Common story spilled a drink on the shifter and now it does not work. I've read a few stories where people purchased used shifters in order to replace them. I found one on Ebay and it is the correct part but all the dealers and foreign car shops are telling me that the used shifter is married to another car and I "HAVE" to buy it new in order to resolve my problem! Is this true? And if not any suggestions? Been priced about $1100 for parts and labor to replace with a new one don't mind paying but damn sure don't want to. Thanks in advance.

 

There has been extensive discussion over the years about this issue and there is no way I can give you a synopsis so I recommend an Advanced Search on the w208 forum and you should get a ton of reading material. What was the drink? Sugar in it? You might try taking the whole electronic unit directly under the shift lever out and clean it.....Good luck.

 

I have no first hand experience here, but I don't see how a shifter from early 00's with the correct part # would be "married" to another car, especially if that part has been disconnected and presumably reset.

 

this is one of my number one fears i even took out the cup holder in the center console and no one is allowed to drink in my car LOL , good luck

 

Thanks Dlbehrns. I have started looking and I am noticing some people say they put in a used one and others say the dealer told them they couldn't do it. Mslaughter we are on the same page. How in the world are they married? Do they program every single electric part to the car? I am almost tempted to put it in anyway but I don't want to do the work and they have to retake it out. There has to be some way around this. I mean we are talking 10yrs old.

 

Don't be surprised in the future.

My service advisor told me that some 2013 MY car will have specific electronic component coded with VIN specifics. e.g. Head units or Commad unit cannot be easily removed and reinstall in different vehicle. Its more than just providing the radio code.

 

Case, I remember seeing a thread by someone who showed a picture by picture DIY of the removal and cleaning of the electronic shifter unit. If you can find it, as long as you are taking the unit out that you spilled on why not try the DIY before you order a another unit you don't even know will work? Try the wet cell phone fix: like when ya drop you cell phone in the toilet; just burry it in a bowl full of rice and the rice will suck all the moisture out of it.

 

How are they married? Two words; CAN Bus. CAN Bus is a serial bus protocol designed to allow a vehicle components to communicate with fewer wires. Basically, it allows unrelated components to share a single or dual-wire networked data bus.

For example:
Envision a single wire that runs between the HVAC switch gear, the AC compressor, the windows, sunroof, radio, steering wheel, dash display and all the related switches. When I push the button on my steering when to change the radio station, it doesn’t impact anything except the radio. This is despite the fact that many devices share the same signal wire. Why does it only change the radio? Because the signal that comes from the steering wheel has something called "header information". That header information ensures that ONLY the radio will pay attention to THAT signal.

Think of it as an electronic version of mailing a letter. When I mail a WIS DVD to David's house, it goes to David. Not to J Will, Ash, Kim Kardashian, or anyone else – Just David. It goes past a lot of houses, but it is only accepted at one.

Getting back to the OP car
If he bolts in a component that the rest of the car doesn't know about, and that component uses CAN Bus, the data signal will pass through the CAN Bus wiring, being ignored by every part until it either reaches the part that is programmatically coded to accept that signal, or the signal times out (an electronic version of the Post Office's dead letter file). That's why the dealer must "marry" the new part. What really happens is – depending on the part, either the new part gets the electronic address of the old part, or the sending unit (existing related switchgear) is told to use the new part's electronic address. If you're in IT, think MAC address (although it isn't really a MAC address).

Can this be fixed without a dealer?
Maybe. If you knew the part of the shifter that was used for telecommunications tasks (the part with the electronic or burned in address), and that part isn't coated in Pepsi, and you could swap that part to another "non-Pepsi infected used shifter", yeah that should work.

Of course, cleaning the old board may work too, but I'm going to guess something on the board is shorted.

 

Here's a pretty good link with alot of good discussion http://www.benzworld.org/forums/w208...e-removal.html

 

I did a lot of research during the summer of 2008, mostly on this forum, to decide if a 1999 CLK 320 was a good bet on a used car compared to all of the other used cars I could choose. I saw a few posts where people had spilled drinks into the shifter and it sounded like a really bad scene, and after buying the car I also forbid anyone from putting drinks in the center cup holders - it's just not worth it!

I recall reading about someone pre-empting the issue by opening up the shifter and moisture proofing the circuit board. You might be able to locate the post with some searching, but a quick google search reveals products such as this one:

http://www.usledsupply.com/shop/elec...-by-ducky.html

I'm not sure if that's what they used but I'd imagine it would do the trick for people who don't ever want to deal with the horror again. Wish I could help more with the immediate problem!

 

They are "married" by the can-bus - but on most, if not all, 722.6 trans cars, the can-bus takes a a fairly polygamistic viewof marriage. Find a used one, plug it in, and it works- or atleast it has for me on two occasions in a'98 clk. Pulling the box is pretty easy - the only time you even have to get dirty is to release the linkage from underneath the car (one c clip). But if you go that route, first take the existing box and spray half acan of electrical contact cleaner in it (or a squirt a bottle of rubbing alcohol in t and hot with a hair dryer for a few minutes). Nothing ventured.....