remove the wiring to the ashtray and slide out the lightbulb. Set aside

3.(to remove wood around shifter) NOw you can lift up on the "coin tray"(again VERY carefully)to remove, it will lift up in the front and slide out forward. Set aside

4. YOU can now very carefully slide the wood surrounding the shifter forward untill it comes up freely. DO not force it as there are little plastic clips that hold it in(learned that the hard way)

5.(to remove the wood around the acc unit) I had an aftermarket cd player, so the factory radio may be differant. I slid out the radio(mine just pulls out) and disconnected the wires, set it aside. there are two screws you can see if you look up into the ashtray compartment, remove those(they help to hold the wood in).

6. With those removed, you should be able to very carefully slide the wood downward(WARNING:there are two clips that clip inot the acc unit, you may need to pay special attention to get them out without damage!!)

thats it, i hope i helped someone out, it's much easier to be able to know what your doing then pull on stuff and then figure out what you were SUPPOSED to do.
RG

Great information...now if someone could tell me how to remove the wood over the transmission on a 97 129.

Question????
Do the window swithces and so on need to be removed or will they come with the wood trim?

RG5384,

Thanks for sharing the info. I removed my console wood panel once and broke 1 or 2 clips. Sigh.......

mreid,

You need to dislodge the window push buttons from the wood panel before you slide the panel off. Slowly push the buttons OUT from the bottom side of the wood panel, taking care not to break the snap-clips below. Aint too difficult.

By the way, RG, what were you intending to do when you removed the console?

Mervyn
1983 W126 (280SEL)

Mervyn, which time????? the first time was to see if i could figure out why my interior lights weren't working, and i linked that to the fiber optic cable in the back of the console. Second time, to tidy up some accessory wires. Third time, to fix sunroof switch. Fourth time was to fix the window switch. And finally, the sixth time(i think) to install new wood pieces because mine were broken to crap(it was like that whne i bought it, hence it only took about .2 seconds to take apart, it was only barely sitting in there). Hopefully, since it's all put back together tightly and correctly, i won't have to go in there again for quite a while. Don't even bother asking about door panels........... Mreid, you can leave the switches in the wood but you will need to disconnect the attaching wire harnesses, be careful as figuring out which ones go to which can be a royal pain. It may be different on 86 on up models though.
R

RG5384,
That's really quite a number of times you removed your console! I only took it out once, with the intention of changing the "Zebrano" wood panel to the "Walnut" type, but I figured that if I do so, I'll have to change those across the entire dash as well (which I'm not too sure how to do it). Gave up the idea eventually..... :(

Regards,
Mervyn
1983 W126 (280SEL)

Is it possible to buy/replace the plastic clips which hold the console in (where are they and to what do they fasten?)
-- the console in my daughter's 420SEL doesn't stay down as a result of the PO (or someone else) having broken off these clips. Thanks.

c43amg, you can go to a local euro recycler and see if you can buy buy a rotted out wood pannel or a cracked up one tha thas the clips for around 5 bucks. It takes some time and a lot of effort to get the clips back in place. You need to get clever with a screwdriver and a hammer. A easier way out is to get some double sided tape and just tape the thing down. The clips look like little black hooks without the end curled up. they kind of go like this: ---\___. they attach the center wood console(around the shifter) to the actual center console. if you decide to go the route of putting it in the actual correct way reply back and i'll give you more specific help. Also, if anyone wants help reparing a switch email me and i'll help with that too(i've done almost every single type of toggle switch in that thing) hope

RG

Thanks form the info on the wood removal. I have problems with the climate not operating properly. I dinked around trying to get the wood off and almost broke it in frustration, then did a search and found your post. The wood on the W123's pulls right off and I thought it would be the same for the W126's.

Do you have any experience with the climate control? I've seen some threads that mention soldering as a fix but I can't figure a way into any part but the bottom that exposes the printed circuit board, and all of that looks OK.

I found a black plastic box and an aluminum box both with a large multi pin plugs connected to them. They are both behind the glove box. Do you know if they are part of the climate control system?

Thanks again for the tip on getting into two areas and thanks for any help you may lend on the climate stuff.

Ernie