Apologies in advance for the length of this post, but each time I solve a problem on this car without spending any $$$ I feel like crowing!!!

Thanks to all those who posted replies to my earlier thread about how to get my '92 300SE to shift into 5th gear. Checked all the suggested items and did find a couple of disconnected vacuum hoses under the hood (boy does it idle better with all that stuff reattached!). However, still no 5th gear.

I could see that the only difference between 4th and 5th at the shifter was a left-right motion of the lever which moved a mechanical gate. When I was finally able to get the original well-abused shifter out of the car, I could get a better look at the workings inside.

There's obviously no mechanical linkage between this gate and the transmission itself, so the 4th/5th selection must be electric. (I think I remember reading this in one of the original replies, or another thread.)

On the right-hand side of the shifter housing there's a small switch with 2 wires coming out. Removing the wires and testing the pins in the switch reveal no conductivity, regardless of the position of the shifter.

Well, well, well - this is the likely cause.

Remove the switch and test it - press the little contact button at the front, and viola - conductivity. Well, the switch isn't the problem, must be whatever actuates the switch - likely the gate. I look carefully at the side of the housing where the switch button is positioned when the switch is installed and I can see a hole. Expecting to see some sort of tab or pin move into and out of the hole as I actuate the shifter - nothing doin'.

Remove the gate mechanism - it just slides right out when you have the gate shifted to the left. I can see where there's a hole on the frame of the gate that aligns with the hole in the shifter housing, but nothing appears through the hole from the moving part of the shifter gate.

I dig around in the frass that's down in the shifter housing (nasty, nasty, nasty), and lo and behold - a small pot metal tab lying all lonely and forlorn in the bottom. Careful inspection of the gate mechanism reveals a spot on the moving part of the gate where this little tab would have been attached originally.

Take the car for a drive. Out on the open road, accelerate to 60 - feel shifts from 2-3, 3-4 and nothing further. Slow down, push the button on the switch and hold. Reaccelerate - 2-3, 3-4 and at 50mph 4-5!!!! Release the button - downshifts to 4th. Reapply - upshifts to 5th.

Unfortunaltely, the gate mechanism is no longer sold as a separate part - only as part of the entire shifter mechanism to the tune of about $500.00.

I've had a machinst friend craft me a small pin. .060 diameter shaft with larger .090 body, about .400 long over all. This weekend, I'll put the gate in my drill press and CAREFULLY drill a hole for the .060 shaft and install the pin. Not going to try for press-fit - would likely crack the pot metal. Just want a nice tight fit, and I'll glue the sucker in.

On to the next problem - why someone installed W124 sunroof parts in a W140!!!

hahaha, thats so funny