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MudMonkey
Veteran
Date registered: Jun 2013
Location: CO
Vehicle(s): '03 G500
Posts: 274
| Shifter Interference
Drove around on some snow-covered roads today, mostly slushy icy snow, not the fluffy dry kind...
... At some point, when trying to park my G, I was not able to shift it out of D into N. The shifter felt like something was blocking its route. I managed to work it back and forth and finally push it up into N.
I definitely could not get it into R. So I drove around some more on dry roads, and then let the truck sit idling in N with the parking brake on. Eventually I was able to work it into R, but P was out of the question.
I drove to a self car wash place, and got out the rinse wand, sprayed all over the underside as much as I could. P became almost accessible, but the shifter would jump back out of P into R. I stopped at a gas station and managed to get it into P, and shut the truck off to fill up.
Of course, it then would not start in P, merely turn over very slightly. I had to start it in N, so that I could drive home.
Haven't tried to start it since I got home, figured I would let it sit overnight and try in the morning.
Thoughts?
I'm guessing I got some snow up on the transmission, and it caused mechanical interference with the shifter.
But surely a G500 can handle driving in a little slush without locking up the shifter...? I wasn't off-road, it was no more than 2" of slushy snow on paved roads, ambient temp around 34 deg F.
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Aircruiser
Extreme Veteran
Date registered: Aug 2011
Location: Atlanta GA
Vehicle(s): 2000 G500, 1986 300GD, 2017 Porsche Cayenne Hybrid
Posts: 364
| Re: Shifter Interference
I can't speak with much experience to your MBUSA shifter, however. When I first picked up my 2000 Europa the shifter behaved similarly with gears 1-2 locked out from manual selection. I negotiated a replacement shift module with my purchase, which solved the problem. I disassembled the old malfunctioning one and it seemed that lack of lubricant and debris buildup from shift lever shutter gummed up the works.
I would safely chock/parking brake, crawl underneath with a flat blade screwdriver and a needle nose pliers and disconnect the shifter from the transmission linkage. Once the linkage is free try moving the linkage manually looking for abnormal binding on the transmission side of things. If every thing seems fine I would suspect your shift control module needs some love or replacement. |
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DUTCH
Administrator Doppelgänger
Date registered: Apr 2006
Location: US, GA, Atlanta
Vehicle(s): 2015 Audi Q7 3.0 TDI,2018 Sprinter
Posts: 9963
| Re: Shifter Interference
Aircruiser - 2/18/2015 9:16 AM
I can't speak with much experience to your MBUSA shifter, however. When I first picked up my 2000 Europa the shifter behaved similarly with gears 1-2 locked out from manual selection. I negotiated a replacement shift module with my purchase, which solved the problem. I disassembled the old malfunctioning one and it seemed that lack of lubricant and debris buildup from shift lever shutter gummed up the works.
When I purchased my 2000 and brought it to Europa Int'l for a couple of modifications, I was advised by the chief mechanic to "exercise" the shift lever regularly by manually shifting between all of the gears. He said that the electric switches get fouled if they aren't "exercised" on a regular basis.
I've followed his advice, and have had no problems to date at 88,000 miles. |
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MudMonkey
Veteran
Date registered: Jun 2013
Location: CO
Vehicle(s): '03 G500
Posts: 274
| Re: Shifter Interference
Is there a maintenance procedure somewhere applicable to an '03 G500 shift module?
I'm assuming it will be a bear to replace....?
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MudMonkey
Veteran
Date registered: Jun 2013
Location: CO
Vehicle(s): '03 G500
Posts: 274
| Re: Shifter Interference
My G started normally today.
Weird. |
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Otiswesty
Administrator
Date registered: Jun 2007
Location: Portland, Oregon
Vehicle(s): 463.241, 461.213
Posts: 3004
| Re: Shifter Interference
This happened to me in similar circumstances on my 2002, it was icy build up around the shifter rods underneath. I suspect yours melted off overnight. |
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MudMonkey
Veteran
Date registered: Jun 2013
Location: CO
Vehicle(s): '03 G500
Posts: 274
| Re: Shifter Interference
otiswesty - 2/18/2015 4:02 PM
This happened to me in similar circumstances on my 2002, it was icy build up around the shifter rods underneath. I suspect yours melted off overnight.
So do I have this to look forward to every time I have to drive in slushy snow....?
