floor shifter disengaged

[n/a]

hello everyone, and thank you for your attention,                                                                  my 66' 250se is running like a top ,  I will never buy a new car , but I have a new problem .  So here it is. One day  after getting it back from the shop  I found that the shifter was positioned too far foward in first gear,  or so it seemed. I thought thay bent the stick. After use, it came back to normal position . latter, I found that the stick after engadgment in first or second  gear  could be moved  beond it's stop , something went loose. Now the stick is disengaged from the linkage completely,  it moves around independently . It might as well be an embrella handle now. So what happened???  

mb 250se 1966, 4 speed on the floor  gray market . original .

[Douglas]

Your shifter bushings have gone. It's a simple, inexpensive job to replace them.  I ordered a set of the replacement part from Caliber Motors for less than $30. Call Tom Hanson over there at 800-252-6877 X306.

Douglas Kim
New York, NY
280 SL #018260

[Naj ✝︎]

There is a ball at the bottom of the gear lever. It runs in 2 bushes and the top one is held in place in the gear mechanism by a circlip.
This circlip may have just come off and you can do a temporary fix by putting it back in place.
New circlip may be required as it wears out on one of the corners.
naj

65 230SL
68 280SL