I own a 1988 260E and I am about to do a lot of repair work on it and I have a few questions.

First off, the shifter is loose and rattles when the car is on. I heard something about shifter bushings so I ordered some today, but I have no clue how to go about putting these on.

Second, I made the mistake of pressing the odometer reset button while the car was in motion, so now it does not turn and rattles when the car is moving. The speedometer still works fine.u

Also, sometimes when starting off, the engine hesitates for a second, then decides to go.

The engine does not sound smooth when it runs and something under the hood makes a clicking sound. Is this normal?

I saw some "Euro" headlights for this car on eBay and those things aren't cheap! They are around $350. What's the difference? Are the worth it? Is there any place where I can get them cheaper? I would also like some clear corner lights if anyone knows where to get them. I also like the clear corner lights. I used to have some, but I hit a deer and the body shop put the orange ones back on. Anyone know where I can get them for a good price?

When opening and closing the doors, they stop half way and make a horrid sound. I know they just need oil somewhere, but where?

The automatic headrests on the front seats will go up but not down, and sometimes they get stuck in the down position.

The car is also starting to smoke a little. Any way to get rid of or cut down on this without replacing the seals?

Any answers would be greatly appreciated. I'm new to this forum, so let's see what happens!

Thanks,

Matt

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1988 260E

1. I got the same car but mine is a California model. Funny I got some of the same problems on my car; odometer, hesitate, smoke.
2. Look at your relay behind the battery side next to your ECU and ABS computer, it’s a small square 1 ½ X 1 ½ with a clear plastic cover on the top there is a fuse (the only Japanese type on this car) see if this is blown if yes replace, this should cured some of your problems.
3. For the door noise it’s a part, not sure what they call it “door stop”? but when you open the door it’s the thing that stops it from opening to fair. This is usually is a replacement not a lube thing. Picture in your head a vertical spring compress with 2 ball bearings one on top one bottom, this whole assembly slides horizontally on a rail with a notch for the ball to stop at (first stop position for the door). Sometimes this part goes from ware and tear. I saw these on ebay too.
4. The head rest sounds like the seat switch, I took mine out and clean out the contacts with an eraser. If you’re not that good at this kind of thing they got them on FastLane just click on top of this page.


Have Fun
Thai GI sends...

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GI but not GI Joe
They call me "The Thai GI"
Thai in the US Arsenal

1. For the door it’s the “door check strap”. See this post http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/showthread.php?threadid=18965
2. I see that you are new here my advice is do the search like they said, a lot of times it has been covered already.

Thai GI

__________________
GI but not GI Joe
They call me "The Thai GI"
Thai in the US Arsenal

Shifter rattle -- yes, it's probably the bushings. If you look under the car, there's a rod that attaches to the left side of the transmission and goes back to the bottom end of the shift lever. There are clips at both ends to hold the rod in place. Release the clips, pull out the rod, put new busings on the levers the rod attaches to, replace the rod and the clips. Easier said than done because the new busings are a tight fit. Lube them well with silicone or something that won't cause rubber to deteriorate (oil, grease, etc. are no-nos) and use big pliers over sockets or something like that to get the new bushings in place.

Clicking sound -- not normal but it could be one of many things.

Euro headlights -- worth their weight in gold if you drive at night. Don't bother with higher wattage bulbs. $350 isn't a bad price but I've seen them for less.

Door noise -- try lubing the door check straps with white grease. The check straps are the metal straps that go in and out of the doors as you open and close the doors.

Smoke -- no way around it. Replacing valve stem seals is cheap and easy. Not a lot more difficult that adjusting valves on an older car. Certainly worth the investment in time and parts before coughing up $1000 or more for a valve job.

As ThaiGI says, use the search funciton. This has all been said and done before. I just wanted to give you a taste of what you're up against.

Sixto
91 300SE
81 300SD