Please excuse a silly question. I've always owned manual transmission cars and it is pretty easy to know what gear the car or truck is currently in. I can tell by the load on the engine, sound of the engine, speed of the car, the road grade, etc. Pretty simple.

But . . . with my new car, a '89 300CE, I find it difficult to know exactly what gear I'm in. My commute is up and down mountains, traveling a twisty, steep two lane road. I'm constantly down shifting and up shifting, depending on the current condition of the road and location of the car at any particular moment. Sometimes I forget and don't know if I am in third gear or fourth gear, and with it being dark outside, I cannot see the shift lever.

My wife's Avalon has an orange indicator on the floor shift that easily and readily shows what gear the car is in. As it is now, I have to put my fingers into the shift slot and "feel" around to see what gear the car is in.

Is there supposed to be some type of little indicator light that shows the current gear selected? I hope there is and that my bulb is just burned out. Can anyone help? Thanks.

As far as I know, there isn't. At least my '87 300E doesn't have such an indicator.

Eventually, you get used to it, although sometimes I forget too if I take my hand off the shift lever.

my '91 300E doesn't have anything either. Kind of annoying feature not to have, I guess Mercedes figured it would be in Drive most of the time, and the gated shifted would help to 'feel' the other gears. My wife's dodge has a display on the instrument panel to tell you which gear is selected which is helpful.
I'm used to manual cars too, and I use '3' quite a lot on windy/hilly roads. I just try to remember that '3' is one notch towards me, and that 'N' is one away from 'D', and 'R' is two away, etc. I've found it's become quite natural now, like remembering the gear patern on a manual transmission car.

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1993 320TE M104
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past:

1983 230E W123 M102
1994 E300D S124 OM606 (x2)
1967 250SE W108 M129
1972 280se 3.5 W108 M116
1980 280SE W116 M110
1980 350SE W116 M116
1992 300E W124 M103
1994 E280 W124 M104
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"music and women I cannot but give way to, whatever my business" -Pepys

You all have a burned-out shifter indicator light.
There IS A LIGHT in the shifter as part of the original/standard equipment.
Take-off the piece of carpet in the tray between the seats.
Remove one screw (in the middle) that holds the wooden piece.
Lift
Remove (pull-out) the black plastic shifter surround.
THERE IT IS, on the left side.
Pull-out from the connector
Visit your local friendly Benz dealer. Don't forget to bring about $1.99 for a new bulb.
Good Luck
Seriously, there is a light down there.
JackD

Yes there is a light, just the light doesn't show which gear the tranny is in, it's somehow annoying sometimes.

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99 BMW 540i 6-speed 110K Km
03 SAAB 9-5 wagon 80K Km
92 400E (Sold) 245K km
Still missing the days with the Benz, it kept me busy.

There is a light showing the available gears, but only later models ('92 ish?) had another light to show you which one your in.

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190E's:
2.5-16v 1990 90,000m Astral Silver
2.0E 8v 1986 107,000m Black 2nd owner
http://www.maylane.demon.co.uk/190esmall.jpghttp://www.maylane.demon.co.uk/190esmall2.jpg

Yes, we do have that one light on the left showing available gears. The light that shows what gear the transmission is in, do you think this could be retrofitted easily to an early model W124?