The shifter handle is quite easy to deal with once you understand the mechanism. There is a small hook inside the handle that loops into the hole at the top of the shifter stalk. When the button is pushed in the hook lifts up on the reverse lockout. The button does lock out in a hyper extended position. If you pull it out to this position (as has been previosly posted), before removal it will remove and install without issue. If you do not or if it pops in before you get it back on, you can use a bent piece of hanger or something similar to reach inside the handle and pull the hook toward you until it locks back into the extended button position. Its requires a good deal of force, but it does happen.

Concerning refitting the shift lever selector handle, there are two tricks to doing that - the Phaeton tech at my dealership tried his best to teach me them, but I just couldn't get the knack of it. Trick number one is that you use compressed air to 'blow out' the chrome thumb pushbutton before beginning the re-install. That chrome thumb pushbutton will retract all the way into the selector lever as soon as it is removed, and using compressed air to blow it back out is the easiest way to go.
Trick two is that the technician drills a small hole in the aft face of the selector lever cover - almost exactly where the little plate that says 'V8' or 'W12' will be, once that wood cover is re-installed. After blowing the pushbutton out with compressed air, and after manipulating the small mechanical parts inside the shift lever cover into the correct position for re-installation, he or she then uses a small piece of .040 aviation lockwire to hold the interior mechanical parts in the correct position, prior to inverting the shift lever selector cover, and then sliding it onto the stick.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! chrome button vastzetten voor het verwijderen !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!