W220 Stuck in Park - Can I just leave the broken plastic piece inside the ESM?
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03 S500L
W220 Stuck in Park - Can I just leave the broken plastic piece inside the ESM?
Sorry to bring up a well-known issue, but the notorious 'Stuck in Park' just happened to my '03 S500L.
I'm not mechanically inclined, and I don't really have confidence in any of the local mechanics to know how to handle this custom fix.
I had to use the hammer trick on the gear knob to get it out of Park, so I'm assuming that plastic shift-lock pawl has failed or is about to fail completely.
My main question is: Can I just leave the broken piece inside the module as it is?
The information online is confusing. Some say you need to replace it with an aluminum part, and some say you can just completely remove the broken plastic and not worry about the interlock (which I'm fine with, as it's just me driving the car). But there is almost no clear information on what happens if you just do nothing and leave the snapped plastic piece sitting inside the housing. Will it cause further damage to the board or sensors if I just leave it alone?
I'm not mechanically inclined, and I don't really have confidence in any of the local mechanics to know how to handle this custom fix.
I had to use the hammer trick on the gear knob to get it out of Park, so I'm assuming that plastic shift-lock pawl has failed or is about to fail completely.
My main question is: Can I just leave the broken piece inside the module as it is?
The information online is confusing. Some say you need to replace it with an aluminum part, and some say you can just completely remove the broken plastic and not worry about the interlock (which I'm fine with, as it's just me driving the car). But there is almost no clear information on what happens if you just do nothing and leave the snapped plastic piece sitting inside the housing. Will it cause further damage to the board or sensors if I just leave it alone?
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Joined: Dec 2012
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From: Ball Ground, GA (N of Atlanta)
2003 S500 2007 GL450
The break usually keeps the solenoid from being able to release the shift lever, so you can't get out of PARK. The "hit the knob" trick rarely works for very long - remove the broken pieces.
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03 S500L
The weird thing is, it's shifting perfectly fine right now after only having to hit it once.
The car has been off the road for 6 months, so I wasn't sure if the mechanism just seized up from sitting, or if the plastic actually broke. But considering what you said, I'm not going to risk it jamming permanently or crushing the board.
I guess I need to bite the bullet and find a local mechanic who actually knows how to drill the rivets and remove the piece.
The car has been off the road for 6 months, so I wasn't sure if the mechanism just seized up from sitting, or if the plastic actually broke. But considering what you said, I'm not going to risk it jamming permanently or crushing the board.
I guess I need to bite the bullet and find a local mechanic who actually knows how to drill the rivets and remove the piece.
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Mercedes
The broken plastic piece may have moved to somewhere within the shifter where it’s not impeding the mechanism, but there’s always a chance it can roll into a place where it jam up again. And the hammer trick may not work at that time. I would remove the plastic piece completely and not replace it with any piece if you’re not concerned about being able to shift out of park when the car is off.
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