quillv

2002 S430. Noticed lately, dropping the gear shift from Park to Drive was a little tight.

today, parked the car in a garage. 6 hrs later, the gear shift just wouldn't move. stuck in Park and after much manipulation, finally got it to drop to Drive.

Drive off. Park the car later on. Come back and the everything is fine. No problem with the shifter. Get home. Park. Shut the car off. Start the engine to test it out and once again, the gear shift is stuck.

Any clue what the ailment is before i let MB's mechanics take advantage of me? the only issues with the car that i was about to take care of next week were i needed new brakes and i have a right side VCG oil leak (whatever that is). but i doubt they are related. any thoughts?

thanks in advance.

newton22

It's probably that little plastic piece causing all the evil.

https://mbworld.org/forums/showthrea...ght=park+shift

da boss

I had that replaced same thing 1200.

comforta

I had the same thing occur. The mechanice took a plastic mallet and hit downwards on the gearshift and pulled back simultaneously to get the car out of park. I was told that this will not work after a while but I may help you get it out of gear. Good Luck.

quillv

boss. $1200??? seriously. what was the diagnosis? not that little plastic piece i was reading in the other post?

funny. while my car was stuck at the parking garage, i called the benz roadside assistance and it was busy. so the attendant called the benz dealership down the block and the guy said to take a hammer and hit the gear shift down and pull. i looked at the attendant and he was like, 'i'm not hitting your car with a hammer,' just as i told him, 'you're not hitting my car with a hammer.'

thanks guys for all your help.
anyone wanna buy a S430. i gotta upgrade to something 09.

my06clk

if you search you will find that this i common. And it is not a 1200.00 fix. The new gear shifter is only 450 bucks.. BUT you can do as I did AND posted. Remove the gearshifter, take out that little plastic piece and put the shifter back in your car. and drive on..

da boss

i got robbed at mercedes. it was around there.

da boss

my bad i got reciet out 950.00

quillv

this chick i messed with has a MB mechanic connect so i'm going to see what he says. if it's obscene and pure rape, i'll find a mechanic to come thru and take apart the gear shift for me since i'm into driving cars not working or fixing them.

thanks guys for the input. my apologies. i shoulda did a search before i posted and i woulda seen all the posts relating the same problem.

S4302K_SJ

this works for sure!!!

https://mbworld.org/forums/s-class-w...k-problem.html

read and you wont be sorry..

monoglobal

I have the plastic part in stock and I can ship worldwide. Log on to www.monoglobal.com.au to view and order the part.

Internal plastic lever is there to prevent children from inadvertedly moving the gearstick lever out of Park. Removing the lever may cause your car to roll away down a hill with your kids inside.

Choose from original plastic or high strength aluminum. Repairs can be done by any reputable MBZ shop in about an hour or two. No need for recoding with Star Diagnosis.

justice73

Its very simple to repair no jack or lift needed, you can do the job from the inside. remove the center console two hex screws in the back then you will be able to lift it right out that after you remove the shift knob ofcourse and the wood panel around it,they just pop off.
remove the three screws in back of the shift box and on screw in the front. then lift the shift box and you will see the link to the transmission just lift the small clip just a little with a screwdriver and slide the box right off its as easy as that. next turn the shift box upsidedown and remove the three screws holding it together then you will see the cheap ten cent plastic piece just pop it out or break it out and your problem is solved. just put everyrthing back together in reverse order. CAUTION once you are done you no longer need to press the break to shift out of park. just be careful. The piece that was removed is a safety feature.

legal999

I have benz 2002 year S430.
I read about stuck gear shift.
made an attempt to remove console but could not get
the front end off,some thing is holding the front.
any suggestions please.
want to take take it apart and fix it.
thanks

Slick85225

you have to remove the black storage compartment piece between shifter and dash before console will come up and out , just look at 2 tabs on the front of the slider compartment and you will see 2 tabs you kinda push down and in on the tabs and they will release, the tabs would be right where the front of where the wood panel would be

b_smith85

SO IT WAS NOT THE EASIEST THING TO DO BUT.....IT SAVED ME 1300.00 FOLLOWED STEP BY STEP USED THE TOOLS FROM THE LOCAL REPAIR SHOP FOR 20.-- TOOK ME ABOUT 3 AND A HALF HOURS. IT FEELS SO GOOD TO HAVE FIXED THIS ON MY OWN, I WOULD MOST DEF. SAY TRY TO FIX IT I HAVE NO PRIOR KNOWLEDGE IN AUTOMOTIVE REPAIR!!! GREAT POST THANKS A MILLION OR THANKS FOR SAVING ME 1300.00 BUCKS!!!

kamyar07

I ran into this problem as well. Lately i have been noticing it took a minute for me to be able to take the gear out of park for a week but it always came out after a minute. One day after work though it was totally locked in til i gave up 30min later.

