210 Display Defective
 

My brother left the sunroof open on his 2000 E320 and it rained, he dried off the interior and the car started. He shut it off and it wouldn't restart and it said display defective. I pulled the IP and it was dry, when you turn the key all the lights on the IP and odometer work but it won't start.

In the owners manual it states when you get this display it could be the Tach, cruise control etc. It would make sense about Cruise because its right on top of the steering column and would have gotten wet.

If I pull the fuse for the CC would that let it start?

He could have disturbed some other control unit or the CAN bus. Once everything is dry, I would disconnect the battery for a minute and reconnect to see if they reset. Note: he'll need the radio code for that.

Thanks

Well the car started, but won't shift out of 1st gear and you have to take your foot off the brake to shift into Park.

This is after drying it with a blow dryer several times.

Any thoughts?

Sounds like electronics are still wet to me...

This sounds like water in the shifter module, which is a frequent cause of problems on the W210. Many people have spilled drinks form the strategically located drink holder into the shifter rgions and end up with problems. Since you just have water, it's possible that it could be OK once that is fully dried, but it may also be toast. Search the threads on the W210 forum to see what others had to do.
Is the display back?

This sounds like water in the shifter module, which is a frequent cause of problems on the W210. Many people have spilled drinks form the strategically located drink holder into the shifter regions and end up with problems. Since you just have water, it's possible that it could be OK once that is fully dried, but it may also be toast. Search the threads on the W210 forum to see what others had to do.
Is the display back?

Found a guaranteed shifter for $250, hope it works

New shifter worked

Congrats!

If it ever happens again, remove the shifter and carefully dry the electronics BEFORE trying to start the car. Most of the damage is done at that point.

yeah once you put power to it's fried.

can you post pictures of the bad shifter please? I have a sneaking suspicion mine is shot too causing a limp home situation

Nothing to see. The components are smd's and nothing ever looks burned in my experience. One simply has to keep moisture out of the shifter and if moisture gets in with the power on (spilled drink from drink holder) turn off power ASAP and remove the shifter, disassemble, clean (if anything other than water) and dry before reinstalling and putting the power to it. Unfortunately, this comes from many years of personal experience and bloodletting at the hands of the Stealership for shift modules. DOH! Mark

I ment of the unit as it came out of the car... not the internals. Fried electronics I see regularly

Here is a picture of the shift module that MB sells. The W/S switch is a component of the computer board that is located inside the module. Mercedes only sells the entire assembly for approx. $560 with another few hundred dollars for installation. Mark