Islandgirl_ig

New to this forum. I was driving my E320 this morning, took a curve, a little sharp, ESP pops on, says malfunction, then the transmission kicks itself into neutral, car still running but as I give it gas, no response to the rpm's. I had to manually shift into neutral, kill it, waited a minute then recranked it. It cranked on no problem, but then started hesitating. When i stopped at a stop sign, big truck in front of me, my car decided it wanted to be a di*k and surge, almost putting me under the truck! Not sure whats going on with her. May not have anything to do with it but last night an opossum decided it wanted to run into the side of my car. Needless to say, it slammed up under my car pretty hard under the driver front. Any help or advice would be awesome!

kajtek1

Check codes

pinebaron

Check front driver side wheel speed sensor; skirmish with the animal may have damaged the sensor cable.

Islandgirl_ig

How do I Know if the sensor is bad?

cmriv

***** a possum... real talk. i've had awful luck with those varmints as well!

cmriv

and you taking that turn sharply could of just caused the yaw rate sensor to go bazurk.... It's doing its job if that is the case. But the hesitation is strange.... Could be WSS related and or a esp/abs component could be failing. Are the lights still on?

Islandgirl_ig

No. It died on me twice today. Rpm's stay the same, speedometer stays the same, it just wont go anywhere. Pops up and say esp malfunction. I have to put it in neutral, shut it off and turn it back on. It cranks back up and gos, no problem.

cmriv

Not sure i've ever seen a bad wss cause limp mode but i guess it's possible.... Your symptoms sound like a transmission issue. Something mechanical, like the front pump is bad or something. If it was something electrical you would still have first and 2nd gear.... it falling flat on its face and not doing anything at all is bizzare, if you have a esp malfunction.

Islandgirl_ig

Idk whats going on. Transmission is starting to sound more like it. It's starting to make clicking noises. Not clanks, but clicks. I read somewhere there is a tranny speed sensor..? What's yall's take on it?

kajtek1

ESP has a program that if it can't stabilize the car in preset time -it will kill engine throttle.
Maybe this is what is kicking, maybe not but you have to have codes.

Islandgirl_ig

So tonight i replaced my brake light switch and reset the transmission Tadaaa....all messages gone, no shutting off, and the tranny was shifting nice and smooth. Still a little stumped on how a brake light switch has anything to do with my tranny, but I won't complain. Lol