I just picked my 96 c220 up from a dealer shop. The car was turning over to start but not sending signal to fuel system to crank. After checking all electrical systems on the car, they replaced the Remote Control Unit and OVP.

When we picked the car up, the gear shifter was very difficult to get back into park and was tight moving throughout the column, which we never had a problem with before. The only notes I see that pertain to this say that they removed the right floor pan but the service guy says they never touched the center column or gear shift, other than driving it into and out of the shop. In checking all of the electrical sysytems, would there have been any possible cause for the tightening up of the gear shift? They say that the couple times they moved it in and out of park where the straw that broke the camels back and the bushings probably went out.

Since we never had the slightest problem with it before we took it in and now have a difficult time with it, does it make sense that they did something to cause this or are they correct in saying that it was just normal wear and tear that they just happened to be the one to get it over the hump to start giving it problems (although even still I would expect a gradual increase in difficulty prior to us taking there if that were the case). On principle, I don't want to pay for something they caused, particularly when the service manager is a total prick.

Thanks for the help!

I had a similar problem with my '97 C230. Took it to my independent tech and he just lubricated the mechanism. Thhis was well over 6 mths ago and the shifter works perfectly, nice and smooth and stays in whatever gear you intend to have it in. In my case, I didn't need any new bushings.

Good luck and enjoy your purchase!