My son spilled water on his gear shift. The transmission shifted to first and will not shift up. Once stopped, the car will not turn over as if it is not in park. We went to tow it and it did start and get home in first. Now it will not start. Until he spilled the water (about 5 oz.), the car was running fine.
I have never heard of this. Any ideas?
The shifter module is feline: it does NOT like water.
Refer to the W210 stickies for assistance in tearing apart the console so you can get to the shifter. Then you can pull it apart and spray it with electrical contact cleaner. Once it's dry, reassemble...and cross your fingers.
Worst case scenario, he toasted the module...many hundreds of dollars, but not too common. More likely it can be salvaged, but you'll end up dropping a Benjamin or so to have the codes cleared from the transmission control module
So I helped my son remove the gear sift assembly and clean and spray it with humiseal. Looked fairly deecent, but with some corrosion on the components. After assembly, we had to use the brake light bypass hole to get it out of park, and the reverse lights stayed on...Also shifted pretty hard. I hate electronics in cars.
I guess it is off to find a replacement.
^^^I can appreciate your frustration, but let's face it: this wasn't caused by the electronics. Dump a glass of water in the back of your flat-panel LED tv or across the keyboard of your laptop, and you're going to have problems.
I'm not crazy about MB putting liquid-sensitive electronics where spills, when they occur, are likely to land, but the proximate cause is the spill, not the electronics.
Remember that you are likely going to have to have codes cleared before it's going to work right, even if you replace the shifter module. That has to be done with a proper interface; a garden-variety OBD scanner won't do it.
Good luck.
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