I love Mercedes... But I have never had a Toyota that wouldn't shift after driving in slush. |
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4x4Cal
Veteran
Date registered: May 2007
Location: Calgary, Canada
Vehicle(s): a Desert Silver & a Brilliant Silver G500
Posts: 260
| RE: Shifter Interference
Similar type of what I had the shifter solenoid valve went bad on me on a cold summer day. A simple test is to unlink the transmission rod from the bottom of the car, try to shift it with the engine turn on. My transmission was stuck on second gear and not able to go into P/R. Replaced it with the new shifter unit and a new shift knob. No DTC code for this type of problem. |
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MudMonkey
Veteran
Date registered: Jun 2013
Location: CO
Vehicle(s): '03 G500
Posts: 274
| Re: Shifter Interference
I'm going to have to get underneath and have a look at these shifter rods. I'm surprised they aren't protected at all, especially in a vehicle of this type that is supposed to go anywhere and do anything. |
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Inkblotz
Expert
Date registered: Apr 2006
Location: Georgia
Vehicle(s): 90 300GD "Thundering Turtle II", w/ 603A turbo
Posts: 3186
| Re: Shifter Interference
I wonder if your shifter bushings have gone bad. These are located at the attachment part where the rods mate to the auto shifter. You can see them from underneath the vehicle.
if these go bad (typical wear) the could feasibly bind or make shifting through the gate sloppy.
Mark
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MudMonkey
Veteran
Date registered: Jun 2013
Location: CO
Vehicle(s): '03 G500
Posts: 274
| Re: Shifter Interference
Inkblotz - 2/19/2015 5:24 PM
I wonder if your shifter bushings have gone bad. These are located at the attachment part where the rods mate to the auto shifter. You can see them from underneath the vehicle.
if these go bad (typical wear) the could feasibly bind or make shifting through the gate sloppy.
Mark
Certainly possible.
Some background .. My '03 has 29k miles on it, very low mileage. I'm the 3rd owner. I daily drive it, about 50 miles round trip. No shifting issues in the 6k miles I have put on it, including today when I drove it to work in very cold, dry conditions.
I was not aware of the shift rods under the transmission until the previous post. Certainly could be my issue as I had no problems cycling the shifter until immediately after I drove through a LOT of slushy snow. |
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Otiswesty
Administrator
Date registered: Jun 2007
Location: Portland, Oregon
Vehicle(s): 463.241, 461.213
Posts: 3004
| Re: Shifter Interference
MudMonkey - 2/18/2015 9:10 PM
otiswesty - 2/18/2015 4:02 PM
This happened to me in similar circumstances on my 2002, it was icy build up around the shifter rods underneath. I suspect yours melted off overnight.
So do I have this to look forward to every time I have to drive in slushy snow....?
I love Mercedes... But I have never had a Toyota that wouldn't shift after driving in slush.
No, I was driving around busting through some big snow piles having fun and driving in slush as well. It only happened the one time and there was lots of big days in the mountains as well as around town.
Though Toyota is a great automaker, so... |
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Silver g500
Regular
Date registered: Nov 2013
Location: Amelia Island, FL
Vehicle(s): 2003 G500, 1998 Volvo V70
Posts: 63
| Re: Shifter Interference
Had this same issue today. Received 8 inches of snow last night (in north Alabama) and very slushy today. I arrived at work today and had trouble getting it into Park and removing the key. After a few try's it finally maneuvered into the slot.
I suspect it will dry out overnight in the garage but I was very surprised as the amount of slush was not significant.
MudMonkey, did you find anything in you investigation when you looked under?
Maybe the G was just complaining as I'm pretty sure this vehicle had not seen any snow/slush until this week. |
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NHDave
Extreme Veteran
Date registered: Dec 2013
Location: Seacoast NH.
Vehicle(s): 2004 AMG
Posts: 464
| Re: Shifter Interference
Ouch!
One more thing to keep in the back of our minds!
I know my wife wouldn't like to experience this event, while two hours away from home, alone!
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DesertStar
Expert
Date registered: Apr 2006
Location: San Diego, CA USA
Vehicle(s): 85-280GE/95-G320/08-G500
Posts: 2156
| Re: Shifter Interference
otiswesty - 2/18/2015 1:02 PM This happened to me in similar circumstances on my 2002, it was icy build up around the shifter rods underneath. I suspect yours melted off overnight. I would think it would be somewhat warm or temperate with the exhaust near by, transmission fluid at operating temperature inside, engine heat from up front and insulated floorboard above ?...unless so warm it melts and refreezes affected area when parked after a drive. I never thought slush could build up in that area of the transmission. I also wonder if the air conditioner / defroster drains on the later w463s drain above the transmission or in that vicinity ? Just some random thoughts. mike
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