My 2003 SL500 is now completely stuck in park. I have been having this problem on and off for a couple of months now. Sometimes I can manage to wiggle it out of park during my drive. To avoid being stuck, I have been parking in Neutral. Today a jerk was trying my car and accidentally pushed it into P and turned off the car. Now it's completely stuck. What can I do? I don't want to shed a lot of money if it's possible. Is there some temporary things I can do to get it in Neutral again? Any input is appreciated. Thanks a million.

 

remove the leather **** on the shifter...twist the bottom plastic piece counter clockwise? a quarter turn and then you can pull up on the handle. youll need to tug it pretty hard to pull it off. be sure not to smack your radio or cupholder as your trying to pull off the shifter ****. then you should use a pretty large rubber mallet, and as you pull back on the shifter while pressing the brake pedal...smack the top of the shifter with the rubber mallet and it will come out of gear!! becareful not to smash your radio or console with the hammer...if you want to you can leave the shifter **** on and still hit it with a mallet but put a cloth over the ****. but its recommended to remove the ****.
youll need a new shifter assembly to fix the car. its is possible you could need a brake pedal switch but not likely on your car. good luck

 

Thanks a lot. This caveman operation worked. I had very difficult time turning the shift **** off. It came off eventually with a rubber glove. I really don't see how this can be done with the shift **** on. I had the pound the stick with a 5 pound dumb bell repeatedly. I'm now looking for someone who can take the plastic piece out of the shifter for me. I've called some shops around me, apparently they can't do this for safety reasons.

BTW, I do hear the clicking sound from the shifter when I step on the brake, so I guess that rules out brake pedal switch.

 

yes if you hear that your switch is probably ok.
plastic piece in the shifter?
usually one nice hit with a rubber mallet does the trick.

 

Oh man, I feel for you - doesn't seem like it's going to be an inexpensive problem to solve...