Welcome to Greenbow Alabama where stupid is what stupid does.
I put an ad for SL on Craigslist and FB Marketplace and after the customary spam replies, I had a guy come look at the car. He was really interested but wanted to test drive the non-cranking car. I told him I’d work on it this weekend.
Saturday I actually had to wear long pants and a light jacket. [emoji853] First stop was buying a new battery for the SL. No start but I knew that. With car sitting outside, next was breaking out the jack and jack stands, yay! The wife assisted with shifter operation while I was pressed underneath ensuring the orientation of the shift linkage. Still no start. Only two things I can think of is neutral safety switch issue or starter lock out issue. When she ran to get lunch I watched a video of replacing the shift bushing. Watching that, I realized I had the bracket on inside out. Stupid! Fixed it and still no start, errrrrr!
Reading the owner’s manual, I tried resetting the door locks. No start still. Wife was ready to haul car to the junkyard.
Saturday night was spent searching the web for a hint. I finally came across a video that mentioned an arm that has to align with the shift bracket. Eureka! I didn’t align any arm so I was looking forward to tomorrow.
Sunday was a repeat except I’m in T-shirt and shorts, yay! With car up on stands I find this.

the black plastic arm is what links the bracket and neutral safety switch. I’m feeling stupid and elated. Now a pro, the bracket was quickly removed and correctly installed.

Being confident in my stellar Benz abilities, I put the car back on the ground, turned the key and....no start. Just kidding. It fired right up and I took it for a short spin. Yay!!!!!
Hopefully the sale of the car occurs this week.
Shorty Korte
Always remember quality in QST
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