Hello all, first post. After lusting over the W114 250c for 20 years, I finally bought one from a little old man who had kept it in his garage, more or less, for the past 35 years. Great shape but needs lots of updating. In the process of installing a new Weber dual carburetor kit (the Zenith carbs were the the reason the car was almost never driven according to the old man - he gave up trying to make them work) I found a small piece of linkage lying on the garage floor after putting everything back together. I had not removed this piece. Coincidentally, the 3 speed column shift automatic is now very difficult to shift into gear and even makes an unnerving grinding noise as it goes into 'Park'. I have not driven the car at all since the loss of this piece and am terrified to do so. I have the factory manual that shows the exploded parts diagram and this appears to be a linkage piece for the shifter somewhere right around the firewall but I absolutely cannot see where it goes. Am I correct? Does anyone else recognize this linkage or the symptoms I've described?

Thanks very much for any assistance you can lend!

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This looks like part number 1152600389 which is also known as 1112600066 on the earlier cars. They are cheap to replace but you will likely need to get it from a dealer. They run less than $20.

There are two places this could have come from on your car that I know of. One would be at the end of the shifting shaft; sort of down under the brake master cylinder is where to look. The other is on the side of the transmission where one lever links to an arm that moves a valve inside the transmission.

You will just need to look hard to see where it is missing from. Look for a ball on the end of a lever that is just sitting there with no control rod snapped onto it. Once you find this the search will really be on because the other rod or lever it connected to has likely dropped away and is hanging down which means it is no longer near the lever it was connected to.

The best way I have found to do something like this is to use a bright and small flashlight that can focus the beam down to a small area. This way you have all the light you need and your vision is focused only on where the beam is pointing and not on the overall system of levers you will be starting at.

Move slowly and take it all in. You will eventually see the a ball that is missing a connecting rod.

Let us know what you find.

Ouch! I have been searching (in vain) beneath the master cylinder. I didn't realize the possibility of the second area on the side of the transmission. I had to unbolt the filler tube when removing the air intake manifold and that was moved around quite a bit during the carburetor replacement but I have a feeling this little linkage arm would be on the driver's side somewhere. The linkage appears to go into a recess in the firewall. Do you know if there is a way to reach it from inside the footwell (above the pedals)?

I knew this car was going to need a lot of work but just not in the ways it has turned out so far. I am quickly learning these cars are simple, to a degree, but demand your respect. Thanks again!

- Dave

Dave:

Inasmuch as the part illustrated in your photos was not made to be attached to a ball stud (no spring loaded ball sockets), that particular avenue of search can be bypassed.
It is, obviously, of the nature of a turnbuckle; i.e., when the center piece is turned while each of the end pieces is attached to something, the end pieces are simultaneously moved either closer together, or farther apart. Such a device could be found in the throttle linkage between two carburetors, for the purpose of synchronizing them. The absence of the link would make the operation of the Zeniths very difficult indeed!

That said, it may very well not be from the car at all, but simply is something that became lodged on the manifolds years ago, and finally fell out when you disassembled the original carbs from the engine.

Re: Grinding noise

Was the vehicle rolling slightly when you placed the shift lever into "Park"?
How have you adjusted the control pressure linkage between the transmission and the throttle linkage?

you should have rebuild the old carbs easy done easy to adjust look in your repair manual the piece in question is part of the old carb

That makes perfect sense that the piece was linkage from the old Zenith carbs. Cannot believe it didn't occur to me. Everything looked like it was still there with the old carbs but I suppose that was easy enough to miss once piece. I have kept the original carbs to rebuild one day should that be highly-desirable.

*** Transmission problem update ***
In an effort to sort out what is happening with the transmission, I just went out and started the car. (It is up on jack stands at the moment) Shifted it into gear and I find that in order to move it from one gear to the next I have to pull back on the gear selector lever. This may be characteristic of the MB transmission but I'm new to this car. When moving the gear selector from 'Drive' back to 'Park' (with the brake pedal depressed) once it arrives in 'Park' there is a stuttering noise that lasts precisely four seconds before stopping. Sounds like gear teeth chattering.

This is a new car to me so I was changing out my brake discs and two of my calipers have a slight leak so I don't have a fully sealed brake system at the moment. I don't imagine that would have any bearing on this transmission issue.

Frank, I'm embarrassed to say I haven't done any adjustments to the control pressure linkage. I don't have any familiarity with how that is affected. I have an old Intereurope workshop manual and the factory exploded parts diagram book and that's pretty much it. Definitely learning as I go but trying to be respectful to my car.

Thanks again for your assistance, guys!

-Dave

Your transmission sounds fine. Your brakes do not. The noise you described is the parking pawl skipping because your rear wheels were still turning.

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Current:
2021 Charger Scat Pack Widebody "Sinabee"
2018 Durango R/T

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1972 280SE 4.5
2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited "Hefe", 1992 Jeep Cherokee Laredo "Jeepy", 2006 Charger R/T "Hemi"
1999 Chrysler 300M - RIP @ 221k

Gentlemen, I will hopefully be able to report back good news shortly. Just have to wait for the calipers to arrive. Thanks so much for all the helpful advice and perspective.

- Dave

Pulling back on the shift lever to move it out of park was a common feature of cars built during the 50, 60 and even into the early 70's. This was considered a safety feature.

Thanks, Idle. It was so....specific in the way it felt....it definitely made me wonder if that was the case with the 'notchy' gear selector. The more I get to know this car, the more I respect the outstanding craftsmanship and engineering that went into it.

Unless they are warped, etc.

I fought my pair for a year, then got the Webers.
Never looked back, the Webers are fantastic.

Jim

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14 E250 BlueTEC black. 45k miles
95 E320 Cabriolet Emerald green 66k miles
94 E320 Cabriolet Emerald green 152k miles
85 300TD 4 spd man, euro bumpers and lights, 15" Pentas dark blue 274k miles

Jim, the reason my car has less than 80k original miles (still has the old shocks from 1975 installed!) is because the original Zenith carbs gave the previous owner of 35 years nothing but misery. He said he loved the car but got tired of throwing money at the carbs.

He attempted to rebuild them three times. I suspect he didn't realize they were probably warped so no matter how well they were rebuilt, they would never perform correctly. My Weber carbs take all of the drama out of start-up and running the car. They weren't the easiest things to install because the kit from RedLine wasn't all that great but I don't regret it now that the job is complete.