C32-4ME

I pulled into a parking space tonight, and attempted to put the transmission into park, turn the engine off, just like any other time...but something went haywire : confused:

The shifter would not go back up past the Neutral position. I messed around with it for about 10 minutes before I gave up.
Luckily the car is pretty light, so I just put it in neutral and pushed it backwards with my left foot out of the parking space.

That had to be a classic sight to see... The ///AMG guy doing the ///Fred Flintstone reverse.

Once I was clear of any obstacles, I started it back up, put it in drive....and got back home ASAP.

So...Key stuck in ignition, shifter limited to drive and neutral. No reverse or park. I don’t have access to my owner’s manual at the moment....so I look to the collective hive mind of mbworld.org for help!

Hope somebody can chime in on this

KIRA

call up roadside asssisstice

loungn14

Open your cupholder door. On the top right you will see a thing thats black about 1" by 3" and has fins on it.

Find a flat head screwdriver, and pry this up (look for the lip)

Under this, you will see a whole. Put the screwdriver down the whole and you should be able to find the button that will allow you to move the transmission shifter without the car on. It might take some practice to find the button, but you should be able to do it.

If you can get it free great. If not, time to call roadside...

Good luck...

boohooramblers

Is there any chance that you killed the ignition as you were shifting into 'P'? Alternatively, did you somehow turn the ignition off before attempting to shift into 'P'?
That would definitely result in the key stuck in the ignition and limited to 'D' or 'N' (i.e. NOT being able to go through 'R' for safety reasons).

C32-4ME

Thanks - I will give this a try in a bit!

Just to make sure I explained it properly...I just have two gears right now. Drive and Neutral. I can can start the engine in N, and put it into D.

To stop I can put it in N, and turn the car off, but the key will not turn all the way to the left so it can be removed from the switch. The shifter wiil not move up past N, into R or P.

Uhhhhg - I was going to install the 185mm sitting in the trunk today!!!

LOL

C32-4ME

Thanks for responding

It is possible I might have accidentally tried to turn theignition off, but as ridiculous as it sounds I am just not sure. I was in a rush, arguing with my wife, and distracted by how loud my wife had the stero turned up.

I give it a 50/50 chance that I could have...

I could not get the car even close to P. After I came to a stop with my brakes on to park, I attempted to move the shifter from D, up into P. This is when the problem started.

I have tried cycling the key from start to off and experimenting with the position of the shifter...but it still will not go anywhere but N and D

loungn14

Isnt there some kind of something that wont allow you to shift without pressing the brake pedal?

Wonder if thats hosed..

C32-4ME

Yes you are right....there is a sensor / switch for that. I hope it is that simple! Just sent you a PM & email back to you.

Thanks - please get back to me if you can

C32-4ME

Just so everyone knows how this ended.

I did the screwdriver thing, and it fixed everything. Inserted screwdriver, pulled it out, and the shifter works just fine again

I still have no idea why this happened though Hope it is not anything more serious.

Anyway it is off to the shop right now for the 185 install and to have them see if any codes were thrown.

Thanks for the help for the people who responded!!!

Scott

boohooramblers

Great news! - glad to hear it worked out.

Mega-kudos to Loungn14 for chiming in with that advice!

ohlord

when you need it.
http://www.analogstereo.com/pdf/om/m...anual_2002.pdf
ohlord

C32-4ME

Wow!!! Thanks for the PDF manual! I had been thinking about searching for one I could keep on a PDA or laptop.

Thanks!

C32-4ME

Ok....bad news again...looks like I have a gremlin of some sorts.

No problems with the car after the screwdriver trick...brought it into the shop late yesterday afternoon to have them put the 185mm package in.

They spent about an hour looking for a brake position sensor or anything else that might have caused the car to get stuck in D and N like it did at the beginning of this thread. They did not find anything wrong...no codes no nothing.

The were pulling in to the wash bay to give it a bath and guess what happened - could not put it into PARK....ha hah hahahhhhaaaaa! (wait a minute...they just charged me an hour of labor to see if anything WAS wrong....uhhhhhhggggg )

Anyway...the guy could not figure out what was wrong....car is locked up in thier shop til Tuesday, and I am not sure they know what IS wrong with it...the tech called me to ask what I did to get it to release before.

I told him the screwdriver trick, but it would not work for him. I stopped by and tried it for him, but no luck this time.

Soooooo.....car sitting at the shop and.....185 installed...and I am sitting at home going nuts trying to search for what might be wrong with the car!!

Any ideas!!!??????

PadresFan

Sorry to bring up an old thread, but my car has been doing the same thing described above for the past few weeks. So far it's been intermittant and if I'm patient, it will eventually slide into P in a few seconds. Just the other night however, after a drive home from Vegas (which really sucked) it took several minutes.

Question to the op or the group, has anyone else had this problem and was it a switch issue? You'd think it's something like the car thinks I don't have the brake applied?

loudandheard

Did you experience this after it rained. I'm wondering if water some how got into one of the fuse boxes.

PadresFan

No, it doesn't seem to coincide with rainy days. I searched some more yesterday and am wondering if my TCU is failing, but I was trying to get confirmation before I take it to my indy or the dealership.

moosejaw

Im wondering if coolant got into your TCU?

PadresFan

Do I need to have the car on a lift to access the TCU? If it did get sprayed with coolant or some other contaminant, I'd probably be able to see/feel it still.

The car doesn't appear to have any leaks, but anything is possible.

evilsaint

You just saved my *** with this, three years after posting it. Thanks

Panzerknacker

I know it is a different car, but on VWs from a few model years back the brake light switch attached to the pedal was notorious for going bad. Long story short, on automatic models the car would not know that the brakes were applied and would not let the driver shift out of park.

A couple other people have mentioned it so it sounds similar enough to be worth a look. Next time it happens have someone look to make sure the brake lights are coming on when the brake is applied.

Edit: just realized how old the thread is... maybe the next person who experiences this will be able to take a look.

mbsophio

I saw a few posts about this a few years ago. I wondered if anyone discovered the real problem with this issue. Not only do I get stuck in drive but when driving the car seems to be stuck in 2nd gear (it's an automatic). Car has 110k and was well maintained at a specialty shop and the dealer.

Ugh.

evilsaint

Being stuck in 2nd gear while driving seems like a symptom of something else. Stupid question - have you tried using the "manual" gearshift to upshift when that happens?

As per the lever itself being stuck in D, refer to the post above. It was a crazily easy quick fix, and I keep a long-handled flathead in my trunk at all times now because of it

C230 Mulac

If your car won't shift out of 2nd at all while driving then it sounds like it's in limp mode. Check your trans fluid level and make sure it's not low, although I'm not sure how it would just happen as it shouldn't be leaking...

mbsophio

Not a stupid question - I did try manually shifting yes. I discovered that i can get the shifter from drive to park if I turn off the ignition when in drive. Then I can move the shifter to park and to Reverse and then to Drive. It is getting from Drive to Park that is the problem.

Fluids seem fine but I forgot to mention that the check engine light is on. I think since both issues occurred at same time it is fairly safe to say there is a mechanical issue.

C230 Mulac

Try doing an ECU hard reset (disconnect negative battery terminal for 30 mins and reconnect). JakeMS3 had a similar issue this past weekend and now his car is fine.