R230 Stuck in Park

[GarryJC]

Hello,
My wife’s 2004 SL350 is stuck in park, searching the forums leads me to believe it’s the little plastic lever that is operated by the solenoid. I see there’s an ally alternative too…. What I haven’t been able to find, is how to get it out of park to enable the unit to be removed and the broken lever replaced.
Please tell me I can sort this on my drive!!
Great forum by the way!

 

[AMGeed]

Welcome to the forum.

This may help get it out of Park. The method is just the same for an SL.

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[zipdip]

Welcome aboard,let us know if that sorted it.

 

[GarryJC]

Hi,
Thanks AMGeed - I had seen similar videos but none of them gave me the confidence that it would be ok for the SL! It would’ve been just my luck that it works on every model but the SL
I shall keep you all posted

 

[GarryJC]

Afternoon all!
Got the car out of park!
Have the selector box out…….
The plastic lever is not broken - it appears the solenoid is the problem.
It energises and moves the lever about half the distance it needs to, if I touch it slightly it moves all the way.
Can I get a new solenoid?…..

P.S getting the centre console out was an absolute ballache

 

[GarryJC]

 

[GarryJC]

Hello all, sorry meant to update this - on further inspection (I was being lazy and hadn’t actually taken the lever out) the lever was cracked! All fixed & back together now.

 

[baillwords]

Welcome to the forum.

This may help get it out of Park. The method is just the same for an SL.

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Will this method work if the car has now electrical power i.e., the battery is flat?

 

[E55BOF]

That's a mechanical solution to a mechanical problem. Try connecting a charged battery first and see if the problem goes away.