Car stuck in park.
Thread Starter
Newbie
Joined: Aug 2024
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w212 E350
Car stuck in park.
God morning everyone. My daily driver (2011 E350 4matic) is stuck in park. I’ve had a “Auxiliary battery malfunction” light on for quite some time now. Yesterday after I drove the vehicle for the first time in 10 days, it showed a few headlight associated malfunctions, then sos inoperative, but after parking for an hour or so the vehicle wouldn’t go out of park. This morning I put a brand new auxiliary battery in form my local dealer, but that didn’t fix the transmission issue. No other lights or errors are on the dash. Please help!
Out Of Control!!
Joined: Apr 2019
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From: Silicon Valley
W212 MY'14 M276-3.5NA @75kMi
stuck in Park... ISM!
God morning everyone. My daily driver (2011 E350 4matic) is stuck in park. I’ve had a “Auxiliary battery malfunction” light on for quite some time now.
Yesterday after I drove the vehicle for the first time in 10 days, it showed a few headlight associated malfunctions, then sos inoperative, but after parking for an hour or so the vehicle wouldn’t go out of park.
This morning I put a brand new auxiliary battery in form my local dealer, but that didn’t fix the transmission issue.
No other lights or errors are on the dash. Please help!
Yesterday after I drove the vehicle for the first time in 10 days, it showed a few headlight associated malfunctions, then sos inoperative, but after parking for an hour or so the vehicle wouldn’t go out of park.
This morning I put a brand new auxiliary battery in form my local dealer, but that didn’t fix the transmission issue.
No other lights or errors are on the dash. Please help!
Your AUX is now new but no improvements...
Until you can use a good scanner report, at this stage I can only guess your main battery needs to be recharged or replaced.
It all sounds as if your ISM now locked-up in emergency safe mode.
The PRND gear selector module needs attention and a scanner to diagnose it. A new replacement may need to be coded.
A $150 scanner would give you ability to simply reset goofy module but dealer will be happy to deal with that "security part" professionally.
🤞
Last edited by CaliBenzDriver; Aug 7, 2024 at 01:22 PM.
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Joined: Oct 2010
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From: Southern US
2010 E550, 273 Engine: 2012 S550, 278 Engine
God morning everyone. My daily driver (2011 E350 4matic) is stuck in park. I’ve had a “Auxiliary battery malfunction” light on for quite some time now. Yesterday after I drove the vehicle for the first time in 10 days, it showed a few headlight associated malfunctions, then sos inoperative, but after parking for an hour or so the vehicle wouldn’t go out of park. This morning I put a brand new auxiliary battery in form my local dealer, but that didn’t fix the transmission issue. No other lights or errors are on the dash. Please help!
Disconnected the main battery and reconnected after about 30 s. Now everything worked again.
Drove it back home and changed the AUX battery that I had waiting for couple months. All good but the incident left all sorts of errors in the car’s systems so I erased those with my Xentry.
I then went and changed the main battery too as it was 7 years old. No more problems.
You can try reset it by disconnecting the battery and would be best to disconnect both of them at the same time.
If this does not help you probably need errors erased but for this you need Xentry and this makes it very easy for the dealer to sell you parts you don’t need.
At this point I don’t believe you have anything else wrong but errors that resulted from the low battery, but you could have. It would just be a coincidence that seldom happen.
Thread Starter
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Joined: Aug 2024
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w212 E350
Happened to me last week. I drove the car off the drive way and got red message saying not to change gear. Well, it would not allow gear change anyway.
Disconnected the main battery and reconnected after about 30 s. Now everything worked again.
Drove it back home and changed the AUX battery that I had waiting for couple months. All good but the incident left all sorts of errors in the car’s systems so I erased those with my Xentry.
I then went and changed the main battery too as it was 7 years old. No more problems.
You can try reset it by disconnecting the battery and would be best to disconnect both of them at the same time.
If this does not help you probably need errors erased but for this you need Xentry and this makes it very easy for the dealer to sell you parts you don’t need.
At this point I don’t believe you have anything else wrong but errors that resulted from the low battery, but you could have. It would just be a coincidence that seldom happen.
