Won't shift out of park
 

This seems to be a commoin problem so there are a lot of possible solutions as I have read. Here's my situation and what I have done so far:

2001 E320 Sport

Shifter locked in park. If I put a screwdriver into slot by shifter, I can get it out of park. No limp mode..... it runs fine in all gears and speeds.

Removed shifter and can't see the "plastic z" connecter as some have posted in here. I can go further in ripping the whole console out but need a different torx that I don't have.

I would like not to go much further in the shifter removal and am thinking of possibly it's the brake sensor or whatever it's called that senses the brake pedal being depressed so shifer can go into reverse.

Any thoughts on this matter? Also, where is this sensor at??

Read up on brake switch. It's located behind (in front of) the brake pedal arm. Lot's of DIYs.

AFAIK, the center console can be removed with 6 Philips screws -- no torx involved.

Found the sensor and did a continuity test on it. Got nothing so ordered the part from Napa. Let you know in 4 days if it works or not!

Replaced solenoid and everything works. Sure wish I didn't spend all morning removing the shifter and just tried the easiest way first! $10 part and half an hour R&R fixed the problem.

THERES A BUTTON DEPENDING ON WHICH CAR U HAVE...THAT RELEASES THE LOCK THAT CAN BE TRIGGERED BY MANY REASONS....STICK A REAL SKINNY PENCIL OR PEN IN THE HOLE THAT MIGHT NOT EVEN LOOK LIKE ANYTHING BUT ITS A LOCK RELEASE THAT WILL HELP U UNLOCK....HAD THIS HAPPEND TO ME ABOUT A MONTH AGO BUT HAD A HARD TIME FINDING THE SPOT BECAUSE IT ACTUALLY LOOKS LIKE A CHIP OR DENT IN THE SHIFTER...I LUCKILY HAD BATTERY ON MY PHONE AND I CAME ONLINE I THINK TO MB WORLD TO QUICLY FIND POSSIBLE PLACES TO LOCATE THE RELEASE