C280 Not starting - stuck in Park
#1
09-14-2007, 10:56 PM
C280 Not starting - stuck in Park
I have a 2000 C280. My wife came out of a doctors appointment and the car would not start. The key turns to the start position, windows work, headlights, etc. all work. The shift lever will not move out of park even with the key turned and my foot on the brake. Jump starting did not work. I disconnected and reconnected the battery and that did not work. Finally while fooling around with turning the headlights on & off the car started but some of the dashboard lights were on. I had to manual overide the TCM module to get it to shift into gear. Move dashbosrd lights went on. I drove it home in 1st, the gear selector would not upshift and no indication of what gear it was in was present. The speedometer, tachometer, gas gauge etc. went from reading to no reading intermittently.
Turned it off in the driveway and it would not restart.
I replaced the TCM about 6 months ago after the moon roof was left open during a downpour with a used TCM module. I never got the radio to come back on. I did not have the right code. The radio showed code for a while then went out and will not even indicate that. Don't know if everything is related. Any suggestions would be helpful, I am thinking of starting with the TCM module again.
Turned it off in the driveway and it would not restart.
I replaced the TCM about 6 months ago after the moon roof was left open during a downpour with a used TCM module. I never got the radio to come back on. I did not have the right code. The radio showed code for a while then went out and will not even indicate that. Don't know if everything is related. Any suggestions would be helpful, I am thinking of starting with the TCM module again.
#2
01-22-2013, 03:59 AM
I fixed this problem on my E70 cdi (2000) yesterday.
You will need to be comfortable disassembling small parts to do this job.
Problem
In the outer housing of the gearshift is a small chip which tells the ECU which position the lever is in. The car will only start in Park or Neutral. There is a contact strip on this chip which is activated by the position of the lever. If these contact strips become corroded or dirty the car can not correctly determine which gear it is in and will not allow the starter to engage.
To Fix
Remove Ashtray, gear select surround, gear **** and central console for access. Remove outer cover of gear select unit (lots of fiddly bits to undo). Disassemble this cover. If you flip it over the chip is in the underneath of the top part of the unit. There are some tricky plastic clips to be released here but take your time and it will come apart unbroken. Clean the contact points, check that the board itself is not burnt or damaged and reassemble only as far as you need to test it. On my car the reverse lights were showing until the problem was fixed but this may not occur in your case.
You will need to be comfortable disassembling small parts to do this job.
Problem
In the outer housing of the gearshift is a small chip which tells the ECU which position the lever is in. The car will only start in Park or Neutral. There is a contact strip on this chip which is activated by the position of the lever. If these contact strips become corroded or dirty the car can not correctly determine which gear it is in and will not allow the starter to engage.
To Fix
Remove Ashtray, gear select surround, gear **** and central console for access. Remove outer cover of gear select unit (lots of fiddly bits to undo). Disassemble this cover. If you flip it over the chip is in the underneath of the top part of the unit. There are some tricky plastic clips to be released here but take your time and it will come apart unbroken. Clean the contact points, check that the board itself is not burnt or damaged and reassemble only as far as you need to test it. On my car the reverse lights were showing until the problem was fixed but this may not occur in your case.
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