Disconnected the main battery and reconnected after about 30 s. Now everything worked again.
Drove it back home and changed the AUX battery that I had waiting for couple months. All good but the incident left all sorts of errors in the car’s systems so I erased those with my Xentry.
I then went and changed the main battery too as it was 7 years old. No more problems.
You can try reset it by disconnecting the battery and would be best to disconnect both of them at the same time.
If this does not help you probably need errors erased but for this you need Xentry and this makes it very easy for the dealer to sell you parts you don’t need.
At this point I don’t believe you have anything else wrong but errors that resulted from the low battery, but you could have. It would just be a coincidence that seldom happen.
Out Of Control!!
Joined: Apr 2019
Posts: 12,253
Likes: 6,916
From: Silicon Valley
W212 MY'14 M276-3.5NA @75kMi
low voltage reality delivers
Buy a $150 Creader Elite scanner, Xentry not required to reset stored faults.
Reboot effectively restarts the entire chassis but does not erase STORED faults awaiting to be scanned as.
Top rated faults are CURRENT, that's what you pay attention to.
+++++ SUMMARY :
We are saying this is low voltage meets old batteries.
Antidote: float charger!
Reboot effectively restarts the entire chassis but does not erase STORED faults awaiting to be scanned as.
Top rated faults are CURRENT, that's what you pay attention to.
+++++ SUMMARY :
We are saying this is low voltage meets old batteries.
Antidote: float charger!
MBWorld Fanatic!
Joined: May 2021
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From: US
2008 E350, 2012 ML350, 2014 E350, 2015 ML350
you can have a battery at 12.5V, and unable to deliver enough amperage for cranking.
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Thread Starter
Newbie
Joined: Aug 2024
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w212 E350
God morning everyone. My daily driver (2011 E350 4matic) is stuck in park. I’ve had a “Auxiliary battery malfunction” light on for quite some time now. Yesterday after I drove the vehicle for the first time in 10 days, it showed a few headlight associated malfunctions, then sos inoperative, but after parking for an hour or so the vehicle wouldn’t go out of park. This morning I put a brand new auxiliary battery in form my local dealer, but that didn’t fix the transmission issue. No other lights or errors are on the dash. Please help!
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MBWorld Fanatic!
Joined: May 2021
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From: US
2008 E350, 2012 ML350, 2014 E350, 2015 ML350
UPDATE. The car is still stuck in park but now I’m losing some random functions like automatic headlights and wipers. There are still no concrete error codes about the transmission on the dash not on the scanner. However, for a split second my dad lit up with “EBD, ABS, and ESC Unavailable Diagnostic/ Test Rig” but went away just as quickly. Random misfires have started happening out of nowhere. My mechanic said to try and change the brake switch before throwing parts at it.
Thread Starter
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w212 E350
i have finally gotten my hand on a scanner to check different modules and I’m happy to report that I got one code. Under ESP, 62700: There is a fault in control unit “ISM”.
Last edited by Ad0912; Aug 8, 2024 at 03:56 PM.
Out Of Control!!
Joined: Apr 2019
Posts: 12,253
Likes: 6,916
From: Silicon Valley
W212 MY'14 M276-3.5NA @75kMi
ESP pointing at bad ISM !!
You see how quick and easy things got with use a scanner ?
Now you have first hand evidence that ISM is preventing PRND shifting into gear.
There's a chance you'll need a working ISM or perhaps wiring harness got oxidized 1st class being exposed all the way under the car.
This module is not easily replaced.
+++ THINGS YOU MAY TRY...
-- Try to connect your scanner to read the ISM Module... is it possible at all : Y/N?
-- Clear ESP Fault then clear ISM or "Reboot" chassis for a chance to shift normally.
-- Keep both AGM batteries charged up to prevent voltage chaos.
🤞
Now you have first hand evidence that ISM is preventing PRND shifting into gear.
There's a chance you'll need a working ISM or perhaps wiring harness got oxidized 1st class being exposed all the way under the car.
This module is not easily replaced.
+++ THINGS YOU MAY TRY...
-- Try to connect your scanner to read the ISM Module... is it possible at all : Y/N?
