I recently purchased a '99 E320 with 77,000 miles. In really cold weather (20's & below), it is impossible to get the transmission out of park until the car has beenwarmed up for at least 10 minutes. I've checked the brake lights (they work)to eliminate the brake switch interlock. The car is parked on a level surface,and theweight of the car is not on the parking pawl. Even though it's not necessary in this case, I've been using the parking brake so there is no way the transmission, while in park, would be keeping the car from rolling. I have no problem getting the car out of park in warmer weather (30's & above).
The previous owner kept meticulous care of the car & had all the service records. He says he never had this problem, but that he had never parked the car in extremely cold weather. The car was previously in North Carolina, it is now in the Kansas City area.
The local dealer has never heard of thisand wants to keep it overnight to attempt to replicate the problem. The downside of this is that fishing expeditions are expensive. The trans fluid is original, the dealer says it should be good until 100K.Any ideas?

Thanks,
Mike

 

Mercedes now says 60k on the lifetime fluid or about that,go to an indie shop,better rates.........your manual has a section on how to get the trans out of park when it is stuck.
ohlord

 

Ohlord,
Thanks for your quick reply! I've been through the manual cover to cover and I don't see anything about getting it out of park. I see that you have a '99, also. I wouldn't mind if you made a fool out of me and told me where to look in the manual. The service rep at the dealer had told me (on the phone)to look for asmall door on the console near the shifter. I have seen this on other cars but not on this one. The closest MB dealer is a 100 mile round trip for me, and I'm wonderingif there is a simple fix.

 

wifes out with the car right now,sio I can't look but if you either move the shift lever over a bit or you just look down the opening next to the shifter in park there is a little opening,you insert a pen or anything firm and long enough to press the release.Should be in the section on towing.
It is not a normal thing to happen so you may need to get it checked at a indie shop that has the ability to test the trans.
may be related to the brake interlock but it should be checked.
ohlord

 

Hi Mike,

I know this is a year old, but did you ever get to the bottom of this? I have exactly similar situation on an 2001 E320 with 68K on it.

In the past the BAS/AB/ESP warning light has come on, but never was a serious issue (probably came on 6-8 times over the last year, with days or weeks between occurances). I have used the manual method (pushing a pen into the hole behind hte leverl) and it always worked.

However, the warning has not come on recenlty (not in last 2-3 months). But now almost every day when I park the car, it takes several tries of depressing the brakes to try to get it out of Park. The "manual method" is not helping either.

For example, last night it was about 20 degrees, and car was parked outside garage. I took me about 20-25 mins to get it to get out of park. I had ran the car and attempted to heat interior, and finally it came out of park. I parked in in garage and this morning it was around 20 outside, but about 33 in garage; it took only 2 or 3 tries to get it out of parking. It seems it gets worse with lower temps.

I am going to replace the brake light switch near the brake pedal, but I thought usually those cause the BAS/ABS/ESP warning to come on, which is not happening, and when I am having the problem my brake lights work fine.

Any help is appreciated.

Cheers,
Essam

 

Actually, I maybe wrong about whether or not the "manual method" of pressing a pen into the hole to release from Park works.

I just read couple of posts that stated "insert the pen and press firmly" while attempting to pull lever out of P. I was not really pushing firmly; I was not sure it is safe.

When I leave work today I will test again and see if pushing firmly helps (at least to give me a good feel that I can get out of it easily when it is stuck). I will report back.

Cheers,
Essam

 

I just tested again. It was 36 outside, but I didn't have the "stuck in lever problem" but I still fits with the "related to low temp" hypothesis, as the car was warm inside (was sunny outside and moonroof inside cover open).

So to test the "press firmly" suggestion I did not even depress the brake pedal. So with my feet off the brades, and car running, I tried to release lever from P, and could not. Now I inserted a pen into the horseshoe shaped flap behind the D position as I did before (I basically inserted it till it touched something but did not press further), and I still could not release it. But if I pressed the pen further (does not take much force but you do feel you are pressing against a "spring" operated mechanism which comes back up if you relase your pressure), it slides easily out of P.

Conclusion, and correction to my problem description before, is that the "manual method" of using a pen DOES work for me, I simply did not perform it correctly before when it did not work. However the rest of description is accurate, I see no warming ESP/BAS/ABS, my brake lights work when I depress pedal, but the colder it is "insdie the car" the more the chance I have of getting "stuck in Park".

I suppose this could be that brake light switch that does not provide good contact with colder temps. However, since it has 2 circuits, one related to brake lights, and another for the ESP/ABS/BAS circuit, I assumed since I don't have issues with either of these that it cannot be brake lights.

Perhaps someone who has seen similar problem (Mike, or others) and solved it can assist.

Thanks in advance.

 

Just had to join this site as I have just fixed what I thought was going to be a major fault / headache.
Lots of posts will tell you to strip out the centre console and clean / replace a unit within.
Try the simple cure first... using only a phillips screwdriver first remove half dozen screws and drop the under dash cover beneath the steering wheel. Above the brake pedal lever is the brake light switch...pull off two multi pin connectors then turn the whole switch quarter turn and remove.
Although the plunger moved freely and brake lights worked fine I sprayed with thin oil (WD40) and reversed the above procedure....Now my gearbox operates perfectly, took half an hour to fix and saved hundreds of pounds!
My car had been off road for months and lately in freezing weather!
GOOD LUCK.......It's easy ;-)

 

Hey Every one,
Not sure this is in the right thread:

I have a 2000 M-320...When I put the trans in low gear it doesn't shift out...Have noticed its hard to put in park as well. I'm thinking its in the linkage but I'm not sure. Seems to be worse in cold weather. Thanks for your help!

uluvpoems2