Low tire pressure warning and can't shift into Park

[ARIDAN]

Hey guys, I have a question which I hope can be answered relatively quickly. I'm currently in Chicago on a business trip and last night I received a call from my wife saying she is having problems with the ML.

It started when she was on her way home from work last night. It began with a red dash lights of "Low air pressure" warning. She was not aware of any flats or anything of that sort so she continued with her drive home. When she got to the driveway, she wanted to put the car into park so she can get the mail but the car simply would not shift into park!!! She then proceeded up the driveway and into the garage, but again, nothing, the car won't park. After a few failing attempts she resorted to turning off the engine while in Drive.

I had her call MB roadside assistance. A tech came out and said it looks like a transmission problem but he can't diagnose it because he doesn't have the proper tools to do that. He recommended taking the car to the dealership for further inspection.

Has anyone heard or experienced of such transmission problems?

Is it possible that the tire pressure and the transmission problems are related in anyway?

This is our first MB. It's a 2007 with less than 2000 miles on it. This is CERTAINLY not something that I expected to have with a brand new MB!

TIA.

[BigKutta]

I got the same air pressure warning last weekend. All the tires looked fine but when i checked the air, one was in the 20's. With closer inspection i found a thick metal wire sticking out of the tire. So it detected a slow leak. However, there was no issue with shifting into park. I do not think these are related. Have you done the tranny SW update? Matbe that will fix it, otherwise a new tranny from MB may not be a bad thing

[sosh]

Originally Posted by BigKutta

I got the same air pressure warning last weekend. All the tires looked fine but when i checked the air, one was in the 20's. With closer inspection i found a thick metal wire sticking out of the tire. So it detected a slow leak. However, there was no issue with shifting into park. I do not think these are related. Have you done the tranny SW update? Matbe that will fix it, otherwise a new tranny from MB may not be a bad thing

Transmission problem is most likely not the transmission itself but the shifter solinoid mechanism. Seems kind of radical to suggest a transmission replacement. Could even be cold/ice related.

[jean7of9]

ARIDAN : I had a similar problem except that my transmission was stuck on PARK. Whenever I tried to shift there was a red warning flashing in the MFC: DRIVE DIRECTLY TO GARAGE WITHOUT CHANGING GEAR. The Dealer sent a technician with a laptop to perform a “RESET” which enabled him to drive the car to the Garage where they replaced the ISM Control Module. With this new module, the transmission became much smoother and silkier. All the rough shifting and jumping which I experienced before have disappeared.
The ML-500 have this safety feature. After switching the engine off and opening the driver door, the Transmission will shift to Park automatically if the driver did not engage the Shifting Stalk. I do not know whether this feature is valid also for the ML-350. If it is, it would be interesting to find out whether Park will engage through this back up procedure.