-- Clear ESP Fault then clear ISM or "Reboot" chassis for a chance to shift normally.
-- Keep both AGM batteries charged up to prevent voltage chaos.
🤞
Last edited by CaliBenzDriver; Aug 8, 2024 at 07:10 PM.
Joined: Nov 2016
Posts: 7,847
Likes: 3,499
From: Maryland
2015 SL400 (M276 Turbo), 2014 C350 Sport (M276 NA), 2004 SL500 (M113), 2004 Audi TT225 (BEA)
Does that scanner have a Mercedes module or is it generic OBD II?
Do yourself a huge favor and get a Mercedes-specific scanner.
Do yourself a huge favor and get a Mercedes-specific scanner.
Thread Starter
Newbie
Joined: Aug 2024
Posts: 6
Likes: 2
w212 E350
God morning everyone. My daily driver (2011 E350 4matic) is stuck in park. I’ve had a “Auxiliary battery malfunction” light on for quite some time now. Yesterday after I drove the vehicle for the first time in 10 days, it showed a few headlight associated malfunctions, then sos inoperative, but after parking for an hour or so the vehicle wouldn’t go out of park. This morning I put a brand new auxiliary battery in form my local dealer, but that didn’t fix the transmission issue. No other lights or errors are on the dash. Please help!
i came back to the car on the third day ready to call a tow truck, and low and behold the car worked absolutely flawlessly. Cut to a week later, it did it again I’m currently standing next to it, but the strangest thing is that the radiator fan will not stop going off every couple of minutes. I even took out the fuse so it wouldn’t drain the battery. I’m assuming I have some corrosion or loos wires because the only that’s consistent between last time it did it and today is the pouring rain we’ve had. In case I need a new ISM, do you guys know if I need a brand new one, or can I buy a used one, and also would I have to get it coded to the car?
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2008 E350, 2012 ML350, 2014 E350, 2015 ML350
UPDATE #2
i came back to the car on the third day ready to call a tow truck, and low and behold the car worked absolutely flawlessly. Cut to a week later, it did it again I’m currently standing next to it, but the strangest thing is that the radiator fan will not stop going off every couple of minutes. I even took out the fuse so it wouldn’t drain the battery. I’m assuming I have some corrosion or loos wires because the only that’s consistent between last time it did it and today is the pouring rain we’ve had. In case I need a new ISM, do you guys know if I need a brand new one, or can I buy a used one, and also would I have to get it coded to the car?
i came back to the car on the third day ready to call a tow truck, and low and behold the car worked absolutely flawlessly. Cut to a week later, it did it again I’m currently standing next to it, but the strangest thing is that the radiator fan will not stop going off every couple of minutes. I even took out the fuse so it wouldn’t drain the battery. I’m assuming I have some corrosion or loos wires because the only that’s consistent between last time it did it and today is the pouring rain we’ve had. In case I need a new ISM, do you guys know if I need a brand new one, or can I buy a used one, and also would I have to get it coded to the car?
If used one, it may need to be blanked/reinitialize, then coded.
Check water in the cabin: wet carpet?
check FrontSAM
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w212 E350
no wet carpet but I just checked the front fuse box and there are a couple of small puddles. Where should I go from here?
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From: US
2008 E350, 2012 ML350, 2014 E350, 2015 ML350
Since the car occasionally behaves, maybe you are lucky and it is just drying everything out, perhaps some electronic cleaning (wait for @CaliBenzDriver 's advice) . I would prepare a camera for some snapshots so they can give you better advice.
Out Of Control!!
Joined: Apr 2019
Posts: 12,253
Likes: 6,916
From: Silicon Valley
W212 MY'14 M276-3.5NA @75kMi
wet SAM...
You've found evidence that Front SAM got wet...
Sorry this had to happen.
First you'll need to fix the water entry.
Second you'll need to replace new/used SAM.
The hard part is to get your replacement parts coded either with a scanner, @BenzNinja or MB specialist.
Sorry this had to happen.
First you'll need to fix the water entry.
Second you'll need to replace new/used SAM.
The hard part is to get your replacement parts coded either with a scanner, @BenzNinja or MB specialist.
