e500slr

Hey guys,

OK so I done something really stupid. While I was driving in the car I accidentally pressed the P button on the gear shifter and the car started making a noise like something was taping on something like tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick. This happened for about 10 whole seconds before I realised it was the P engaged and shifted to D again. I assume this was the parking pawl....

How bad is it guys, what damage do you think I did?

By the way I cannot believe they let the car shift to P while it's moving, old cars have a feature were they don't shift into P if the car is moving?!!!

CarHopper

As long as everything is still functioning I would say you're fine. If damage is done the car wouldn't want to drive. But, if the ticking stops and drives like it did before your mistake you should be okay.

Any lasting negative effects you notice since?

e500slr

Well it stopped after I put it in D again but I haven't driven it since. I'm worried something broke or chipped in the mechanism and will now wreak havoc inside the gearbox. I just cannot believe they didn't think of this in the design of the electronic shifter, JESUS CHRIST a 15 year old Camry has failsafes to prevent this. Hands slip and accidents happen.

PeterUbers

It begs the question ... what was your speed when you pressed P?

gaspam

The most that would happen is that you would break the little cam that locks the car when parked. Put the car in park and see if it holds it. If it does, you're fine

e500slr

About 20 mph.

Yes it does. So the parking pawl isn't connected to anything critical in the gearbox. Isn't it connected to the output shaft, could that have been damaged. I didn't hear a loud bang. It was like it was missing it like a machine gun sound. God I'm an idiot

PeterUbers

Did you feel any attempt by the car to slow down? I cannot believe either it doesn't have some safety mechanism in place at that speed

e500slr

Yh you would think, I was shocked. No the car wasn't slowing down faster, the thing sounded like it was missing it like that thing on a spin board below. It was LOUD though.

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com...w-displays.jpg

At least I have a spare gearbox for this car but I don't like being scared something chipped off and is now loose or something is broken etc. One day I might be driving and bang, gearbox failure.

PeterUbers

Is it under warranty?

arcticfox

Agreed. The clicking is just that cam making a popping noise as it tries to seat. Most likely no harm no foul. As gaspam said, it it engages the park function normally, it is probably good to go. There is no other mechanical device that holds the car in park beside that. On that note, that is why its always a good idea to set your parking brake -- its only a small pin/cam that holds the car from moving.

SteveE400

I have no direct experience with MB transmissions and engaging Park while in motion, but on older Detroit iron, if you put the selector into Park while moving, it made a sound like a ratchet clicking across gear teeth. As long as you were moving fast enough that the pawl couldn't engage, no damage would be done. BUT if you were to slow down and the pawl then abruptly engaged, crack! No more Park. Most people realized their error as soon as they heard the sound, and put the selector back into neutral or drive. These were the lucky folks whose cars suffered no damage. Those scared enough to try to stop their cars often trashed the park pawl and were treated to a major repair bill.

e500slr

No. It's not under warranty.

Just wondering if it's a separate mechanism or related to the drive gears. I just don't want to damage the drive gears. Don't want to be at WOT one day and then disaster.

Yes I imagined it exactly like that. Kind of like if you floor a car on sand it slips but to try to traction out you would have to apply gas carefully. Bad analogy but I get what you're saying. If it was like 5 mph it would give the pawl a better chance of sitting but the car would still be moving way too fast and it would snap it.

Stereolab42

The incredible thing is that the park button is clearly 100% electronically controlled so they could have easily added some computer code to check "if car is moving, don't engage the goddamn park mechanism". Why not???

EckFe1

I once tried parking on a steeper hill just with the gear box in park. It held the car for a moment but it started moving slowly down the hill shortly after I pushed P. It made the ratcheting sound like someone mentioned in the thread above. I applied the foot brake additionally and the car stayed in place. I don't think you can damage this mechanism like you tried.

e500slr

It sounded alot like damage. I hope not but it was not pleasant.


EXACTLY! I was gobsmacked this wasn't put into place, it's one of the most basic things you can think of and like you said, the damn thing is ELECTRONIC! There's not linkage at all. In the W211 there was a linkage, a physical linkage but these things have ZERO linkage with the shifter to the gearbox. Wouldn't surprise me if they schemed someone might damage the box and need a new one so they can sell more. If anyone thinks they don't design some things to break or wear out on purpose then they're too innocent to understand corporate profit models and business.