Now that the 300SE is being worked on, I've been driving the 300CE around town and it's a blast. Compared to the 300SE it's a rocket.

Sometimes the car wont start right away. When turning the key nothing happens, no starter, zip, no sound, only the lights in the cluster do light up. Turn the key a couple of times and it starts up again. My girlfriend, who's driving it more that I am, told me she has had the same issue a couple of times, she puts it in N while turning the ignition and it would start right up. The shifter bushings will need to be replaced, the shifter is loose. Had the battery tested and it's still good, it's a much smaller battery than in my 300SE. What I thought was weird as it is the same engine.

Any ideas off in what direction to look?

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1979 Black on Black, 300CD (sold), 1990 Black 300SE, Silver 1989 Volvo 780, 1988 300CE (vanished by the hands of a girlfriend), 1992 300CE (Rescue).

That sounds very much like the neutral safety switch (transmission has to be in park or neutral before the starter circuit is activated)

So fix the shifter bushings and make sure the shifter is in the correct place for each of its settings as per FSM

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1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone
1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy!
1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing

I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!

Ordered the bushings and I still have the special tool, hopefully it will be an easy fix.

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1979 Black on Black, 300CD (sold), 1990 Black 300SE, Silver 1989 Volvo 780, 1988 300CE (vanished by the hands of a girlfriend), 1992 300CE (Rescue).

Yep, just went through those symptoms with the 95 wagon. Replaced bushings and the NSS. All is well now.

Dale

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Dale

Replaced both of them as they were both gone, took a little longer than expected. Had to go to the dealer to get the clips and I forgot how hard it is to get those suckers pushed in, putting them in boiling water for 20 minutes soften them enough and did the trick.

I'm not sure if it was already like this or it's something that I did, but I don't have to insert the key and press the brake to be able to shift the gears. Without the key I can go through all the gears, I'm sure this is something of a safety hazard. How do I fix this?

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1979 Black on Black, 300CD (sold), 1990 Black 300SE, Silver 1989 Volvo 780, 1988 300CE (vanished by the hands of a girlfriend), 1992 300CE (Rescue).

What year model? MB didn't have a brake interlock until somewhere in the early 90s. If the car was never equipped with the brake interlock, what you describe is totally normal.

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Current stable:
1995 E320 149K (Nancy)
1983 500SL 120K (SLoL)

Black Sheep:
1985 524TD 167K (TotalDumpster™)

Gone but not forgotten:
1986 300SDL (RIP)
1991 350SD
1991 560SEL
1990 560SEL
1986 500SEL Euro (Rusted to nothing at 47K!)

Factory stock.

It's a 1988 and I didn't know that. With the 1990 300SE it won't get out of Park without turning the key (don't have to start it) and the brake pressed.

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1979 Black on Black, 300CD (sold), 1990 Black 300SE, Silver 1989 Volvo 780, 1988 300CE (vanished by the hands of a girlfriend), 1992 300CE (Rescue).