w210 shifter knob

[sheward]

Anyone care to let me know if and how these knobs come off of the shaft? I'm not sure they do but I've seen just the knobs for sale and the bottom of the OEM knob has a separate collar which leads me to believe it is removable. I want to clean the components underneath.

drew

 

[gsxr]

Usually, the black plastic portion of the knob will twist and "unlock" the knob from the shaft. Then the knob should slide upward.

 

[sheward]

Thanks, Dave. I'll give it a try.

drew

 

[sheward]

I used a plyers with a rag as a buffer to soften the bite and with quite a bit of pressure the lower portion did twist. I was then able to pull the knob right off . It's the same type design as the collet on a Dremel or similar. I was surprised to see the difference in design between the two chassis. although the switches look very similar the electrical portion of the switchgear is a completely separate circuit board as opposed to the self contained switches in the 124. I cleaned all the crud from the switches and selector mechanism and installed a new bushing. The old one was missing. Interesting that I had no idea. The mechanism was working nicely I just wanted to clean it up.

drew

 

[LWB250]

That's correct, Drew. The (lower) console switches on the W210 are a complete assembly and can't easily be replaced individually. This is especially frustrating for the trunk release, as it's a lousy design that just begs to be broken in use.

Dan

 

[gerryvz]

It's unfortunate, but true. The W210 was the first MB that I've seen with heavily "modularized" switch assemblies, where individual components are often not available, and entire assemblies have to be replaced. It's frustrating when one small piece is broken, and yet you have to pound out major $$$ for an entire assembly.

 

[LWB250]

I discovered this on my youngest son's 2002 E320. The trunk release, which is an awful design requiring the operator to pull up on a somewhat flimsy plastic switch and hold it to release the trunk, is almost guaranteed to break. You pull up and there's a sort delay before the trunk releases. This makes the operator think they're not pulling up hard enough to engage the switch, which puts enough stress on the switch to break it.

I was able to replace the switch cover, but it required that I find a complete donor assembly to rob the part off of.

Dan