Tuscan1311

hey guys my s500 gear shifter got stuck a couple of times and i want to get it fixed but not by the stealer who wants to replace the whole gear box for $1200 .Anyone know of a good shop to get this done. when I brought the car you can move the shifter from park to drive without the car on or pressing the brakes. the guy I brought it from has all the maintenance history and i saw on a work order that it was checked for getting stuck but could not duplicate it… maybe he did something to stop it from sticking by allowing it to shift without pressing brakes.I dont know just dont want to get stuck somewhere.
thanks guys

tusabes

If you can move the shifter without pressing the brake then the defective part in the shifter is probably already broken

Carry a rubber mallet in the car , if it ever gets stuck you can bang the shifter

trombone

Tusabes is right, moreover if the shifter can move free in and out and sometimes stuck, almost surely the box has been manipulated before, but was not properly repaired. Probably the black plastic blocker has been removed, and some other parts bent or damaged.

You may find a shop doing the change cheaper than the dealership, but unlikely they would just repair the box. It is some kind of safety regulation that shops are not supposed to mess with the interior parts of the box. If the car rolls down the hill on its own with serious consequences, you and they could face ruinous law suits...

Maybe, in your case a new box, though costly is not such a bad idea...
Until your problem is solved, use the parking brake all the time when you leave the car.

vmystikilv

There's no more need to worry about it. If you can shift without brakes or turning the key the part that breaks has already been removed. Mines broke the first month I had the car and removed it myself while in a mall parking lot. Pretty much like a good ol 560sel now. No worries.

tritron

There is Russian guy in NY that works on mercedes and has lots of youtube videos http://www.restoreyourmercedes.com/

mercy-me

I had an intermittent problem just as you do. If the shifter will shift in and out of park without applying the brake then the locking pawl has been removed or disabled. I did not do enough investigating and went ahead and did the "Stuck In Park" repair as outlined here:
http://www.benzworld.org/forums/w220...ols-heres.html

I realized soon after taking everything apart that my real problem was the dust cover which rides along with the shift lever as move the shifter forward and backwards. The a accordion cover was jamming to cause the lever to bind giving the impression of the stuck in park syndrome.


I did remove the locking pawl so as the completely eliminate any worries in the future. All of the older cars did not lock in the park position and I honestly can not remember not even one fatality attributed to the lever moving.

It is a fairly easy modification but it does require some preparation skill. The instructional I posted is the one that I followed.

Good luck but be sure to check the dust cover first.

denemator

Look at the Russian's You tube video, remove the offending and you are good as gold. That cheap plastic part broke with me too, to replace would have meant drilling out rivets in the housing, I was able to remove it and works great, bypassing the brake interlock.

Another thing I recently had done was replacing the engine mounts and it is so smooth now, these mounts are liquid filled and if they leak it makes the engine sound like a diesel, (S430)

denemator

tusabes

Here is a detailed PDF

http://custombilletstore.com/v/vspfi...structions.pdf

Its for the Chrysler 300 but they used mb transmissions and shifter and have the same problem

denemator

If it intermittently locks the stick, the offending part is likely still there, I had the same issue, sometimes it would shift fine, other times with effort and then it would stick. It is gone now and if you follow the instructions it is a doable job to do yourself. with some basic tools. It is a stupid nanny part.

denemator

Thank you.