Hi all,, ,

My mission is to change the small light bulbs in the panel in my 230CE from 1984. I've managed to change most of them but I've encountered a problem with the bulb(s) lighting up the gears (and the present gear) to the left of the shift knob. Anyone who has done this and is willing to share the proceedure??

thanks - Emil

__________________
Emil Österman, Stockholm - Sweden

MB SL500 -93 - Silver
MB 230CE -84 - Silver
MB 230E -82 - Yellow
MB 180B -59 - Green

I have done this on my w126.. but you have a w123 i believe, so I am not sure how big of a difference this will be. Once you remove the console piece... the piece around the shifter and that holds your switches.. look for a cable that goes into your shifter. Once you find it, pull it out. on the end of the cable should be a bulb... replace this and put it back in to the shifter.

The bulb luminates the gears through fibers that spread the light.

i always wonder that thig myself coz i recall that my gear shifter used to lit up but may be iuts been so long that i cant remmeber for sure i have a 1993 400e and there is no ligh tthere now do it come with it originally
and how to change that and what bulb to buy for it
thanks in advance
mani

I just fixed the gear selector light bulb in my TD(W123), so I can chime in here. First take out your ashtray and the braket that it sits in. Slide the whole console wood back a bit. There is a single alignment pin at the backend. This would be where the wood goes down to meet the carpet, behind the window switches. Once this pin is out, you can carefully remove the wood. To make it a bit easier, you could pop out the window switches and hazard switch, first. With this out of the way, on the left side of the gear selector you will see a wire that runs into the side of the selector housing, this is where the bulb is. Just take a small flat head and pry it out. I can't remember what size it was. My lighting problem wasn't a bad bulb, it was a loose ground. So, you could check for that.
As for a '93 W124 chassis, I am sure the procedure would be the same. Of course with any of this, you have to be careful not to break the wood console.

__________________
1999 MB SL500 (110,000 mi)
2004 Volvo V70 2.5T (220,000 mi)
2014 Tesla Model S 85 (136,000 mi)
MBCA member

It has been over 5 years and I can't remember if my shifter has lights. All the other indicators on the console have lights ie pwr windows, side mirror adjst, fader etc...

Let me know if u know. Thanks!

Thank you everyone and especially for an eminent description of the bulb replace. I made an attempt yesterday and it was no problem at all. I've just purchased the new buld and will give it a try later today. Just for the record the bulb is a 2 Watt type 12829.

__________________
Emil Österman, Stockholm - Sweden

MB SL500 -93 - Silver
MB 230CE -84 - Silver
MB 230E -82 - Yellow
MB 180B -59 - Green

Wotan--My 1993 190E 2.6 has illuminated gear letters in the shift console. Does anyone know the procedure for changing the bulb(s)?

The 190E had two methods of illuminating the shifter console, the first was a tiny 2w bulb located under the console at the top, near the right mirror control. To access, you have to pry up the console wood (cloth wrapped screwdriver) and disconnect the switch cables.

In later models there was a fiber optic that lit it up from the lights in the center console. In that case, if the center console lights are working, you probably have a loose fiber connection.

I still can't figure out which one of those two ways it will be for my 190.

I guess it would make the car coasier, but I have no problems shifting in the dark, plus it's an automatic so it's not like I do it all that often

xp