2010 E63 Park Button Problem and Fix
08-11-2018, 01:52 AM
#1
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2010 E63 Park Button Problem and Fix
This post is regarding the issue in the W212 2010 E63 AMG where the Park button does not engage despite being pressed, resulting in the car staying in the state it was in (Drive, Reverse, Neutral). This fix doesn't require any special tools and takes about 20 minutes. The shifter assembly costs about $600 online, but I expect dealers probably want $1500 for the entire job.
AFAIK, the car only shifts to Park if you 1) turn off the engine, or 2) pump the break to "Hold" and open the door. I nearly fell out of the car once when I stopped in our neighborhood street to say high to my neighbor and the car kept rolling. This is dangerous for a lot of reasons, but especially if you valet or let someone who isn't familiar with this drive the car. I often have my kids strapped to car seats in the back, and we're often out in higher elevations, so I didn't feel comfortable leaving this issue, which started about 6 months to a year ago and has perpetually gotten worse.
The fix as stated by PeterUbers and craig309 is to purchase part# A 212 267 01 00. A good price new is something under $600 (its $566 right now here). The original part number that came out of my car is a older part # A 212 267 03 24, which is now obsoleted and superceded according to the new part page ("Replaces:212-267-03-24"). Not everyone knows this but electronic parts CANNOT be returned. Kinda sucks. One service department told me this often happens if coffee or food is dropped onto the shifter, but I'm totally skeptical and believe this is a faulty electrical circuit. It doesn't come with the knob, so you can either reuse the existing one or replace with the low profile updated shift knob.
Once you get the new part you'll notice it is made up of a couple of difference assemblies. There is a top unit made by ZF Electronics that easily pops off of the lower shifter assembly, which has the screw hole anchors as well as the ribbon connector.
There is a Youtube video that shows you exactly how to do this replacement although it is for a different issue (replaces the rotary wheel knob, also for a right hand car!). Check it out here:
Basically the steps are:
Open the ashtray
From the ashtray/front side, pop up the plastic panel covering the shifter and AMG/suspension buttons, lay it on its button-side, ensuring the connectors are not affected
Use a hex wrench to remove 4 screws holding down the shifter
Use a slightly smaller hex wrench to remove 2 screws between the shifter and rotary dial that holds an anchor point that the shifter attaches to, set the metal anchor aside until reassembly
Remove the cable ribbon from the bottom of the shifter
For a number of reasons I decided to take my unit apart and see if it was just the top circuit assembly or the entire unit that is not shifting the car to park , so I decided to pull the shift knob off of my existing unit.
If you are interested in how to remove the shift knob, DO NOT just yank the knob up as hard as you can while the shifter is attached to the car. If you see how the shifter is attached you'll notice the multiple stress points that can also yield, in addition to the knob. The way I did it was I put the shifter unit on carpeted floor, and pulled up on the knob while I held it in place with my feet. I'm cool, I know.
Anyway if you do this carefully you should be able to reuse your shifter without any issues.
So I wanted to troubleshoot this issue a little more so I decided to swap the Park/LED circuit unit from the new to the old shifter to see if it works.
Here's the top unit (it looks a little funny because I had already popped the top cover off:
Here it is totally disassembled. The white component is the R-N-D cover upside down:
So there is absolutely no damage (physical, water, discoloration, anything), to the circuit. The pins are all in great shape.However, I replaced the top assembly only with my existing shifter unit and the car was parking without any issue.
So I am guessing if you have this issue and have access to a crashed car that has the updated assembly, you could probably get away with just replacing the Park circuit. Its really unfortunate MB makes you pay $600 to replace a $5 circuit.
AFAIK, the car only shifts to Park if you 1) turn off the engine, or 2) pump the break to "Hold" and open the door. I nearly fell out of the car once when I stopped in our neighborhood street to say high to my neighbor and the car kept rolling. This is dangerous for a lot of reasons, but especially if you valet or let someone who isn't familiar with this drive the car. I often have my kids strapped to car seats in the back, and we're often out in higher elevations, so I didn't feel comfortable leaving this issue, which started about 6 months to a year ago and has perpetually gotten worse.
The fix as stated by PeterUbers and craig309 is to purchase part# A 212 267 01 00. A good price new is something under $600 (its $566 right now here). The original part number that came out of my car is a older part # A 212 267 03 24, which is now obsoleted and superceded according to the new part page ("Replaces:212-267-03-24"). Not everyone knows this but electronic parts CANNOT be returned. Kinda sucks. One service department told me this often happens if coffee or food is dropped onto the shifter, but I'm totally skeptical and believe this is a faulty electrical circuit. It doesn't come with the knob, so you can either reuse the existing one or replace with the low profile updated shift knob.
Once you get the new part you'll notice it is made up of a couple of difference assemblies. There is a top unit made by ZF Electronics that easily pops off of the lower shifter assembly, which has the screw hole anchors as well as the ribbon connector.
There is a Youtube video that shows you exactly how to do this replacement although it is for a different issue (replaces the rotary wheel knob, also for a right hand car!). Check it out here:
Basically the steps are:
Open the ashtray
From the ashtray/front side, pop up the plastic panel covering the shifter and AMG/suspension buttons, lay it on its button-side, ensuring the connectors are not affected
Use a hex wrench to remove 4 screws holding down the shifter
Use a slightly smaller hex wrench to remove 2 screws between the shifter and rotary dial that holds an anchor point that the shifter attaches to, set the metal anchor aside until reassembly
Remove the cable ribbon from the bottom of the shifter
For a number of reasons I decided to take my unit apart and see if it was just the top circuit assembly or the entire unit that is not shifting the car to park , so I decided to pull the shift knob off of my existing unit.
If you are interested in how to remove the shift knob, DO NOT just yank the knob up as hard as you can while the shifter is attached to the car. If you see how the shifter is attached you'll notice the multiple stress points that can also yield, in addition to the knob. The way I did it was I put the shifter unit on carpeted floor, and pulled up on the knob while I held it in place with my feet. I'm cool, I know.
Anyway if you do this carefully you should be able to reuse your shifter without any issues.So I wanted to troubleshoot this issue a little more so I decided to swap the Park/LED circuit unit from the new to the old shifter to see if it works.
Here's the top unit (it looks a little funny because I had already popped the top cover off:
Here it is totally disassembled. The white component is the R-N-D cover upside down:
So there is absolutely no damage (physical, water, discoloration, anything), to the circuit. The pins are all in great shape.However, I replaced the top assembly only with my existing shifter unit and the car was parking without any issue.
So I am guessing if you have this issue and have access to a crashed car that has the updated assembly, you could probably get away with just replacing the Park circuit. Its really unfortunate MB makes you pay $600 to replace a $5 circuit.
08-11-2018, 12:35 PM
#2
Out Of Control!!
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2014 E63S; AMS 100 octane ecu tune; edok tcu tune; BB intakes; dyno tuned
Awesome write up! Well done
04-29-2021, 10:28 AM
#3
MBWorld Fanatic!
Do after 9 yrs and 70000 miles my 2012 e63 has started to act up with this problem. It seems every other drive it won't shift.
Is there an updated part number because I was having trouble with the above numbers to find the part. Thanks
Is there an updated part number because I was having trouble with the above numbers to find the part. Thanks
