SL500 Long Reverse and then no drive

[davidsl500]

Anyone had a similar problem ?

I was driving down a single track lane after heavy rain and came to a waterlogged section of road. I crept forward a bit but not knowing how deep the water was I decided not to proceed - the water was ony an inch or so deep where at this point. Because it was a single track road I had to reverse up about 50 yards or so - this was done slowly as it was still raining and no street lights. After reversing back to the junction i selected drive and tried to move off. It felt like i was trying to drag a house behind me ! I parked up and waited for a recovery vehicle. 30 mins later he arrived and after my explanation he said does the car roll in neutral - we tried it and yes it rolled okay. Started the engine selected drive and everything back as normal ! I'm puzzled !

 

[landover]

Drink is a terrible thing mate.I bet the car was ok in the morning. :wink:

 

[jberks]

sounds like the brakes were binding to me. Probably released itself whilst you were waiting for the truck.

 

[panason1c]

My first thoughts were that possibly a sticky valve in the auto gearbox valve block?.... resulting in forward and reverse gears trying to engage together therefore suffering a 'tug of war' scenario???...........the 'sticky' valve may have righted itself by the time the tow truck arrived.

.........an afterthought....did you place the gear lever PROPERLY in the 'drive' position?, maybe it was in a sort of mid position between neutral and drive.....

 

[davidsl500]

thanks for the replies so far

well, to answer your comments - i never drink and drive landover mainly because i keep spilling it on bends..

i am a quite a newcomer to mercedes and i thought maybe brakes binding as well - i believe the sl500 has a drum handbrake and with the long reverse might have wedged a shoe? - of course i could be talking rubbish.

The recovery guy rang his mate who suggested the sticking valve theory as a rare event but possible - i did try to start in 2 and 3 as well in case i wasnt in drive properley but with the same result. Reverse gear seemed to have more effect but still definiteley dragging.

Everything is still well at the moment but its always at the back of my mind...