autobahnfreude

Driving to the train station in pouring rain to drop off a friend last night, I suddenly got an airmatic message on the dashboard, followed by a sluggish transmission that eventually stopped shifting out of first gear all together. A quick check showed that the car was level and there was nothing wrong with the suspension. After dropping off my friend, the engine quit and would not crank again. At the same time, the transmission shift lever locked up in Park and will not move. At first I suspected a bad battery but that was not the case. This is obviously some kind of computer problem and I wonder if anybody has had similar experiences and knows what to do? My regular mechanic has no clue although having spent half a day today going over codes. I had to wait 4 hours for a two truck but that's story for another day. Would like to avoid taking it to the dealer, at 140K miles not worth it.

tusabes

Water damage . Check the plastic reservoir under the passenger side windshield for any standing water .

Check the ecu /tcu for water

Pull up passenger side carpeting front and rear and rear seat bottom , dry out and dry the SAM

Dmtypr

You can try this... had same problem with a recent purchase I made for a S430 it all started with a bad suspension causing the car to make an angle causing the hypotenuse to start from the front of the car and having the rear up at a very high height making it seem like a luxury dragster.. Anyhow after the drive (which had very strong impacts imagine the car felt like a horse ride) i THINK this impacts had the front left and rear sam go out making the headlight switch, brake red warning light appear impeding me to change it from park to drive.. i went to the local European junkyard and searched for the front and rear sam's with the same partnumber and the issues went off were I proceeded to fix the water design flaw this cars have. Also replacing the brake switch in the process as it was suggested by our fellow forums pals.. I concluded sams was the way to go cause after the ride i recall the headlight's were going all disco and the brake light message appeared and since i think no wires are bad (checked the ground posts) and the fuse/relays each seem okay only clue to me was the sam my icarsoft scanner was reading implausible values, the instrument cluster had a foggy screen lasting 15 minutes after turning the car up

check the fuselink below front passenger footwell and the fuselink in the rear near the battery ares this is a region that water enters commonly.


Sorry long post..

autobahnfreude

It's about a month later and my S500 is still at the shop. One thing we did find out and fixed was a bad starter motor. After that, the car started and I was able to drive it. But when I stopped to get a cup of Joe, the car would not start again. After waiting for an hour until the engine had cooled off, it started again. I tested this several times and it behaved like this every time. But this morning, once again, it would not start and just like before, I cannot move the shift lever out of park. I have so many theories right now that my head is spinning. Unfortunately, it seems like I'm getting closer and closer to the MB dealership. And I'm not sure I can afford it. Any ideas?

wallyp

The first thing that we need is a more precise description of the problems.

"...the car would not start again."
Please describe the symptoms exactly. Do you mean that the starter does not operate? Or that the engine spins normally on the starter, but will not run? Does the ignition key work normally every time? What do the lights on the dash do? What does the engine sound like? Very precise, very verbose descriptions of just symptoms, with no attempt to guess at what the problem might be, might help us a lot.

"...and just like before, I cannot move the shift lever out of park."
Can you move the shift lever out of Park almost all of the time (ignition on, brake pedal pushed), very rarely, or only when the engine will not run? Does the dash properly show that the lever is in Park?

Again - very clear descriptions of just the symptoms, with no theorizing, might help us to diagnose the problem or problems. Please don't be offended by the request. We have seen over and over how easy it is for us to be misled by the owner telling us what he thinks is wrong...

tusabes

A Car not starting when warm , but starting fine when cold is almost always cps

Here's a video how to fix it