Hi All - My 1998 210 chassis E300 has developed a bit of a rattle around the gearshift lever of the automatic transmission. Despite investing all of five minutes poking around attempting to determine the problem, I could not identify the exact source of the rattle. It only does it when accelerating with the transmission in drive. If you drop the shifter over to fourth gear, all is quiet. (This is an older car, it predates the touchshift manu-matic functionality.)

Anyone see this before? Is it a pattern failure where they all do this? It seems kinda-sorta like the shift bushing failure which all the older cars have at ~10 years of age. Any ideas/help/input appreciated.

I suggest you check the shift bushings. The rear bushing is prone to failure just like on the earlier cars. Part # 202 992 00 10 (blue bushing) should be for the rear bushing. I have not seen too many of the bushings on the trans go bad, but it is possible. The front bushing may be the same or could possibly be part #210 992 00 10 ( black bushing ). Good Luck.

Thanks!