Hi md21722 -

Now you are going to embarrass me ;-) I bought a Brabus wood gear shift and what to change-out the original leather gear shift. I pulled out the center console wood and storage box inbetween the seats. Then carefully disconnected the power window controls etc. That took about 3 minutes. Then I looked and stared at the transmission gear selector for 3 hours! I couldn't figure out for the life of me how the metal shaft came out. There probably some super-secret MBZ tool that does it in 30 seconds. I didn't have tool...

I gave up and put the car back together. A couple days later I notice some lights were not working. Hmmmm... What did I do??? I pulled everything apart 3 or 4 times and check connections, etc. It "looked" good, but no lights. All the switches functioned, just no lights... And, I gave up again. MBZ 2 / John 0!!!

About a month later the car went to the dealer and had the transmission replaced. At the same time I had them take care of lights, so I have no idea which bulb was the culprit.

As an aside - When the light by the sunroof and the one in the rear cabin have gone out, they took down a couple of other lights too. Once their bulbs were replaced all was good.

The only I think that still isn't working is the headlight switch - the switch lights up with all the headlight settings, but dial itself with the white line (so you know which you've selected) doesn't light up. However, I can't remember if that was supposed to light. If you pull it back for the rear foglight, the little orange light comes on okay. Does that dial light up???