mb49

My daughters have been mainly driving my 1999 C280 over the past couple of years. In R and in N the shifter lever has a lot of play/looseness moving the lever forward and aft. Is this normal? (Feels different to me than what i recall, but then again I hardly ever drive this car). Thanks.

Plutoe

I would say that you need to replace the shifter linkage bushing---to that you need a lift!!

walterk55

Sounds like the shifter linkage bushing for sure. Same as you my daughter drove the car, and being an idiot, she broke out the shifter bushing. Get it done.

shadenfroh

How does that make your daughter an idiot? These are wear items, it's normal

mb49,

I take it you've never changed a shifter shaft bushing, otherwise you wouldn't ask. Don't get fooled - it's not extremely hard and you don't need the special MB Hoobajoob to install it. Some long reach pliers like these will do and you can actually use them for something else.

1. Engage the emergency brake and choke the wheels.
2. Put the shifter in D.
3. Jack up the car. Support it. Support it again. You have daughters.
4. Get a thin-ish screwdriver and stick it in the clip where it bends over the shaft's end (bottom right in this picture). If you have the right thickness, it will open straight up.
5. The clip slides off the shaft in the direction where your screwdriver is now.
6. Remove the shaft.
7. Put some grease on the bushing.
8. Don't force it straight on, you'll squash it. Put it in sideways, press a little at a time and jiggle it. It will go in.

These are cheap. Buy 5 of them and save yourself another trip.