ok So I'm with mi wife in our honeymoon in key west and everything is fine until we are leaving, all of a sudden at a traffic light I see this.. airmatic visit the workshop sign in my dash, so I figure.. let's turn it off and on again and it should clear it up, since it was working just fine. but of course as destiny will dictate the car wouldn't start for nothing, right in front of Sloppy Joes at Duval street, but I digress, this has happened before, the link on the gear shift had prevented me, from getting out of park, I did find in a forum here how to remove the plastic piece, after that it was working just fine, about a couple of months ago, the car just wouldn't start, replaced the battery and it wasn't it, it wouldn't crank, the battery ( of course ) was working fine and all the electrical as well. did some research here and someone suggested the CPS, i replaced it and nothing again, last resort had it towed to the dealer, and it happen that it was some linkage bushing or something of that sort, after that, as good as new, until it did happened again at key west,
so I had the car towed to a shop that the guy is the only one that apparently knows Mercedes, and sure enough, when I got there he was working on a cl500 and a s55 different issues though, long story short he suggested that it was the gear shift the whole assembly, I didn't belive him and I call the mechanic at the dealer and I had him talk to this guy, sure enough the Master Tech at the dealer concurred, in order to start the car he unplugged a (green) relay on the front passenger side of the engine bay, the car would start and run, but once I was trying to drive I noticed that the dashboard wouldn't show what gear it was in, and it wouldn't switch to higher gears either, ok after calling to ALL ( not exagerating) MB dealers to get the part, they all said that they wouldn't sell it over the counter that I would have to have it towed to a MB dealer and that the pice goes for around 750.00 or so, now my question is, ... can my gear shift be rebuild somewhere, or if I buy one from Ebay would it work, I read somewhere that once its programmed once can not be used again. I didn't have the car towded because the nearest dealer is 200 miles away, and I don't want to pay around 700 bucks just for the towing plus another 1100.00 to get it fixed.

Sorry for the long thread, any help will be appreciated.

Thanks again
P.S I forgot to mention that the car is a S430 2000, although most of you read that from my profile

 

shift module $400 range at www.autohausaz.com

had you spilled any liquid on it?
Also check for trans fluid leak at the electrical connector on the trans.
You can also get a used shift module from mb wrecking yards.
The shift module is not programed to the car.
used units run about $200

 

hey thanks a lot for the response men, and no I haven't spilled any liquids, at least not that day that I can remember, a little bit of water lique a week before, but I dried it right there and then, so all that I need is the shift module? like this part right here,
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/GEAR-...ht_2689wt_1165
and what about the trim wood piece that goes on top with the lights for P R N D that whould be changed too?

Thanks a lot again

 

http://4mercedes.com/

he is in florida and does these all day. Hes the guy with the youtube videos on shifter repair

 

Yea definitely go to this guy, his name is Marco or Marcos. I took my 2005 S430 to him a couple of weeks ago for a diagnostics check up. This guy really knows what he's doing. I'm taking my car there again in these upcoming weeks for him to fix this oil leak coming from the heads(dont know what it is) and to do an assortment of other things. Definitely trust this guy, he will fix anything on a W220, which is that Mercedes he is best at working at because he has one.