azheman

Ok, so I have been dealing with this problem for a while now. With the bad economy money is tight, haven't fixed, blah blah blah.

This is a 2002 E430.

Anyways, the car is stuck in park. No ABS/ESP lights, nothing out of the ordinary. I can use the manual release and the car works fine, transmission shifts perfectly. As you can see from the pictures, I have ghetto rigged a bic pen which sits in the release hole at all times.

I did have codes pulled, but never got the problem figured out.

So today, I had my mechanic friend (not an MB mechanic, btw) try and see if he could figure out. Anyways, he started tested voltage with one of those light up screwdriver things and noticed there is no voltage going to any fuses in the side of the dash. There is also no voltage to Fuse 19 under the hood, which happen to be the ABS/ESP system.

Any thoughts? Hopefully this is not expensive, otherwise I will just continue what I am doing.

I have attached a picture of the fuse i am talking about, as well as the printout of the codes from December.

Thanks.

RichardM98

There is an interlock system between the brake pedal and the shift lever. That is, the brake must be pressed when shifting out of park. Behind the brake pedal is a brake pedal switch. If it is defective, it will not give the signal necessary to allow the shifter to move. It's a fairly common problem and a pretty cheap/easy fix. About $15 and about 15 min.

A search for brake pedal switch or brake switch should give lots of threads and tips on the repair.

azheman

I have read about this switch problem, but most people said there are usually ABS/ESP failure lights associated with this switch failure. Is this not true?

RichardM98

Usually but it's not a law or anything.

Another simple check of the switch you can make is to look at the brake lights while someone presses the pedal. If out or dim, it's probably the switch. If bright maybe something else.

azheman

Are the brake lights supposed to work when the car isn't on? I noticed my brake lights only work when the key is turned, but they do work.

dylokjai

when my shifter was stuck in PARK...the brake lights was working..and before i started to pull the shift module out i said to myself after reading post on this forum..What the heck is doesn't hurt to try its only a 15 dollar part at the dealer and once installed it shift out of park and it only took about 15 minutes under the steering wheel.