Damian L

i just had conversation with our service manager. A client who has an '03 E500 could not shift out of park, was the topic.
he said its a COMMON problem for all new benz, any liquid near the shifter WILL cause that problem. i strongly reccomend NOT using the cup holders. any quick brake manuever could cause a serious problem. heres the thing that amazed me-- all cars are equipped with an emergency release for this problem, but spilled liquid will make it IMPOSSIBLE to shift out of park, even using the emergency technique!!!!!!!!!!! He even said a dripping raincoat sleeve could cause the problem..

bmw2mb

what is the emergency technique?

Damian L

owners manual page 330. manually unlocking the transmission shift lever. this override is provided for dead batteries. all manufactuers are requided by law to have this shift lock, thanks to audi, remember, unintended acceleration.

thuged_out

it happened to my clk. it was about 1/4 shot glass of water. limp mode came on along with bunch of warning messages. i pulled aside and after i put on park it wouldnt came out of it for like 10 minutes. after that it was fine

nyca

what causes this? some kind of moisture sensor?

pogotango

but water cant go on the shif knob, its covered

cte430

Last summer I had to meet an associate for a meeting. I parked my 2000 E430 and we took his car. It was an absolutely beautiful day, not a cloud in the sky, no humidity etc. I left the sunroof open. About 3 hours later I look out the window and the sky opens up like you can't believe. We get back to my car and it won't start. Nothing works. We finally get it started but I can't get it out of park. I hit the teleaid button and get the nice lady. I didn't know about the emergency fix, so I just told her it wouldn't get out of park. I was embarassed to say I left the roof open in the rain. After playng dumb for a while, she says to me "sir, did you leave your roof open in the rain". WTF, can she see me? So I fess up and she explains the fix. I get the car out of the lot and get on the road. the car won't get out of first gear. The dealer is about 1/2 hour away, so I cruise home in first gear! My service advisor was very cool. I tell him what I did, and he asks me what happened. I'm like "I just told you" No, what happened? I tell him again. finally he says, don't tell me that. It's the key fob right. Oh yeah, now I get it. All kinds of things were fried. But he got it thru warranty and didn't cost me anything. Do I still leave the roof open? Of course I do.

500AMG

LOL! It's good that you got everything fixed for free though...I bet it would have been expensive.

pogotango

well, my 03 e500, the sunroof was open, and then i got a electrical consumer malfunction, and when that comes on i cant use some of my electronics, like my sunroof, so i couldn't close it, and then it started to rain... so i held up my book and drove on the freeway lookin like an idiot, my car got wet inside but everything works fine. hmm, maybe cuz of that, my audio doesnt work.. but i can still drive it... for now...

nyca

but what causes this? what gets wet, what fails? cte430, what did they do to fix your car? was it just a reset of something, or was some component damaged by the water?

cte430

To be honest with you, I don't recall what the specific damage was. I do think some things had to be replaced as a result of getting wet. It seems though that the newer E is more "sealed" than my E430 was. If you know the older car it had the staggered shift gate and liquid definitely could get in there.