82 240 D, Shifter worn

[RalphinSL]

I've had my 82 240 D for two years and have had the satisfaction of fixing dozens of things like the starter, clutch slave master, A/C compressor, brakes, leaky power steering pump, gear box, panel lights, plus cosmetic things, etc.
Anyway, since I've owned the car the shifter has tended to easily slip into reverse when I want it to go into first. I now know how to avoid this, but it just can't be right. It seems like it was designed so as to lift the shifter when going into reverse, but that restriction seems to no longer be there, worn away. I've replaced all those rubber grommets on the transmission rods and that didn't make any difference. Is there something I can do?

[JimSmith]

RalphinSL,

This is a problem that has been discussed before. If you try a search I think you will find some threads with graphics and quite a bit of discussion on how to fix the problem. As I recall there are a couple of failure modes, some more difficult to fix than others. Mine also does this, but since it is still functional I elected to live with it. The car has 320,000 plus miles on it so fixing something that still works just isn't at the top of my list. Jim