280sl will not start, or turn over?

[glenn]

General diagnosis.  If they were quiet 'clicks', they were the start relays, etc(1 inch or so boxes on the firewall).  If they were loud clicks down at the starter-- starter solenoid problem.  Also, a good time to clean the negative battery strap end on the car body(other end from the one on the negative battery post).  The P/N switch and grommet sounds right as the problem.

[Dave Gallon]

One of my points seems to have been missed. I am not suggesting there is anything wrong with the neutral safety switch. I mean that as the car can be pushed we know the transmission is not in Park and it is probably not in Neutral. Thus, the neutral safety switch will have disabled the starter. I further meant that the ball socket that moves the switch lever up and down can be popped off and then the switch placed in a position that enables the starter. However, the car will want to start rolling in that case. I suspect the problem is entirely a result of the linkage falling off (failed bushing).

[Intex]

I will change the bushings then let u know the results.

[Andres G]

Is there anyway to change the bushing from underneath without jacking the car up? Without power to drive onto the ramps we have, I have no way to push the car onto the ramps, and yes, I will NOT go under with just the tire changing jack.
Any ideas??

There is one way in which you can get the car on the ramps without moving it... lift the front end from either side high enough to allow the wheels to come off the ground and once you have sufficient clearance, you can slide the ramps underneath each wheel.

I know this will sound funny, but if you have a Hi-Lift Jack for Off Road vehicles you can use this one as well, with an almost inexpensive accesory (I think it's called Hi-Lift Mate) that attaches to the wheel itself and helps you pull the car up from the wheel instead of the body/chassis, avoiding the suspension stretching that would complicate the procedure a bit.

Hope this helps.
Andres G

[SteveK]

I use a normal jack with a piece of 2x4 on it, under the A frame, and then have no problem slidding my plastic ramps under each wheel.  If I have a helper to watch, I always drive the car on the ramps, but when I'm by myself and can't see, jacking and slidding is the only way I'll do it.    Once on the ramps there is lots of room, even for my fuller figure!

[Intex]

I finally got the car onto the ramps, then changed the bushings on both sides of the shift linkage, and after 5 trys, finally got it back on, and the car starts and shifts fine so far.

The problem I encountered was that the bushing is not symetrical. One side is smaller than the other side (ID) I did not know how they should be installed, one wen on small ID inward, the other small ID outward (since it was too dangerous to try to remove nbushing w/o breaking it. Which is correct?

This is the last time I put a car up on jacks or ramps in my garage. I just had it epoxy coated, and it was so slippery, the ramps kept on sliding down the garage floor until it hit the driveway!