I know this is a common failure on the OM603 and other engines with plastic linkage sockets, but this happened to me in the 300D (OM617) with the metal socket. I was driving along a busy street yesterday evening, went to give the car some acceleration, and there was no response. I hit the flashers and was able to coast into a parking lot. I popped the hood and discovered that a linkage was disconnected. The linkage in question is the one that connects to the IP, MB calls it the "pushrod" in the FSM. It disconnected at the point where it connects to the rest of the linkages at the angle lever. I popped it back on and gave it a test push with the accelerator pedal to make sure it was ok before I left. It popped off again, so I reconnected it and tried again. After a few dozen vigorous presses on the accelerator pedal, I couldn't get it to disconnect again. I drove home with caution and did some more inspection today. A few people told me that over time, the metal clip inside the socket wears out and can cause this to happen, so I purchased a new socket. I inspected the old socket and the spring looks intact. However, the ball that it connects to on the angle lever has some play in it as I'm able to spin it around freely. I don't know if it's designed to spin or not.
Fortunately, I have another car to drive, but I want to get to the bottom to this. I cringe to think what might have happened if this failure occurred while I was trying to cross heavy traffic or do an evasive maneuver.
Have any of my fellow 617 drivers had this to happen to them and what was your solution? I did a search but only found things about the OM60x family.
