1st gear is jaming, why?
 

my car is a 1987 w124 200. it has a manual 5 speed transmisssion.</P>


the other day i was moving off in first gear and when trying to select second gear the gearlever jammed. it stuck about halfway out of the 1 st gear selection slot. it was jammed rock solid but the car seemed to grind the gears when i reased the clutch but moved as it always did( fast even at idle). </P>


i didnt fancy a long walk home so i simply gritted my teeth and hit hit backwards as hard as i could. it freed instantly and the car seems okay since although changing into 1st or 2nd gear is very notchy. it always was but now its worse. does anyone know if this is a problem with the gearbox or is it the gear selector itself. what would be the cure and could simply oiling the selector and greasing the shift rods free things up?</P>

1st gear is jaming, why?
 

joe here it was me who posted this problem woth my merc. i have since got under the car to find that one of the gear selector rods was bent. this was the 1st 2nd gear selector to be precise, the one i was having problems with. i can explain how it got damaged. i fitted a towbar to the car about a year ago and found that my 200 would tow anything with ease.

but i got too confident and towed a 18 x 6ft builders trailer full of sand to a building site. it literally weight about 3 tonne but i towed on anyway. the merc pulled it with ease but when entering the site i went down a steep slope and remember hearing a thud, that must have been a block or something hitting below her and dammaging the selector rod as the car was so low because of the weight.

so there are now no problems as i have since replaced the rod, and the gearbox has got its precise gearshift feel back