W124 300CE occasionally hard start.
 

Now that the 300SE is being worked on, I've been driving the 300CE around town and it's a blast. Compared to the 300SE it's a rocket.

Sometimes the car wont start right away. When turning the key nothing happens, no starter, zip, no sound, only the lights in the cluster do light up. Turn the key a couple of times and it starts up again. My girlfriend, who's driving it more that I am, told me she has had the same issue a couple of times, she puts it in N while turning the ignition and it would start right up. The shifter bushings will need to be replaced, the shifter is loose. Had the battery tested and it's still good, it's a much smaller battery than in my 300SE. What I thought was weird as it is the same engine.

Any ideas off in what direction to look?

That sounds very much like the neutral safety switch (transmission has to be in park or neutral before the starter circuit is activated)

So fix the shifter bushings and make sure the shifter is in the correct place for each of its settings as per FSM

Ordered the bushings and I still have the special tool, hopefully it will be an easy fix.

Yep, just went through those symptoms with the 95 wagon. Replaced bushings and the NSS. All is well now. [emoji41]

Dale

Replaced both of them as they were both gone, took a little longer than expected. Had to go to the dealer to get the clips and I forgot how hard it is to get those suckers pushed in, putting them in boiling water for 20 minutes soften them enough and did the trick.

I'm not sure if it was already like this or it's something that I did, but I don't have to insert the key and press the brake to be able to shift the gears. Without the key I can go through all the gears, I'm sure this is something of a safety hazard. How do I fix this?

What year model? MB didn't have a brake interlock until somewhere in the early 90s. If the car was never equipped with the brake interlock, what you describe is totally normal.

Factory stock.

It's a 1988 and I didn't know that. With the 1990 300SE it won't get out of Park without turning the key (don't have to start it) and the brake pressed.