If you have the console with the sliding wood door, that will have to be removed first. There are two philips screws inside the console right at the front. Remove those and lift upward. That will then make visible the single philips screw that holds the wood shift console in place. Remove that too.

Loosen and remove the black shift surround first. You can pry around it and carefully lift. It is held in place with four serrated tabs that are secured to the actual shifter mechanism. Then carefully lift the wood console upward slightly from where you removed the screw and pull slightly towards you to detach the console from where it mates below the ashtray.

If you wish, you can move the tabs from the window switches and stereo fader (if you have one) and dislodge the switches from the wood console in order to get it completely out of the way...easier to work on the shift mechanism at this point.

If you always wanted to get one of those neat wood shifter knobs, now is the time to do the install. But, the bulb that provides the illumination is near the front left of the shifter. It's a tiny bulb, same size as the dash lights and such.

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2009 ML350 (106K) - Family vehicle
2001 CLK430 Cabriolet (80K) - Wife's car
2005 BMW 645CI (138K) - My daily driver
2016 Mustang (32K) - Daughter's car