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HOWTO: install a CD changer into a CLK cabriolet.
I recently went through the exercise of installing a Mercedes 6 disc CD changer into the boot of my CLK cabriolet and hooked it up to my COMAND. To do this, here is what I did.
I bought the changer and the bracket off eBay. The power/wakeup cable and fibre optic cable came from Steve (MBenzNL) for 90 euros including shipping. It is important to get the correct bracket and changer for your car as they simply bolt straight in. Other changers can be made to fit but you are well advised to get the correct bracket as the CLK is pre-drilled to accept it. If you have an Audio 10/20 headunit you will most likely need a different power/wakeup cable as the one I have is specifically for a COMAND unit and has a C1 connector already on it. Alternatively you could chop this off and solder the connections up yourself.
Firstly the rear seat base needs to be removed. This is very easy as the whole thing simply lifts out. It is held in by three spring clips under the base. Place your hand under each side in turn, then the middle and give it a good hard tug. See the picture below.
Next we remove the boot floor which sits on top of the spare wheel. Just lift this out.
The next bit is the tricky part. We need to feed a wire (or two) through from the boot into the passenger compartment. It is hopeless trying to feed the cables themselves so I used a very stiff piece of black household 20amp electrical cable. Starting from inside the car, feel under the rear seat cushion on the left side where the existing cables are routed through. Gently push your feeder cable through alongside the existing cables. This may well take a few attempts. Eventually you should see the other end poking out in your boot space on the right hand side where the rest of the cables emerge from. See below;
Gently pull sufficient cable through to allow you to carefully tape one end of the fibre optic cable to it as shown below;
Note that I have kept the cable protector on and taped it to protect the ends of the cable. Next, pull through from the inside of the car until the connector is about to go through. Go back to the boot and ease the connector through into the cavity behind the boot. Return to the inside of the car and gently pull the cable through. If it fouls anywhere, then use your hand under the seat cushion to ease it through. The fibre cables are delicate so do not use too much force. Repeat this step with the power/wake-up cable, making sure you get the cable round the right way!. I actually fed the power cable through first but it doesn’t matter which one you do first.
The image below shows the power cable routed through.
This is the trickiest part of the job over.
Make sure that you leave just enough of the fibre cable in the boot space to connect to the CD changer. I say this because there isn’t much spare cable. There is plenty on the power/wake up cable. I chose to feed my cables round the passenger side of the car. You could route them through the drivers side where there will be a bit more slack as the distance is quite so far.
Carefully feed both cables round the back of the rear seat back anchoring point and the rear seat belt anchor point. Next, remove the passenger door sill by simply carefully pulling it off. Feed the cables round behind the panel trim which easily comes away, and into the door sill along with all the other cables already there. Remove the passenger footwell trim to expose the wiring. Remove the glove compartment as detailed in my COMAND HOWTO. Feed your two cables along the sill and up the side of the passenger footwell to the space under the glove compartment.
Remove your gear knob then your COMAND unit with the correct keys (shown in the COMAND HOWTO). Carefully feed the two cables through to the rear of the COMAND unit and connect them both up. You will then need to solder the blue wake up cable which isn’t in the connector, to Pin 10 of your C2 connector. Reference my COMAND HOWTO. Both cables have the correct connectors (D2B and C1) so they connect straight in to the rear of the COMAND. Carefully replace your COMAND back into the slot, ensuring that no cables are fouled, particularly the fibre optic one.
Return to the boot and connect up your CD changer with the fibre optic cable first then the power/wakeup cable. To secure the changer in place, attach the bracket and simply bolt the bracket into place with a couple of self tapping screws in the pre-existing holes.
Turn your COMAND on and test the changer works. If everything works okay, replace all items of trim.
I recently went through the exercise of installing a Mercedes 6 disc CD changer into the boot of my CLK cabriolet and hooked it up to my COMAND. To do this, here is what I did.
I bought the changer and the bracket off eBay. The power/wakeup cable and fibre optic cable came from Steve (MBenzNL) for 90 euros including shipping. It is important to get the correct bracket and changer for your car as they simply bolt straight in. Other changers can be made to fit but you are well advised to get the correct bracket as the CLK is pre-drilled to accept it. If you have an Audio 10/20 headunit you will most likely need a different power/wakeup cable as the one I have is specifically for a COMAND unit and has a C1 connector already on it. Alternatively you could chop this off and solder the connections up yourself.
Firstly the rear seat base needs to be removed. This is very easy as the whole thing simply lifts out. It is held in by three spring clips under the base. Place your hand under each side in turn, then the middle and give it a good hard tug. See the picture below.
Next we remove the boot floor which sits on top of the spare wheel. Just lift this out.
The next bit is the tricky part. We need to feed a wire (or two) through from the boot into the passenger compartment. It is hopeless trying to feed the cables themselves so I used a very stiff piece of black household 20amp electrical cable. Starting from inside the car, feel under the rear seat cushion on the left side where the existing cables are routed through. Gently push your feeder cable through alongside the existing cables. This may well take a few attempts. Eventually you should see the other end poking out in your boot space on the right hand side where the rest of the cables emerge from. See below;
Gently pull sufficient cable through to allow you to carefully tape one end of the fibre optic cable to it as shown below;
Note that I have kept the cable protector on and taped it to protect the ends of the cable. Next, pull through from the inside of the car until the connector is about to go through. Go back to the boot and ease the connector through into the cavity behind the boot. Return to the inside of the car and gently pull the cable through. If it fouls anywhere, then use your hand under the seat cushion to ease it through. The fibre cables are delicate so do not use too much force. Repeat this step with the power/wake-up cable, making sure you get the cable round the right way!. I actually fed the power cable through first but it doesn’t matter which one you do first.
The image below shows the power cable routed through.
This is the trickiest part of the job over.
Make sure that you leave just enough of the fibre cable in the boot space to connect to the CD changer. I say this because there isn’t much spare cable. There is plenty on the power/wake up cable. I chose to feed my cables round the passenger side of the car. You could route them through the drivers side where there will be a bit more slack as the distance is quite so far.
Carefully feed both cables round the back of the rear seat back anchoring point and the rear seat belt anchor point. Next, remove the passenger door sill by simply carefully pulling it off. Feed the cables round behind the panel trim which easily comes away, and into the door sill along with all the other cables already there. Remove the passenger footwell trim to expose the wiring. Remove the glove compartment as detailed in my COMAND HOWTO. Feed your two cables along the sill and up the side of the passenger footwell to the space under the glove compartment.
Remove your gear knob then your COMAND unit with the correct keys (shown in the COMAND HOWTO). Carefully feed the two cables through to the rear of the COMAND unit and connect them both up. You will then need to solder the blue wake up cable which isn’t in the connector, to Pin 10 of your C2 connector. Reference my COMAND HOWTO. Both cables have the correct connectors (D2B and C1) so they connect straight in to the rear of the COMAND. Carefully replace your COMAND back into the slot, ensuring that no cables are fouled, particularly the fibre optic one.
Return to the boot and connect up your CD changer with the fibre optic cable first then the power/wakeup cable. To secure the changer in place, attach the bracket and simply bolt the bracket into place with a couple of self tapping screws in the pre-existing holes.
Turn your COMAND on and test the changer works. If everything works okay, replace all items of trim.
