03' E500 wont shift out of park, ESP light
Thread Starter
Senior Member
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 382
Likes: 4
From: Midwest
Was 89' 300E, Now 93' 500SEL
03' E500 wont shift out of park, ESP light
I have a 03' E500 that isn't letting me shift out of park when running. Back story, the car had a bad battery drain and sat for about a 2 years. We finally took it to our electrician to get checked out and he traced it back to a bad driver side seat module. We went ahead and unplugged the fuse to the seat on the driver side fuse panel. No more drain and now the problem is that i can start the car but it won't let me shift the car out of park when running. I went ahead and got a new break light switch and still didn't solve the problem. We can manually shift the car when we pull the shift console off.
Then we took the car to another "mercedes" specialist to have looked at and the scanned the issue he gave me was that i have a bad ESP module. He quoted me over $2500 for a new ESP module or $1800 for a used one. Of course the ESP warning light comes on when i start it. Now my question is can i buy another used ESP module myself or does it need to be programmed to the keys?
Then we took the car to another "mercedes" specialist to have looked at and the scanned the issue he gave me was that i have a bad ESP module. He quoted me over $2500 for a new ESP module or $1800 for a used one. Of course the ESP warning light comes on when i start it. Now my question is can i buy another used ESP module myself or does it need to be programmed to the keys?
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Joined: Jan 2014
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From: Republic of Texas
'99 and '05 E55 AMG
See if this helps.
https://mbworld.org/forums/w211-amg/...5-19-32-a.html
The ESM does not need to be reprogrammed to the car. The only time you need to use STAR is if you have a brand new shift module that must be initiated to the car. A used one will drop right in.
The above link is for my 2005 W211 E55 and that rebuilt sensor assembly cost me ~$135.
My 1999 W210 E55 had a faulty shift assembly that would shift P/R/N/D but not into 4/3/2/1 manually. I located a used assembly on Ebay that had the same part number and it just dropped right in with no issues. Cost me ~$300 for the used module.
https://mbworld.org/forums/w211-amg/...5-19-32-a.html
The ESM does not need to be reprogrammed to the car. The only time you need to use STAR is if you have a brand new shift module that must be initiated to the car. A used one will drop right in.
The above link is for my 2005 W211 E55 and that rebuilt sensor assembly cost me ~$135.
My 1999 W210 E55 had a faulty shift assembly that would shift P/R/N/D but not into 4/3/2/1 manually. I located a used assembly on Ebay that had the same part number and it just dropped right in with no issues. Cost me ~$300 for the used module.
Last edited by bbirdwell; Jun 13, 2022 at 08:23 AM.
Thread Starter
Senior Member
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 382
Likes: 4
From: Midwest
Was 89' 300E, Now 93' 500SEL
Okay I see what you mean. The actual shift module that's inside the shifter needs to be replaced I see. If that the case we have a spare wrecked 06' e500 and I wonder f I can swap that out?..
You get your part off ebay?
You get your part off ebay?
MBWorld Fanatic!
Joined: Jan 2014
Posts: 3,966
Likes: 1,315
From: Republic of Texas
'99 and '05 E55 AMG
The W210 shift assembly I obtained on Ebay. Took some searching (several attempts) but eventually I found a matching assembly.
