I too have a 1991 420SEL, with a bashful reverse. For the last few months, this has been an issue. It is really bad when i park in a down hill direction, i dont do that any more. And, when shopping or parking, i either find a way to park to the side or pull through the parking space so i can drive straight out. A time or two, i have had to open the door and push backwards with one leg.

I called my mechanic and he suggested the linkage or the bushings.

Now i know what i did not want to know, but its 2009, and my little girl only has 109,000 on it, so i guess the $1300 is the right repair to attempt too.

Fortunately, i live in Alabama and have a great transmission man who replaced the transmission in my 88 300E several years ago, who, i think should be able to take these notes and be able to beat that price.

Today, as i was about to head out on a quick jump to Huntsville,and as the window switch had been going down good, raising that sucker was getting intermittent and i pressed hard on the drivers side window button and pushed it into the console, fortunately, i was able to pull the console cover, swap out the drivers side rear seat switch with the front switch so this wont be happening again. Then, i thought about the transmission problem and a quick google search found this forum.

This forum has been terrific. Thanks Guys.