I did manage to take it out the next day after a few tries, i slowly started the car and pressed the breaks really hard and held them down for a while before i tried the gear and i was able to force it down first try. I have yet to put it back in park i keep it in neutral and turn off the car with the key still in ignition. I hear from people in this forum getting it out only to get it locked back in then having to have it towed or hammered.

Everyone here is correct about the plastic piece in the gear box and going through the center console to get it, should be no more than $900 for any mechanic even official dealerships to replace. The mechanic i went to never actually replaces the piece that is broken he would charge an extra $200 labor for that. The new boxes now are more robust and guaranteed to last 20yrs he sais.

Dealership wanted to diagnose it though for 150 bucks to see if it could be a break switch but my mechanic refused this option, ive also heard of ppl replacing a fuse in the trunk which i would like to know more about and try if anyone can show us how to do that. Oh and they say they get 3 or 4 ppl coming in a WEEK to get this issue solved.

benzat17

its a 40 min fix, i did it with the help of my mechanic there is a post here explains EVERYTHING its so easy and it cost me 20$ his labor -__- som people buy the plastic piece again to replace the broken one i took it out i have no kids playing around in the front and didnt wanna get stuck in a walmart pakring lot again !! there is also a vid on youtube how to take the plastic piece out

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsxUFVtdPHk
here is the vid i got up to step 5 i did not disassemble the shifter the piece just fell off coz it was broken in 6 pieces lol you could disassemble it and replace the broken piece
anyway its not worth 1200 fix not even 200$ good luck
plus nothing feels better than knowing you saved 1200$ doing the job your self in less than an hour !! good luck

Mindy

I also had my S430 2002 lock in park. The Mercedes Dealer said this problem was not common. I checked the internet and have seen 100s of these complaints. Obviously this is a defect which merits a recall. Mercedes now upped the price to $1,300 to fix. Apparently this shifter is under the TRP (anti-theft protection) law. This means you can only go to the dealer to fix this. Non Mercedes Dealers cannot fix this because the law prohibits it and Mercedes will not sell the shifter part to an outsider. Because no one is complaining to the right authorities (filing a class action petition and asking for a recall on these vehicles). This problem will continue and the price of this problem will soar. When the class action is won EVERYONE will get their monies back. Does anyone know a lawyer who is willing to take on this case?

opt3

About 18 mo. ago my 03 S430's shift lever locked in park. My non-dealer mechanic said he couldn't work on it because it involved security and only the dealer could fix. Dealer fixed it for about $95, saying they replaced a "plastic clip." No idea whether it was the same part depicted as the offender in photos and youtube. Well, now it has recurred. Talked to dealer by phone only and the guy says, well, they replace the clip only when they can, but it happens as the result of a worn out gear shift box. Sometimes the clip remedy works, other times not and then the shift box just has to be replaced. Said I'm probably closer to needing a new shift box, which he said runs between $1,300 and $2,000. Q: Is the locking generally always remediable, or does there come a point where the shift box has to be replaced? And is it true that it is a dealer-only fix?

trombone

This is an evergreen.

Read the thread already referred in the # 10 posting in this thread:

Anyone Have This Stuck In Park Problem?

Over 80 thousand people read. Hundreds fixed the problem DIY, including yours trully.

Dealers do not repair just change the whole shifter box, $1,300 at least.
The DIY know-how is in the quoted thread also having a link to an excellent youtube video.
BTW you can also find that famous thread just 10 items down from this one, it keeps coming back every week or so.

hessank

I did this on the weekend. Took about 4 hrs. I did not have to go under the car. I also did not re-install the pin over the front bolt. If it was put there by MBZ to thwart thieves I am sure that reasoning went away 10 years ago. Thanks to everyone who contributed to the "stuck in park" thread.

FLtrack7

Man I'm glad this site exist....I took my S430 to the shop today for the same problem.....They tried to tell me it was the electrical shifter and I told them to just replace the small plastic part. They wanted to replace the entire shifter for $1500. I went to another place and when I walked in, one of the mechanics had the part I wanted to replace in his hands. He had just replaced one. I was like thank you God for that sign. They replaced the plastic part with an aluminum part for $400. Thank you!!!

dame

How is everyone doing....I just recently changed the infamous plastic piece and everything worked fine until I put it back in park and it got stuck again....I disassembled it again and the piece was still intact and I could move it with my hand and the shifter worked until you put it in park....so basically I changed the plastic part and it still won't come out of park....I guess I have to change the whole shifter now, if anyone has any input on this could you please share...

urtruelove78

Check all your cable connection are properly secured.
Specially the one that goes in shifter assembly. Don't ask how I know.

ereyes

I have a 2004 Mercedes S430 and started having trouble shifting out of park. Read some prior concerns and began taking out the shifter with very little problems. When I looked at the plastic part that I assumed was the problem it was still in tact (not broken). Reassembled the shifter and am now confused what could be the problem. Please respond if you have had this same situation.